IPhone 5 Release vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Which One Is Worth The Wait?

Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S3 are two of the most highly anticipated phones of the year, but how do they measure up?

It's hard to make the comparison when neither Apple nor Samsung have revealed any details about their next-generation of smartphones, but experts in the industry, and people in the smartphone manufacturing supply chain, have leaked some details, which have spurred rumors that both phones will compete head-to-head.

Release Date:

After great media hype, iPhone customers expected the iPhone 5 to be released in October 2011, but instead Apple unveiled the 4S. While popular rumors suggest the phone will be launched at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, it seems more realistic that the phone will launch in October, a year on from the launch of the 4S.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 was expected to launch at he Mobile World Congress last month--following suit of its predecessor--but the phone was a no show. Many speculate that the delay is a result of the Galaxy S2's success and the next generation will come out later this year, perhaps to boost competition further with the iPhone.

Display:

The latest iPhone 5 rumors point to a 1280 x70 resolution with a Quantum Dot LED curved glass edge-to-edge display. Following the release of the new iPad with a Retina Display, new rumors have emerged that the iPhone will also come with a revolutionary screen. A bigger 4-inch or 4.3-inch screen is also on the rumors cards, after many iPhone customers have criticized the iPhone screen for being too small.

The S3 is expected to come with a larger screen than that of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, nearer to the 5-inch scale. It is rumored to have an AMOLED plus screen with 1280x720 resolution. If the phone comes with a S5K2P1 chip, it will be able to capture 60fps HD video and 8.3 megapixel images.

Processor:

The iPhone 5 will probably come with an A6 Chip, or at the very least a quad-core processor to match the chip of the new iPad.

The S3 is expected to boast an Exynos 4412 chipset with a quad-core unit, which will apparently be clocked at 1.5GHz. The phone is guaranteed to arrive with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

Camera

Both phone are expected to come with an 8 megapixel main camera with LED and Xenon flash. New rumors surrounding the iPhone speculate that the phone could come with a camera between 8-13 megapixels.

At the Mobile World Congress, Samsun revealed its new 8-megapixel CMOS sensor, the chip that converts light into the picture you see on your phone. The chip uses new backside illuminated (BSI) technology, which improves image quality when there is not a lot of light, producing crisper and clearer images.