Hot off the announcement of the iPhone 5, it seems Samsung didn’t want to be out of the spotlight too long. According to sources, Samsung waited until the iPhone 5 was announced to determine their own timetable for the launch of the successor to the hugely popular Galaxy SIII, pictured above.

Even though the SIII was released only a couple of months ago, Samsung want to dig into pockets again as soon as possible. Rumours are indicating that the Galaxy S4 (or is it Galaxy SIV?) will be announced at the Mobile World Congress in February 2013, held in Barcelona.

We were surprised to find that the news came from a reporter at the Korea Times who claims to have an exclusive source at a local Samsung supplier. According to this source, we can expect it to hit stores in March 2013 and the device will retain the “inspired by nature” design. Also, we can expect a quad-core Exynos processor, LTE-compatible radio and maybe even a flexible screen. It won’t actually make the device flexible; it is merely to reduce the thickness of the device. Another interesting rumour is that the screen “might get a bump from 4.8 to 5 inches”. The device won’t be any bigger, though, which means we might get the button free face we were hoping the Galaxy SIII would have.

The source says that Samsung’s timetable was agreed upon a mere three days after Apple’s smartphone titan was announced last week. It could be a smart move by the Korean firm; by making the announcement so soon they will be hoping to win over some Apple fans that might have been a bit disappointed with the new iPhone.

What do you think about this Samsung strategy? Will it pay off, or will they create an incomplete product with so little time to work on it? Does Samsung really have to keep making their phones bigger and bigger? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Korea Times