Samsung fans looking forward to this month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain should probably lower their expectations. The Galaxy S4 won't be there.
That's the latest rumor making its way through the Internet on Monday, Feb. 18. Instead of participating at the MWC, Samsung will hold its own event dedicated to the S4 two weeks later.
Russian analyst Eldar Murtazin expects the South Korean giant to orchestrate the event in New York City on March 14, according to Sammobile. Previous reports suggested the event would be a day later on March 15, although the consensus seems to be that Samsung won't be making much noise in Spain.
The decision is undoubtedly bad news for the MWC, but many companies are coming around to the realization that it's better to host their own events than to compete with the insanity that accompanies most major tech conventions. Apple receives great coverage every time it holds an event of its own, and companies like Microsoft, Sony and Samsung are all reaching the same conclusion: Why try to out-shout rivals at the same event when you can dominate the news cycle by staging an exclusive press conference?
The Galaxy S4 is guaranteed to be one of the most hotly anticipated smartphones of 2013, so even more important than the date of its unveiling is the date it'll be available to consumers. Although that information is also firmly planted in rumor territory, many reports indicate that Samsung will start rolling out the phone in April, but it won't be available in all markets until June. That means some will have to wait; we just don't know who yet.
The device itself is expected to be impressive. Here's Sammobile's updated list of the handset's rumored specs:
- Exynos 5 Octa (8-Core) CPU
- Mali-T678 (8-Core) GPU
- 4.99″ SuperAMOLED Full HD Resolution Display
- 2GB of RAM
- 13-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of shooting 1080p Full HD Videos at 30FPS
- 2-megapixel front-facing camera capable of shooting 720p HD Videos
- Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out of the box.
