While most companies tend to keep the releases of their new products a secret until their actually unveiled, Samsung's executive vice president is far more open to sharing the company's future plans.
When speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Lee Young Hee announced that Samsung is hoping to release the next installment of its flagship smartphone between March and April of 2014. The device will be called the Galaxy S5.
The Galaxy S4's biggest claim to fame was being the most viable Android-powered amrtphone option to rival Apple's iPhone. In order to keep up with that trend, Lee discussed the possibility of a future model of the Galaxy smartphone lineup that could feature an iris recognition component. However, it's worth noting that he did not confirm if that technology would be found on the Galaxy S5.
According to DailyMail, rumors have suggested that Samsung is at work on a follow-up to its Galaxy Gear smartwatch that will go along with the unveiling of the fifth installment in its Galaxy smartphone family.
We've been announcing our first flagship model in the first half of each year, around March and April, and we are still targeting for release around that time," Lee told Bloomberg. "When we release our S5 device, you can also expect a Gear successor with more advanced functions, and the bulky design will also be improved."
Many feel that Samsung rushed the production of the original Galaxy Gear smartwatch design in response to rumors that Apple was going to be unveiling its iWatch. There is still no word from Apple on any kind of smartwatch product although many still believe the product is under development.
The Galaxy Gear smartwatch has received criticism for its design but a second generation device, with more time spent on it from the South Korean tech giant, will likely yield better results, especially when paired with a new Galaxy S5.
As for the big new feature to rival Apple's biometric TouchID fingerprint scanner, the iris scanning technology is considered a bit more secure than Apple's security solution. Currently, the Galaxy S4 has something similar - a feature that can automatically lock onto the movement and position of a user's eyes. The phone can analyze where the user is looking and will automatically scroll up on a web page when the eyes reach the bottom of whatever you are reading on the screen.
Only time will tell if these hints from Lee will actually come to fruition come April, but until then we'll stay on the lookout for any and all Galaxy S5 news.
