Although we've yet to hear anything official about the Samsung Galaxy S III making its debut at Mobile World Congress next month, many folks have assumed that such an event is going to occur, especially given the fact that the Galaxy S II was introduced at last year's MWC. A new report out of The Verge this afternoon suggests that at one time that was indeed the case, but now Samsung may have decided to push the GSIII's unveiling back. This rumor comes from "people familiar with the matter," who believe that the delay may have been caused by Samsung's desire to avoid an extended period between the device's international launch and its arrival here in the U.S. The news of a Galaxy S III announcement delay is also being reported by German blog BestBoyZ. So when will Samsung take the wraps off of the GSIII? An exact date isn't yet known, but it's said that the handset will be here "before summer."

Keeping up with the Galaxy S III news, well-known Russian insider Eldar Murtazin recently took to Twitter to claim that he's spent some hands-on time with Samsung's new handset. It wasn't all "gloat, gloat, gloat," though, as Murtazin spilled some alleged specs for the GSIII. According to him, the phone packs an HD display, 1.5GHz or 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 12-megapixel shooter, and Ice Cream Sandwich with some software tweaks (likely referring to TouchWiz), all in a package that he says gets good battery life. Murtazin adds that the GSIII is set to debut at MWC, but as the previous rumor claims, that may no longer be the case.

So will we or won't we see the Galaxy S III next month? We'll have to wait another month or so to find out for sure, but even if the GSIII does end up missing out on a trip to Barcelona, we're sure to see some pretty killer hardware at MWC from Samsung and others. And hey, if Samsung does push the GSIII further into 2012, that means that you'll have some extra time with your Galaxy S II before feeling like its outdated and being filled with the desire to chuck it out the nearest window in favor of Samsung's new hardware. 

Via Android Central, @eldarmurtazin (1), (2), BestBoyZ, The Verge