Rumor: Galaxy S5 release date set for February, specs to include 64-bit octa-core CPU

A new report from South Korean media says that Samsung is going to announce the Galaxy S5 at some point in January and then start selling it about a month later.

According to Naver, Samsung is not yet happy with Galaxy S4 sales – this isn’t the first time we hear that Galaxy S4 sales are somewhat disappointing, or at least not on par with expectations – which is why the company is already prepping its next-gen flagship handset.

We’ll point out that this is just a rumor, and even if it’s said to have trickled down from Samsung staff, we’ll remind you that we’ve heard similar rumors about early launches for previous flagship handsets, including the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4. Earlier this year, the Galaxy S4 was announced in mid-March and went on sale in late April. The Galaxy S3 was unveiled in early May 2012 and launched at the end of the same month.

That said, the publication does mention a few specs for the Galaxy S5 including a 64-bit Exynos 5 Octa 5430 processor (which should be a true octa-core CPU), a 16-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) and fingerprint scanner.

We already know that Samsung’s working on chips for the future – the Exynos 5420 is one such CPU that can use eight cores simultaneously, something previous big.LITTLE chips were not able to do. But today’s report somewhat contradicts a 64-bit CPU-related remark made by Samsung’s JK Shin soon after the iPhone 5S was made official. The top exec said that the company will have its own 64-bit mobile processors, but that won’t happen “in the shortest time.”

Therefore, it’s certainly going to be interesting to see whether the Galaxy S5 will come with a 64-bit CPU under the hood, or whether that honor will be reserved to a future flagship, such as the Galaxy Note 4.

As for that 16-megapixel camera with OIS capabilities, we’ll remind you that Samsung has recently announced a 13-megapixel camera with OIS for next-year handsets.

Finally, since we are talking about rumored Galaxy S5 specs, we’ll also mention a different report that said a few days ago the Galaxy S5 will be waterproof and dustproof.

However, it’s a bit too early in the season for Galaxy S5 rumors, so while we wait for more reports on next year’s top Samsung handset let’s hear it from our readers: what are your expectations for the future Galaxy S5?