Samsung Galaxy S4 to have bendy screen, 13-megapixel camera?

Rumours are swirling that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be packed with more nips, tucks and improved features than Pete Burns and Lindsay Lohan's joint birthday party. Could the S4 boast a bendy 1080p screen, a 13-megapixel camera, or even an eight-core processor?

The hotly anticipated S4 will be the sequel to the Samsung Galaxy S3. The S3 sports a 4.8-inch screen, a substantial step up from its equally popular predecessor the Galaxy S2, which had a 4.3-inch display. In another big jump, the S4 is rumoured to be inflated to 5-inches.

That sizable screen should be full high definition, as Samsung is set to reveal a 5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED screen in the new year.

And the screen could be notable for more than just its size, if The Wall Street Journal is to be believed. The Gotham chip wrapper reports that Samsung is close to revealing its first flexible smart phone, made from plastic displays rather than glass to eliminate shattered screens and broken phones.

Of course, the components have to flex as well, so it remains to be seen how bendy a bendy S4 could actually be.

Eight is the magic number 

It's a safe bet the S4 will have at least quad-core grunt behind it, but could there be even more processing power on the cards? In February, Samsung is set to show off an eight-core processor using ARM's big.LITTLE technology. The octo-core chip is a 28nm processor with four 1.8GHz Cortex-A15 cores and four further Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.2GHz.

Sadly, while we could see an eight-core phone soon, the technology is probably not advanced enough to make it into the S4.

Meanwhile, GSMArena reports that the rumour mill is spinning in overdrive with talk of a beefed-up 13-megapixel camera too. As the S2 and S3 both have 8-megapixel snappers, a photographic fillip would be fine by us.

Wherefore the S4? 

The S4 could make an appearance at CES, the annual technology extravaganza in January, or the phone-focused Mobile World Congress in February, where most of the year's phones are unveiled. We'll be at both events, as always, serving up you the first glimpse of the most exciting new gadgets.

But last year, following the iPhone's lead, the S3 had its own event away from the trade show scrum. Samsung knows the flagship Galaxy phone is big enough to escape the herd and stand on its own, so my money's on another separate Samsung event. I've been wrong before though, as my bookmaker loves to remind me. And my divorce lawyer. And anyone who invested in my idea to make apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook.

What would you like to see in the S4? Or does the S3 need no improvement? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.