How many hardware tricks can Samsung possibly have hidden up its metaphorical sleeve? After already debuting the Galaxy S4, Mega, Core, Win, and Galaxy Tab 3 in the early months of the year, Samsung has at least two more devices to launch this summer.
Samsung is sending out press invites to a launch event in London on June 20, where the company said it would premiere devices from the Galaxy and ATIV lines. The Galaxy name implies there will be at least one new Android device to see, while ATIV is Samsung's line of Windows 8-powered smartphones and tablets/hybrids. The event will be live streamed on Samsung's YouTube channel.
The timing of Samsung's announcement is likely not a coincidence. It will come just one week after Apple's WWDC yearly developer conference, where the company is expected to announce new hardware and software. Samsung's event also falls only days before Microsoft's BUILD annual developer conference, where the company is expected to unveil more about the Blue updates slated for Windows computers and smartphones.
What Samsung will actually announce at its June 20 event is still unclear, but there are a few hints. One of the new Android devices is rumored to be the Galaxy Note 3, as the Note 2 has been out since September and is about due for a refresh. Rumored specs for the Galaxy Note 3 include an even larger 5.9-inch 1080p display, a 13-megapixel camera, an Octa-core processor, up to 3GB of RAM, and the latest version of Google Android.
Another hotly-tipped announcement for Samsung's event is the Galaxy S4 Mini, which shrinks the 5-inch display of its big brother to somewhere around 4.3-inches (which is still larger than the 4-inch iPhone 5). Rumored specs for the Galaxy S4 Mini include a 1.6GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera and a Super AMOLED display with 960 by 540 pixels resolution. Samsung has already accidentally leakedthe S4 Mini on its website, but quickly yanked the listing.
The ATIV announcement is a bit more shrouded in mystery. Samsung also leaked the $1,200 ATIV Book 6 (and the page is still live on the Samsung site), but the June 20 event is tied to Samsung Mobile, which deals in smartphones and tablets, not full-blown PCs. A new Windows Phone is the most obvious theory, as Samsung's endeavors into Windows Phone 8 have been limited to the ATIV S thus far. A Haswell-powered Windows 8 tablet is another possibility.
Don't hold your breath for a Windows RT announcement, though. Earlier this year, Samsung slammed the brakes on plans to bring its RT-powered ATIV Tab to the U.S., with Samsung SVP Mike Abrary saying, "There was a lot of heavy lifting we still needed to do to educate the customer on what Windows RT was." Ouch.
