Samsung Galaxy S4: release day rumour round-up

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South Korean electronics giant Samsung looks set to take the wraps off the successor to its hugely popular Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone later today.

The new device, which is expected to be called the Samsung Galaxy S4, has a lot to live up to, given its successor sold 10 million units worldwide within its first two months on sale.

However, according to a recent report on Korean news site Money Today, the smartphone maker is expecting to shift around the same number once the S4 goes on general release.

The Money Today report claims Samsung has put in monthly component orders into its suppliers that would allow the firm to sell around 10 million Galaxy S4s every month.

Tony Cripps, principal device analyst at market watcher Ovum, said there is nothing to suggest the S4 will harm Samsung's ability to ship more devices than it does now.

He also suggested in the long run the company might be better off distancing itself from Google.

"Samsung continues to grow its shipments impressively, [but] the company undermines its own position in the broader ecosystem by providing Google a huge mobile platform from which to influence consumers, application developers and advertisers.

"It is very difficult for Samsung to achieve that level of influence itself while it depends on Google to supply device software and key applications and services through Android," Cripps added.

Here, we take a look at some of the specs Samsung is expected to announce later today, and we'll leave you to decide if you think they are compelling enough for the firm to make good on its (reportedly) lofty sales ambitions.

Tech specs: As you would expect for a device as highly-anticipated as the S4, speculation about what will be under the hood has been rife, but all the signs seem to suggest the handset will be powered by an eight core Exynos 5 processor.

It is widely tipped to sport a Broadcom BCM4335 combination chip, which if true will provide users with vastly improved 802.11ac wireless capabilities compared with the S3.

The camera is expected to be beefed up from 8-megapixels to 13-megapixels and there is anticipated support for wireless charging.

Screen: The general consensus seems to be that the S4 will pack a 5in screen, which is slightly larger than its predecessor's 4.8in display. The S4 is expected to boast a picture density of 441 pixels per inch. This would be an improvement on the 306 ppi offered by the S3 and the 326 ppi of the iPhone 5.

Reports also suggest Samsung has been working on an indestructible material for the display. Several analysts told Reuters that the firm started laying the ground work for high volume manufacturing of unbreakable plastic substrate displays some time ago.

Eye roll scrolling: Rumours that Samsung will use the S4 to debut technology that tracks users' eye movements to scroll through pages of text, for example, on the device have persisted for a while.

The New York Times recently quoted an unnamed Samsung source who vouched for the existence of the technology, but stopped short of revealing what would power it.

Further to this, the company has filed trademark claims for the names "Eye Scroll" and "Samsung Eye Scroll" in Europe and the United States, respectively, where it described the feature as "computer application software having a feature of sensing eye movements and scrolling displays on mobile devices."

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.