Barely 10 months since the high-profile launch of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone, rumours have started swirling around the South Korean manufacturer's next big release, the Galaxy S6.
Mobile and consumer electronics site Boy Genius Report (BGR) has divulged a list of specifications, which it says it received from a trusted source, revealing some big changes ahead for the latest Samsung flagship.
According to BGR - which has become known for its exclusive early looks at unannounced products - the new flagship will feature a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display, with a 577ppi density.
The device will also reportedly feature a 50% faster central processing unit, a "huge 20MP camera sensor" and 5MP front-facing camera and a 2550mAh battery. BGR claims the new Galaxy will give four hours of usage on a 10-minute charge and will also come with built-in wireless charging capability.
The technology news site also mentions Samsung's mobile payment system, which it calls Samsung Pay, saying it works with 90% of existing magnetic stripe payment terminals, and near-field communication payment terminals - although - like Apple Pay - this service is unlikely to be available for SA at first.
Meanwhile, it looks like Samsung may be dropping the Qualcomm chip it previously used and opting for its own microprocessors. Bloomberg cites "people with direct knowledge of the matter" as saying the Qualcomm chip overheated during testing.
UK-based news portal The Register says Samsung's Exynos chip is most likely to replace the Qualcomm technology, although it is not as fast. Either way, the publication has positioned the Galaxy S6 as an iPhone killer: "If leaks are real, Apple is in trouble."
Although the Galaxy S5 was received with an overall thumbs-up by SA's tech fans, one complaint was that the phone was practically indistinguishable from its predecessor, the Galaxy S4.
Samsung SA's mobile head at the time, Craige Fleisher, defended the design, saying design aesthetics on the S5 were indeed different, but that the big changes were integral rather than superficial.
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