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Samsung has, a few hours ago, announced the launch of its new Galaxy S IV smartphone at the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event on March 14 at Radio City Hall in New York.

The launch will take place in the US after a hiatus of three years – when the company’s flagship smartphones were unveiled in 2010 – and also as a result of repeated requests from US mobile carriers.

According to Business Insider, the new Galaxy S IV is rumored to have a 5-inch display screen, full 1080p HD video capacity and a faster quad core processor.

GSM Arena’s unofficial preliminary specs reveal that the phone is expected to feature a 13 MP, autofocus  camera, simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection and image stabilization.

The Galaxy SIV is also reported to have a “Smart Stay” eye-tracking feature and runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS. The handset design, though, harks back to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet’s elegance and simplicity.

The South Korean handset may be trailing behind Apple in the US smartphone market, but the $210 billion behemoth still has an advantage over the limited Apple iPhone range due to its broad product line-up. This advantage reflects in its stock price, which has gone up by 1.5% so far this year, as reported by IBN Live.

Samsung’s forward march is, indeed, worrisome for Apple’s investors since the company’s affordable Android-powered phones may well spell the end of the premium smartphone market in developed countries. The signs of this are apparent in Apple’s falling share purchase, down by 15%. Also, the iPhone maker has apparently been cancelling orders for screens and other components from its Asian supplier as intensifying competition erodes demand for its latest iPhone.