Alleged photos of Chinese Samsung Galaxy S4 variant leak online

So we did a Galaxy S4 rumour roundup earlier. Well, call this an update. It seems somebody decided to leak the next-gen Samsung Galaxy flagship just after we published our earlier piece.

The pictures that were leaked on the 52Samsung.com forums apparently show the Chinese dual-SIM version of the Galaxy S4. It looks remarkably similar to the Galaxy Note 2 and has a fine grid-like pattern on the back and even around the speaker grille on the front.

Alleged pictures of the Chinese variant of the Galaxy S4 (Image credit: 54Samsung.com)

The device leaked today carries the model number GT-I9502 in grey livery. The phone seems like a slight refresh over the Samsung Galaxy S3, but nothing like the squared-edge redesign that we have heard about in the past. However, it could be that this specific model is only meant for the Chinese market. Another possibility is that this is not a Galaxy S4 at all, but some other phone that we will see later.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

If you remember Samsung has had a history of releasing misinformation about its phone and false leaks to generate hype. In the build up to the Galaxy S3 launch last year, pictures emerged showing handsets in all sorts of shapes to avoid leaking the final design of the phone. However, this latest leak shows the device clearly, so it is very likely that this is the real deal. We would still advice a healthy pinch of salt before believing this latest set of leaked pictures.

The phone has the trademark Samsung home button and thin sides that appear to be fashioned out of some metallic material. Unlike the Galaxy S3, the S4 has straight-edged sides. The right edge of the phone holds the power or lock/unlock button while the left edge has the volume controls. The microUSB/MHL slot is on the bottom of the phone, just below the loudspeaker grille on the back. All in all, it looks very similar to the current crop of Samsung phones.

Besides showing the device itself, there are other details about the phone that have been leaked as well. The lockscreen looks to have undergone some renovation and now there’s a very clean-looking interface. The notification tray area has been made transparent here for a cleaner look. We also get a few glimpses of the phone’s UI itself, which show the old homescreen with five buttons on the dock at the bottom. A settings page reveals the light theme that we have seen in earlier screenshots.

On the hardware side, shots from benchmarking app AnTuTu seem to reveal an Exynos 5410 (Exynos 5 Octa) CPU running at up to 1.8GHz with 2GB of RAM and a 1080p display. The phone scored a mind-boggling 26118 score in the benchmark test, which puts it ahead of the current AnTuTu leader, China’s Xiaomi MI2.