For quite a while now, it has been apparent that Samsung could deliver two rather different handsets at the point of the Galaxy S5's launch, and with the MWC showcasing just a couple of days away, an Amazon listing has all-but confirmed this to be the case. Spigen, maker of numerous smartphone cases and accessories, has sought to beat competitors to the draw by retailing its range of Galaxy S5 cases prior to the announcement, and in doing so, has suggested that there will, in fact, be separate "Prime" and "Standard" models.
We're now just days away from Mobile World Congress, the annual tablet and smartphone event that takes place in Barcelona and tends to be the place that companies like Samsung and its competitors out new products. Nokia has always had a big presence at the event, but this year it's looking like Samsung is the company that will get all the attention as it looks increasingly likely that its will choose this particular event as the stage to unveil its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5.
Unless you've been hiding away in a cave somewhere, you'll probably have gleaned that Samsung will be unveiling its flagship Galaxy S5 at next week's Mobile World Congress. Although we've a relatively good idea as to the tech specs, pinning down a release date has proven to be rather more difficult.
Apple and Samsung is a little more than your average company rivalry. There's genuine animosity between the two tech titans, and you only have to look at the ongoing litigation for further evidence of the contempt each feels for the other. Unsurprisingly, both Apple and Samsung regularly take shots at each other with ad campaigns, and in its latest, Sammy has taken a swipe at its old adversary in a new fleet of commercials for the Galaxy Tab Pro and Note 3. Check them out after the fold!
Flickr has often proved to be a savvy leaker of camera data pertaining to unreleased smartphones, and with preliminary testing likely taking place prior to the announcement of the Galaxy S5 next week, the Yahoo-owned photo sharing site looks to have its first snaps taken using the elusive device. The fact that we've little-to-no clue regarding the device's form factor is a testament to how much of a secret the Korean company wishes to keep it, but we have still caught wind of rumors suggesting an improved, 16-megapixel rear-facing camera. Now, EXIF data of a photo taken using the Samsung-SM-G900A (possibly the AT&T Galaxy S5) and posted to Flickr appears to corroborate this.
With Mobile World Congress not far away now it's surely a matter of when rather than whether Samsung will try and ape Apple by including its own fingerprint-sensing technology in the upcoming but as yet still unannounced Galaxy S5. There's been little concrete news on the subject so far, but as we draw ever closer to the expected unveiling of Samsung's next flagship smartphone, details are finally beginning to slip through the net.
A little light-hearted mocking of rivaling companies and their products never hurt anybody in the tech industry, and as we've seen through numerous ad campaigns over the years, they're all at it. With MWC not too far away, Huawei has caricatured Apple's Siri voice assistant to rib both the Cupertino company and rival Samsung, while also promoting its new, to-be-announced smartphone and tablet. Check out the humorous clip right after the break!
Samsung is one of the most prolific carriers of Google's Android. Save a couple of half-hearted Windows Phone efforts over the past couple of years, the Korean company has consistently churned out swathes of smartphones running the ubiquitous software, and considering how many hundreds of millions of handsets out there are on Android, the $50 million Google paid to acquire Android nearly a decade ago looks a shrewd bit of business. But it has now emerged that in actual fact, Andy Rubin, one of the founding members of the Android team, actually pitched the product to the Galaxy maker out in Seoul, a proposition that Samsung unequivocally - and perhaps, regrettably - baulked at.
The Apple vs. Samsung patent debacle has been a recurring theme of the mobile industry during the past few years, with each company putting forth their cases pertaining to the supposed patent infringement of the other. Prior to each hearing, the executives high up in both Samsung and Apple meet up for clear-the-air talks in an attempt to find some kind of resolution. But this mandatory meeting seldom works where these two titans are concerned, and with another high profile court case looming, a meeting between Apple chief Tim Cook and JK Shin - just one of the Korean company's three CEOs, has proved a fruitless exercise.
As we keenly await the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S5 later on this month, new reports out of the company's native Korea have implied that as well as the imminent flagship, Samsung plans on releasing a handset with a wraparound display later on this year. Although the TouchWiz maker likes to keep the flow of handsets constant throughout every year, only two - the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note - tend to stand out among the also-rans. However, the prospect of a first Samsung smartphone packing this unorthodox display would certainly grab the headlines, and if it is in line for a launch at some point in 2014, would likely upstage both of the current flagship ranges.
