It may seem like tech enthusiasts and smartphone geeks are still buzzing about Samsung’s Galaxy S3, but its successor may hit stores in the near future. Samsung has reportedly begun production of the application processor that will power its next-generation flagship device.

The news comes from a report recently published in Korean newspaper Digital Daily, which says that the Galaxy S4 is expected to be released during the first half of 2013.

It is also believed to feature the fist system-on-a-chip and will keep with the Exynos 5400 moniker. This alleged system-on-a-chip will be quad-core and will be based on the Cortex-A15.

This quad-core Exynos processor that will reportedly appear in the next-generation phone will be internally codenamed “Adonis,” and is based on 28nm manufacturing technology that Samsung is currently perfecting.

The term “Adonis” is derived from a Greek mythological figure that was known to be beautiful and youthful. Samsung chose this word to describe the high performance of the device.

Digital Daily's report did not mention the type of GPU users can expect to see in the Galaxy S4, but it could be a variant of the component found in Samsung’s most recent Chromebook, as ITProPortal speculates.

The Korea-based company is currently running test batches of the Exynos Adonis 28nm application processor to prepare for what some believe could be an April or May release date. Samsung is believed to enter “full-fledged mass production” of the Galaxy S4 by the first quarter of 2013, according to a translation of the report from Digital Daily.

Rumors about the Samsung Galaxy S4 initially popped up in mid-September when the Korea Times reported that the phone would debut at a European technology expo this winter.

“Samsung is ready to unveil the next Galaxy smartphone-the Galaxy S4- at early next year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in the Spanish city of Barcelona,” a Samsung official who remained unnamed said to the Korean news source.

The Galaxy S4 is rumored to be Samsung’s “most powerful” smartphone yet, and may feature enhanced hardware and software that will allow the Korea-based company to keep its edge in the mobile market.

Little is known about the device’s specific features, but executives from Samsung’s parts suppliers said the handset will “definitely use” LTE networks.

The last report that had surfaced about the Galaxy S4 also said that it will come with a quad-core Exynos processor, and the latest from Digital Daily only strengthens those rumors.

Samsung fans can also expect the next Galaxy smartphone iteration to come with an even larger display than that of the Galaxy S3. Its successor is rumored to tote a 5-inch OLED display, according to the Korea Times.

Samsung’s Galaxy S3 sold 20 million units within its first 100 days of release, and the company expects that number to climb to 30 million before the year’s end.

Electronics Samsung Specs Features