Samsung Galaxy S5 Images Leak Ahead of Unveiling Today

A post on TechCrunch this morning points the way back to two sources that have leaked photos of the Samsung Galaxy S5—mere hours before their official announcement at the Mobile World Conference going on in Barcelona, Spain, right this second.

The photos show a few interesting details about the Galaxy S5 that, during the pre-announcement rumors, weren’t widely circulated as definitively included, or even included at all. The photos show that the Galaxy S5 will include a fingerprint scanner, taking a page from the Apple iPhone 5s’ playbook, though so far the rumored retina scanner is still MIA. The photos also show a “download Booster,” which combines the powers of the mobile LTE network and Wi-Fi to make downloads over 30 MB move faster. It’s a great idea, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see more smartphones down the road imitating this feature.

The post and the photos also reveal that the Galaxy S5 will boast a 16 MP camera, a heart-rate monitor and will feature “IP67 water and dust-proofing,” giving users peace of mind that their new crazy-expensive smartphone will probably last quite a while—at least on the hardware side of things. Regarding the camera, however: that would be a weaker camera than the one we’d heard about in leaks earlier this month. As such, either the leak was wrong, or there will be more versions of the Galaxy S5 to be unveiled later today. I’m leaning towards the latter, but the leak may have very well been bogus.

The thing is also huge. One photo puts it squarely in between the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy S4, revealing that it’s slightly smaller than the former’s 5.3-inch display, yet slightly bigger than the S4’s 5-inch display. An earlier leak pointed to a screen measuring at 5.25-inches, so that would seem to be confirmed. The corners of the handset are also rounder than that of the Note, but slightly straighter than the corners of the S4; it kind of looks like the smartphone equivalent of the missing link. Essentially, the Galaxy S5 is as close to a phablet as you can get.

This is a great move for Samsung (though not one that really appeals to me). Consumers in the United States seem to really like their phones getting bigger and bigger, but more importantly, the emerging market of China is huge into phablets right now, according to earlier reports from the Wall Street Journal. Samsung’s decision to creep ever-towards the phablet but staying within the confines of the smartphone category—splitting the difference between the two—means it may be able to live comfortably in both places. That’s a recipe for worldwide success, and considering all the other features it seems to have, the Galaxy S5 looks poised to do very well.

We’ll get the full scoop on the phone as it’s officially announced by Samsung later today at MWC. Stay tuned. In the meantime, scope out the rest of the leaked photos below.

Source: TechCrunch, @SaudiAndroid