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Samsung downplays rumors of Galaxy S4 for early 2013

The company takes to Twitter to pour cold water on what it says are overheated reports of a March 2013 release for the next Galaxy S phone.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
2 min read
Samsung's Galaxy S3.
Samsung's Galaxy S3. Samsung

Consumers awaiting Samsung's Galaxy S4 may face a longer wait than reported yesterday.

The Korean handset maker today denied rumors that the next Galaxy S phone would launch next March. Loosely translated from the Korean, Samsung's Twitter post stated: "Please note that some media reported speculation that the Galaxy S3 subsequent models will be released in a simple rumor is not true. [If] not doing anything, why spread these rumors?"

The buzz spread quickly yesterday after an unnamed Samsung official told the Korea Times that the company is ready to launch the Galaxy S4 at next February's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The device itself would then reach consumers a month later.

Assuming Samsung is not just being coy, a launch of the next Galaxy S phone in March 2013 would seem a bit premature.

The Galaxy S3 debuted just this past May. Samsung also plans to unveil a 64GB version of the Galaxy S3 sometime before the end of the year, at least internationally.

Sales of the Galaxy S3 jumped to 20 million in just the first 100 days. The company also expects sales to surpass 30 million by year's end. Samsung would likely want to get more mileage out of the current model before so quickly introducing a new one, or at least not tip its hand so far in advance.

A spokesman for Samsung told CNET that the Twitter post is the only communication that he's seen from the company on the Galaxy S4 rumors.

Updated 10:15 a.m. PT with response from Samsung.