Samsung Galaxy S4 Leaked Photos Already Dismissed As Fake? [PHOTOS]

With just three days until Samsung unveils the Samsung Galaxy S4 at its Mobile Unpacked event on March 14 at New York's Radio City Music Hall, even more supposed leaks of the smartphone are coming out of the woodwork. The only thing is, no one is falling for them.

Images of a phone called the Galaxy S4 were uploaded onto the Chinese forum 52Samsung early Monday and were later picked up by the Verge. The phone in question is a device that looks eerily like the Samsung Galaxy S3, save for being slightly larger and more rectangular. As several rumors suggest that the upcoming Galaxy S4 may highly resemble its predecessor, several other “leaks,” mockups and concept phones have sported a similar large and square design.

The specifications displayed on the screen from the AnTuTu benchmarking app seem to match fairly close to readily accepted rumors that the Galaxy S4 will include such specs as a 1080p display, 2GM of RAM and a PoverVR SGX 544MP GPU. The benchmark also suggests the phone will run Android 4.2.1 -- though most believe it will run Android 4.2.2 and will have a Exynos 5410 (Exynos 5 Octa) CPU, which is listed under its supposed codename “Universal5410,” clocking in at 1.8 Ghz, as opposed to the commonly suggested 1.9 Ghz.

Some consider that the phone may be an early prototype or could possibly be sporting a decoy back in order to disguise its final design. Android Central notes that Samsung did something similar prior to the release of the Galaxy S3 last year, sharing several prerelease versions of the device that used “dummy cases” to keep the actual phone design a mystery.

Skeptics, however, are less convinced that this phone has anything to do with the Galaxy S4. Having been duped by a recent “leak” by @evleaks that turned out to be an illegitimate Galaxy S4 rendering by French online retailer Expansys, Android Authority isn’t buying the phone in these photos are the next big thing from Samsung. The tech website suggests that the phone’s bezel is too thick and its home button too small for what is expected of the Galaxy S4; and also notes that it is fairly easy to superimpose a benchmark screen onto a phony device using Photoshop.

The consensus suggests that whether it’s a prototype, a decoy or completely fake, no one really believes this phone is the actual Galaxy S4 that we'll see at Mobile Unpacked. The device ironically most closely resembles the concept phone that Gotta Be Mobile released a video for last Tuesday. Even that phone, a known rendering, looks more streamlined than the device in these “leaked” photos.

As much as many like to suggest that Samsung phones tend to look cheap due to the use of plastic for its external hardware, they don’t exactly look as low end as the phone depicted in these photos.

Get ready because the next 72 hours will likely be extremely exciting as various sources try to cram as many leaks and new rumors about the Galaxy S4 in before the truth comes out on Thursday.