Samsung Galaxy S III handset launches today

Samsung will launch its highly-anticipated flagship Galaxy S III device at 7pm tonight, as the firm strives to give business users a high performance alternative to Apple's iPhone 4S.

The Korean firm has kept most of the specifications under wraps, only confirming that the handset will be powered by an ARM-based quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos 4 Quad processor.

Samsung will be hoping the Galaxy S III can replicate the success of the popular Galaxy S II.

However, there have been numerous leaks, with Vietnamese bloggers even claiming to have got their hands on the Galaxy S III (see below).

Key features tipped to be included are a 4.6in Super AMOLED display with a 1280 x 720 resolution, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Samsung is also expected to retain microSD card support, which is being phased out by firms such as HTC in favour of cloud storage.

The S III is expected to have an 8-megapixel camera. A mammoth 2050mAh battery could give it all day battery, which could make it popular with data-heavy business users.

In terms of software, the device will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the latest version of Samsung's TouchWiz overlay. It remains to be seen whether the firm launches any specific business features to bolster enterprise uptake.

Samsung will be hoping the Galaxy S III can replicate the success of the Galaxy S II. The Korean firm's second generation handset has shifted well over 20 million units worldwide and made Samsung the world's number one smartphone maker.

IT Pro will tweeting from the launch event, which is due to start at 7pm GMT. Follow us at ITPro for all the updates as they happen. In the meantime, here is a preview of what could be expected.