Samsung to give Galaxy SIII a feature facelift

As rumors continue to circulate about the Galaxy SIV on the eve of its offical unveiling in New York, news has also leaked about what the future has in store for Samsung's current flagship smartphone, the Galaxy SIII.

As rumors continue to circulate about the Galaxy SIV on the eve of its offical unveiling in New York, news has also leaked about what the future has in store for Samsung's current flagship smartphone, the Galaxy SIII.

According to a tweet from Russian tech writer Eldar Murtazin, first spotted by Android Community, Samsung will be adding new features to the existing handset -- most notably a high-definition display and wireless charging and will be tweaking its operating system so that it can offer new users some of the smart scrolling functions rumored to be in the Galaxy SIV.

The Samsung Galaxy SIII has been a monumental global hit since its launch On May 3, 2012. Selling an estimated 40 million units worldwide (estimated because Samaung only publishes sales figures when it suits the company to do so), the latest figures suggest that it is second only to the iPhone in the smartphone wars and is head and shoulders above its closest Android competitor. According to data from mobile analytics firm Localytics published in February, eight of the top 10 Android devices currently in use are Samsunperg smartphones and tablets. The Galaxy S III accounts for 9.2 percent of the global market on its own, making it the world's most popular Android handset, and the Galaxy SII is the second most popular, with an 8.2 percent share of the global market. In all, Samsung currently has a 47 percent share of the world Android market.

This is not the first time that Samsung has refreshed an existing handset as it is superseded by another flagship. However, if Murtazin's sources are correct (and he has a good track record in this regard), it could be the first time that the handset remains available across all major markets. It's an idea that makes great business sense. When Apple launched the iPhone 5 it also dropped the price of its existing iPhone S4. The result -- the iPhone 5 is currently the world's most popular smartphone and the iPhone 4S is the world's second most popular smartphone. According to data from Strategy Analytics, in the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple sold 27.4 million iPhone 5 handsets and 17.4 million iPhone 4S handsets. Samsung came in third, selling 15.4 million Galaxy SIII smartphones.