Samsung Galaxy S4 March 14 Release Date Confirmed: Invitations Sent For ‘Samsung Unpacked’ Event In New York; What Features To Expect?

A mid-March release of the next generation Samsung flagship smartphone –Galaxy S4 – is no longer a rumor. The South Korean tech giant Monday confirmed that it would launch the new Galaxy S smartphone at a March 14 event in New York.

Although the March 14 release date of Samsung Galaxy S4 has been widely rumored of late, a recent report suggested, citing an analyst, that the launch of the highly anticipated device could “initially” be delayed due to issues with its own Exynos Octa processor.

However, now it seems that March 14 would indeed see the release of Galaxy S3’s successor, “taking its fight for market supremacy to Apple Inc's doorstep,” Reuters has reported.

"We introduced the Galaxy S III in London last year, and this time we changed the venue (to New York)... as we were bombarded with requests from U.S. mobile carriers to unveil the Galaxy S IV in the country," Reuters quoted Samsung Electronics' mobile division chief JK Shin as saying on the Edaily news website.

The Galaxy S4 release will be the first U.S. launch of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy smartphone in three years, the report has added.

Samsung released the first Galaxy S smartphone during the CTIA mobile trade show in the U.S. in 2010. The subsequent version of the device, Galaxy S2, was launched at the MWC in Spain in 2011 while the existing Galaxy S3 was unveiled in London in May last year.

The March 14 release date has also been confirmed by technology news website All Things D, citing an unidentified “Samsung representative,” who revealed the date and location for the launch event.

Samsung Sends Out Invitations

CNET reported Monday that Samsung had already started sending out invitations to a “Samsung Unpacked” event, which is scheduled to take place March 14 in New York. While the invitation doesn’t include any more details, the report “has confirmed with a high-level executive that the Galaxy S4 will make its debut there.”

The invite, labeled as “Samsung Unpacked 2013 Episode 1,” doesn’t mention the name “Galaxy S4.” However, it does have a strong hint.

The tagline in the invite reads “Ready 4 the show,” and the use of the number “4” apparently carries the big indication that the star of the show during the March 14 event in the New York City will indeed be the new Galaxy S4.

Although it was expected that Samsung would allow some leaks related to Galaxy S4 at the Mobile World Congress that is being held in Barcelona, the company eventually decided to go for its own announcement at a later date.

Samsung Galaxy S4 is expected to heat up the rivalry with Apple’s iPhone in the U.S. mobile phone market, where the Cupertino tech giant has outdone Samsung to become the leading handset seller in Q4 2012.

However, as Reuters has noted, Samsung may have been dragged down by Apple to the second spot in the U.S. handset market, “but globally the $210 billion South Korean giant is expected to widen its smartphone advantage over” Apple this year with help of an extensive product line-up.

“Apple investors have grown anxious about the company's prospects amid intense competition from Samsung's cheaper, Android-powered phones, and signs the premium smartphone market may be close to saturation in developed markets,” Reuters has reported.

Samsung Galaxy S4: What Features To Expect?

Over the last few months the tech world has been busy speculating about the features that are likely to be included in the Samsung Galaxy S4.

While earlier reports suggested that the handset would feature Super AMOLED Full HD Resolution Display, a recent report has suggested that Samsung will ditch AMOLED and will include a 4.99-inch Full-HD SoLux Display. According to the report, Samsung’s AMOLED factory has “many problems with the production of full HD AMOLED screens.”

Rumors are also rife that Samsung Galaxy S4 will not use the Exynos 5 Octa processor. Instead, the device will be powered by the Snapdragon 600 processor, clocking at 1.9 Ghz, which is 0.2 Ghz higher than the latest HTC One smartphone.

Recent reports also have suggested that Samsung Galaxy S4 will feature the Orb camera technology that will allow the users to capture 360-degree snaps, similar to the Photosphere capabilities introduced in the Google Nexus 4 through Android 4.2 Jelly bean.

Here’s is a full list of expected features and specs of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 (via SamMobile):

- A 4.99-inch Full-HD SoLux Display

- Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean

- Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor (1.9 Ghz)

- 2 GB RAM

- Storage capacity of 16, 32 and 64 GB

- A 13 Megapixel camera with Orb camera technology (1080p video capability)

- A 2 megapixel front-facing camera

- Dimensions of 140.1 x 71.8 x 7.7mm

- 138 gram weight

- Home button with touch buttons

- Plastic back with aluminium sides