Samsung Galaxy S3 Release Date: New, Leaked Photo Suggests Phone Is Ready

There is a still more than a month to go before Samsung's mysterious May 22 official meeting -- which may or may not coincide with the official release date of the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone -- but a new, unsubstantiated, leaked image of what will likely be the company's flagship device of the year has surfaced. It depicts an Asian woman posing with two copies of the new phone, suggesting that production is under way.

The image was first published online by a Polish technology blog, oPDA.pl, which said the photograph came from an anonymous source. Apparently, the source said he was testing the device, and he revealed the Samsung Galaxy S3 will include a home button, which you can clearly see in the leaked photo. The picture also suggests the phone will organize applications into rows of 5, in the style of the Galaxy Note. This suggests that the new phone's screen may be wider than ever.

There is some suspicion surrounding this newly leaked image. Many industry analysts consider it to be a fabrication. Upon close inspection of the home button, the smartphone resembles the style of the Samsung Galaxy. The newly leaked photo also shows a front-facing camera in the top right corner.

An image leaked several weeks ago on Reddit via a German fan site also suggested the Galaxy 3S would look similar to the Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2, and it, too, included a home button.

The fact that the newly leaked photo only shows the front of the smartphone has led to further speculation regarding what the back may look like. The back may be curved, as the bottom and top edges of the phone appear to subtly push outward, suggesting a slope. The dense shadow at the bottom of the phone also supports this theory.

Of course, this is all simply speculation, based on a supposedly leaked photo of the Samsung Galaxy S3, but here is what we do know for sure about the new smartphone:

The Galaxy S3 will run on the Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz UI 5.0. However, there are also rumors that Samsung may offer dual booting, giving consumers a choice between Touchwiz UI and ICS Vanilla UI.
Based on rumors the Apple iPhone 5 will include an A6 processor, it should be expected Samsung will keep up with its competition. The new smartphone will likely come with a quad-core 1.8-GHz Exynos processor with about 2 GB of RAM, putting it ahead of even Apple's strongest smartphones. However, Samsung has reported in the past that the S3 will feature a 1.5-GHz quad-core Exynos processor.
BGR has reported the Galaxy S3 will be bigger than ever, with a 4.8-inch Super Amoled Plus touch screen. The resolution is believed to be 1280 by 720 pixels. Rumors have also suggested that the smartphone's screen size will be just 4.6 inches.
The phone will possibly come with a 12-megapixel camera with a 1080p video at 60 frames per second, and also feature video chatting thanks to its front-facing, 2-megapixel camera.
Samsung is expected to introduce its revolutionary wireless charging technology with the Galaxy S3, allowing consumers to charge from as far as 1 to 2 meters away with no cord.