We’ve already witnessed Apple make some significant changes to how iOS looks and feels, but we could also see Samsung following closely behind. The South Korean company is rumored to be planning big things for 2014, which will inevitably result in a number of new product releases, the first of which will be the Galaxy S5, and is rumored to be introduced to the market on February 23rd.
The Galaxy S5 will stand tall as Samsung’s flagship Android device for the coming year and represents the fifth-generation of the insanely popular Galaxy S series of smartphones. The expected announcement date hasn’t yet been uttered from an official source, but comes from Eldar Murtazin, a Russian blogger who has positive previous form when it comes to accurately predicted Samsung’s device launch schedules. Murtazin believes that the new Galaxy S5 will be introduced in Barcelona during this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), with an official release to the public scheduled for two months later at the end of April.
We can’t always be guaranteed to guess at particular technical specification of a product until it is actually announced. With that being said, Murtazin is also going as far as to suggest that we "already know" the final specifications, suggesting that speculation over the last few months pertaining to the device is likely to be accurate. If that is the case then the Galaxy S5 will likely ship with a 5.25-inch Super AMOLED display running Android 4.4 KitKat. The sensors on the device will see a big improvement with the addition of a fingerprint scanner that will be powered by a Snapdragon 800 and a Exynos processor. The device is said to pack a 16-megapixel rear facing camera for photography enthusiasts. And yes, a new TouchWiz UI, if today’s report is to be believed.
The implementation of a fingerprint sensor is clearly an attempt to sit alongside the Touch ID biometric capabilities of Apple’s iPhone 5s. Samsung could also be planning on taking another leaf out of their main rival’s playbook by launching a premium build S5 as well as a cheaper alternative.
Time will tell what the announcement actually brings, but we are definitely looking forward to the improved TouchWiz UI that we’ve been hearing so much about.
(Source: Eldar Murtazin [Twitter])
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