Samsung to unveil new Android model Oct 19 after delay

Samsung Electronics said on Friday that it planned to unveil a new smartphone based on Google's latest version of the Android operating system at an event in Hong Kong on Oct. 19.

The announcement came after the world's second-biggest handset maker put off the launch of the new device based on the Ice Cream Sandwich system while the world paid tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died last week.

"We are unpacking our new Android phone in concurrence with Google," Samsung said in a statement on Friday, without disclosing the name of the new gadget.Apple and Samsung are engaged in a bruising legal battle that includes more than 20 cases in 10 countries as the two jostle for the top spot in the smartphone and tablet markets. Apple is also the biggest customer of Samsung, buying mainly chips and displays.

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Full disclosure on October 19

Apple's new iPhone 4S finally went on sale in stores around the globe on Friday, with fans snapping up the final gadget unveiled during Jobs' lifetime.

A U.S. judge said on Thursday Samsung's Galaxy tablets infringe Apple iPad patents, but also that Apple has a problem establishing the validity of its patents.

It's expected that the Galaxy Nexus aka the Nexus Prime might be the handset in question here and the competition between Apple and Samsung will simply get another adrenaline shot in the arm. Though there's no official information about the handset that will be launched, the Nexus Prime has been making big waves in the Android community recently and a teaser advertisement from Samsung still talks of something big coming our way. This could be a big deal for Samsung seeing as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been hitting brick walls with courts in parts if Europe and Australia where the sale of the tablet is in dire straits.

Reuters