Samsung is known to get a jump on the competition in the early half of the year by unveiling its next Galaxy S smartphone before rivals do during the Mobile World Congress. But Samsung usually jumps the gun by one day -- not weeks.

According to a report on Korean publication Chosun Biz, citing analysts from Korean firm Mirae Asset Securities (MAS), Samsung is planning to unveil the Galaxy S6 at or during the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

The Korean publication cites the specific window of Jan. 6 to Jan. 9 for the Galaxy S6 announcement, which would be weeks ahead of schedule compared to any previous Galaxy S unveiling.

Usually, Samsung crashes the party on the February Mobile World Congress by holding an event the day before it starts to drum up attention to its particular flagship smartphone. Maybe Samsung wants to follow the same attention-grabbing game plan, but with CES in Las Vegas instead.

Why the Early Start?

According to MAS (via GSMArena), its analysts believe Samsung is looking for an early start to sell about 45 million Samsung Galaxy S6 devices, which includes a purported 10 million of the rumored Galaxy S6 "Edge" variant with a curved spill-over screen much like 2014's Galaxy Note Edge.

With those high sales expectations, a rumored clean slate approach, dubbed "Project Zero," and a possible Edge variant in the works as well, these signs could point to the veracity of an earlier launch than ever before, as Samsung tries to regain its caché as the leading Android device manufacturer after a disappointing run in 2014 with the Galaxy S5.

However, the South Korean electronics giant hasn't come anywhere near touching this rumor, much less confirming it, and as it indeed represents a big change in not only the media and marketing strategy for Samsung -- but by necessity, the design, testing and mass manufacturing agenda as well.

It's a big rumor to swallow. Especially if you take it with the grain of salt recommended by common sense.

Expected Galaxy S6 Specs

The Galaxy S6, as we previously reported, has had a few conflicting rumored specs lists flying around the tech blogosphere. For example, both a 16-megapixel and a 20-megapixel rear camera have been reported as part of the upcoming Galaxy S6.

But that might be because Samsung already normally produces two variants of each flagship -- a Qualcomm-based device for the U.S. and elsewhere and an Exynos-based variant for Asia and the rest of the world. add the possibility of an Edge variant thrown in the mix, and it would be understandable for specs lists to conflict with each other.

Nevertheless, here's what has been reported so far:

Rumored U.S. Variant

  • 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 with Adreno 430 GPU and 3GB RAM (Cat. 6 LTE)
  • 5.5-inch Super AMOLED at 1440 x 2560p QHD display
  • 32GB Internal Storage (minimum)
  • 5-megapixel front facing camera
  • Android 5.0 Lollipop
  • IP 67 dust and water resistance

Rumored International Version (SM-G925F)

  • 64-bit Exynos 7420 Octa-Core with Mali-T760 GPU and 3GB RAM (With rumored Cat. 10 LTE support: up to 450 Mbps)
  • 5.5-inch Super AMOLED at 1440 x 2560p QHD display
  • 32GB Internal Storage (minimum)
  • 5-megapixel front facing camera
  • Android 5.0 Lollipop
  • IP 67 dust and water resistance

Either a 16-megapixel or 20-megapixel camera could come on the Galaxy S6, but perhaps the Edge variant might account for the discrepancy.

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