Samsung Galaxy S3: New Specs Revealed Ahead of MWC 2012

Samsung continued to hold its silence on the highly anticipated Galaxy S3 at the Mobile World Congress 2012 on Monday, but Boy Genius has leaked new specs that were apparently revealed before the show by other sources.

New information obtained by Boy Genius suggests the new handset will be running a 1.5GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processor. The report also claims that the phone will come with 4G LTE and have a 4.8- inch screen with full HD 1080p resolution.

Uncertainty continues to surround the phone's release date. It was initially rumored to be unveiled at the MWC 2012, but after the no show the phone has since been rumored to have a March, April or July launch.

The phones predecessor--the Galaxy S2--was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress last year, and then launched in April, which spurred rumors that the S3 would be out at the same time. But Samsung has said that Galaxy enthusiasts should not hold their breaths for a March release, as the phone is likely to come in the middle of the year, closer to the summer, according to a report obtained by News Sizzle.

The Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Nexus were heralded two of the most popular smart phones of 2011, with their all-powerful features packed into a slim, sleek case. The success of these phones could be a contributing factor to the S3 delay.

Some rumors also suggest that Samsung wants to use the Summer Olympics in London as a platform to advertise the new phone, which could result in the phone being released after the games.

Release Date: The latest and most popular release date rumor is that the phone will launch on March.13 at an event in Turkey. While this is highly unlikely, S3 enthusiasts are hoping the Mobile World Congress in February will bring official information about the phone's release.

Processor: The next generation of Samsung 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.

Display: 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 a 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.

Other rumored specs:

• 5″ 1280×720 Super AMOLED Plus display
• 9mm thick body
• 8 megapixel main camera with LED and Xenon flash
• 2 megapixel front-facing camera
• 32 or 64 GB of internal memory
• USB 3.0 capability
• 4G LTE right off the bat
• 1.5GHz Quadcore Samsung Exynos CPU
• Touchwhiz 5.0 overlay

Meanwhile, Samsung did unveil its second-generation tablet range: The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, which comes with a larger screen, Android 4.0 and a 1GHz dual core processor and a 3MP rear-facing camera.