Samsung plans to make a splash with 'sturdier' SIV

New reports confirm that the South Korean company is set to launch a rugged, water-resistant version of the Galaxy S IV.

Scheduled for release in July, the handset, tentatively called Galaxy SIV Active, will be both dust and water-resistant but, according to the Wall Street Journal, will retain the look and feel of the standard SIV handset.

The rugged handset is expected to debut alongside the SIV Mini, a smaller 4.3-inch display version of the SIV phone with a quad-core processor and an 8- rather than 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, meaning that potential customers will have a choice of three different handsets within the next three months. And, while some argue that more choice is always a good thing, some of Samsung's critics have wondered why the manufacturer would make water and dust resistance an option and not the standard?

Sony has taken the latter approach. The move got everyone in the tech community rather excited when the company revealed its flagship Xperia Z smartphone at this year's CES in Las Vegas. As well as being the world's first handset with a 5-inch full HD display (an honor it held for 24 hours before other 5-inch HD handsets were unveiled at the same event by ZTE and Lenovo), it was also dust and water-resistant. The combination of a big screen, excellent build quality and protection against liquids have helped the Japanese company ship an estimated 4 million handsets over the past three months and news emerged over the weekend that Sony is gearing up to launch another water and dust-resistant Xperia handset with a smaller 4.6-inch 720p HD screen.

Currently codenamed the Dogo, it is exepcted to be called the Xperia ZR when it launches later this year.