Samsung is flooding the mobile market with a galaxy of Galaxy products. From the original Galaxy S phones launched in March 2010 to the Galaxy Tab tablets, Galaxy S II phones and the new Galaxy Note, the South Korean manufacturer is making the most of its grandiose brand name, which has been well received by critics and consumers.

Now the company is gearing up for the third generation of its powerful, large-touchscreen handsets, with the Galaxy S3, and its launch may well coincide with the expected launch of archrival Apple's eagerly awaited iPhone 5 this summer.

Samsung raised some eyebrows by announcing Wednesday that it will not showcase the Galaxy S3 at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, later this month.

Galaxy Far, Far Away?

"Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012," the company said in a statement first reported by the Web site TechRadar. "The successor to the Galaxy S2 smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product."

The U.S. versions of the Galaxy phones, with a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, 1-GHz processor and 5-megapixel camera were first announced in June 2010 as T-Mobile's Vibrant, AT&T's Captivate, Sprint's Epic, and Verizon Wireless's Fascinate. U.S. Cellular later added a variant called the Mesmerize, and MetroPCS added the Galaxy Indulge.

The Galaxy S II was unveiled almost a year ago at the Mobile World Congress with upgraded features such as a 1.2 GHz, dual-core processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM, a 4.3-inch WVGA Super AMOLED Plus screen display and 8-megapixel camera with flash and 1080p high-definition recording.

The Galaxy Nexus, the first to run Google's Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system and with a 4.65-inch screen and near-field communication technology for payments, was unveiled in November.

The next generation Galaxy device is likely to run Ice Cream Sandwich and have an even bigger screen, more memory and a faster processor, in addition to other surprises. The Los Angeles Times said the device is rumored to have a quad-core processor.

Head to Head

"I think it's critical that Samsung not just upgrade the Galaxy on a calendar similar to the iPhone but that it also demonstrates technical parity or superiority to Apple," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "What's unclear is whether Samsung will deliver some new feature on par (or at least in terms of buzz) with Apple's Siri -- the iPhone 4S's killer app."

The voice-activated personal assistant Siri has set a new bar for smartphone user interfaces.

"The fact that the company is planning a separate event for the S3 suggests that Samsung recognizes the importance of its next-gen Galaxy," King said.

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