Korea Times: Samsung to leapfrog iPhone 5 in February

The scoop came Sunday from the
Korea Times
, which gave the story a decidedly pro-Samsung spin. The first two paragraphs:

Samsung Electronics plans to unveil the latest in its Galaxy line, the S4, at a European technology exhibition in February, according to company officials and local parts suppliers for the technology giant.

The timetable was released just three days after rival Apple introduced the iPhone 5, which has received a mixed response from industry experts and consumers as it is seemingly lacking in innovative features.

Among the other revelations (I quote):

• The smartphone… will be more than enough to curb Apple’s latest iPhone.
• Samsung’s edges in manufacturing will further shine after the patent disputes go further on.
• Samsung is confident to widen its lead over Apple, though the legal fight is a totally separate issue
• A recent ruling in the U.K. said Samsung didn’t infringe on Apple’s design patents.
• The release of the S4 means more market share for Samsung as it is the only firm that can guarantee on-time delivery, output commitment and better pricing for mobile application processors
• Samsung is asking Apple to pay more to use its mobile application processors produced at its plant in Austin, Texas.

According to the report, the Galaxy S4 will sport a 5-inch screen, run Google’s (GOOG) Android platform and be available for purchase by March 2013 at the latest.

You can read the full Korea Times report here.

UPDATE: TheNextWeb reports that Samsung has used its official Twitter account to discredit the Korea Times story. As crudely processed by Google Translate, the tweet reads:

[Please note that some media reported speculation that the Galaxy S Ⅲ subsequent models will be released “in a simple rumor is not true. Fixed’m not doing anything, why spread these rumors? ㅜ ㅜ