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Apple rival Samsung's Galaxy S IV shows up in online video ahead of launch

Just days before its official unveiling at a massively hyped event in New York, a video has emerged online appearing to show off the Galaxy S IV, the new flagship smartphone that Samsung hopes will unseat Apple's iPhone 5 atop the bestseller list.

As the March 14 unveiling of the Galaxy S IV draws nearer, leaks and rumors about the device have proliferated. Hands-on pictures began circulating late last week, and on Tuesday the video above emerged from the same source that first posted hands-on images.

With a video touting the design process for the iPad mini playing in the background, the unnamed videographer shows off the internals of the device, including its removable back cover and battery. The device shown appears to hew largely to the design aesthetic of its predecessor, the Galaxy S III, retaining the plastic casing, but with a finish that attempts to give the premium look of an Apple or HTC device.

The device also appears to have two SIM card clots, suggesting that it could be a Galaxy Duos variant and not the main, single-SIM Galaxy S IV.

Besides a brief look at the camera's burst mode and the phone's dialer, the video shows little else in the way of functions for the purported Galaxy S IV. The user explores a few of what appear to be settings menus, but no demonstration is given of any eye-tracking tech or wireless charging, both of which have been rumored to be included in this year's model.

When it's revealed on Thursday, the Galaxy S IV is expected to feature an eight-core Exynos 5 Octa processor and a PowerVR SGX 5443MP3, tri-core GPU. It is also expected to feature a five-inch 1080p display and to run Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean out of the box.

With the Galaxy S III having firmly established Samsung as the top rival to Apple in the smartphone segment, the South Korean conglomerate is hoping to blow past the iPhone maker with the S IV. The new Samsung flagship model has been accompanied by a massive marketing campaign, with teaser videos having run on the Internet for the past week. Samsung will also stream the media event for the S IV launch both on YouTube and live in Times Square.