Many were caught off guard when the Galaxy J3 popped up in a couple of benchmark listings last month. This was because it was only in September when Samsung released the Galaxy J2. Now, it appears that the Galaxy J3 has already received its certification from the Federal Communications Commission, which means that the device could be released in the U.S. soon.

The Galaxy J3, with build number SM-J3109, was recently approved by the FCC. The FCC documents did not carry a photo of the Galaxy J3 nor revealed much of its specs, but they did indicate that the device underwent 3G, 2G and LTE connectivity tests, Times News reported.

According to a Phone Arena article from a month ago, benchmark listings from GeekBench and GFXBench showed that the Galaxy J3 is a bigger and higher-ended Galaxy J2.

The newest addition to the Galaxy J series has a 4.7-inch or five-inch 720 x 1280 HD display, Qualcomm's 64-bit quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, the Adreno 306 GPU, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of native storage.

The device is equipped with an eight-megapixel back camera that supports LED flash, face detection, touch focus and autofocus. Its front-facing five-megapixel camera captures 1920 x 1080 full HD videos.

The Galaxy J3 has the usual smartphone features like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity. Google's Android 5.1.1 Lollipop or Android 6.0 Marshmallow will be pre-installed when the device launches.

There hasn't been any word yet on the Galaxy J3's release date, pricing and global availability. Official details will be revealed once Samsung decides to formally unveil the device, which, based on all indications, will be very soon.

In September, the Korean tech giant released the Galaxy J2 in India, priced at $129. It had a 4.7-inch 540 x 960 display, Samsung's very own Exynos 3475 chipset, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of native storage and a 2,000 mAh battery. There's a five-megapixel rear camera and a two-megapixel front snapper.

It boasted of a data-optimization technology that can save up to 50 percent of mobile data usage and free up as much as 11 percent of RAM. It does this by reducing the consumption of data-heavy apps like YouTube, Vine and Instagram, as per Opera.

As for the Galaxy J series, the lineup already has entry-level offerings namely the J1, J2 and J5. It also has a high-end smartphone known as the J7, but it still doesn't have a mid-range device. This vacancy might soon be filled by the Galaxy J3.