It’s that time of year again, boys and girls -- the first purported Samsung Galaxy S4 render has emerged online. This morning Samsung fansite SamMobile posted a photo of a render showing what it claims is the next flagship phone from the Korean manufacturer. The image, which the site says was passed to it by a Samsung insider, appears to be a photo of the render as displayed on a monitor or other LCD display.
The alleged Galaxy S4 (or Galaxy S IV, if you prefer) shot shows a Galaxy Note 2-like design, with accentuated, rounded corners and no physical buttons. The device also has an extremely minimal horizontal bezel, along with the usual assortment of buttons, ports and sensors in the usual places.
There’s no way of verifying the authenticity of this image, but SamMobile has a pretty decent track record when it comes to Samsung leaks. Nevertheless, given how many inaccurate Galaxy S3 renders did the rounds last year, we’re inclined take this latest pic with a hefty dose of salt for the time being.
Even if this image is a legitimate Samsung creation, there’s no guarantee that the device it shows will become the Galaxy S4. Samsung is notoriously secretive with its flagship products, even going as far as designing and developing multiple variations of the Galaxy S3 to reduce the likelihood that the real thing would leak. So there’s a chance this design might be just one of many on the table at this early stage. (Remember that buttonless Galaxy S3 we saw just weeks before the announcement?)
In a related post, the site reports that Samsung will show an early Galaxy S4 prototype to a handful of partner executives and other big-wigs behind closed doors at next week’s CES. If Samsung ships the S4 this spring, as is expected, we wouldn’t be surprised if a few VIPs got an early look at what the company’s cooking in Las Vegas. CES has always been a big business-to-business show, after all.
For now, all we have is an image that may or may not be an upcoming Samsung phone. But if this is the Galaxy S4, we know a few Android nerds who’ll be celebrating Samsung’s new-found affinity for on-screen buttons.
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