Samsung Galaxy S IV photos leak ahead of launch. Or maybe they didn't.

Samsung Galaxy S IV leak

The Samsung Galaxy S IV will be unveiled at a special event in New York City later this week, but some people couldn't wait to share purported images of Samsung's new Android device. Is this really how the Samsung Galaxy S IV will look?

A set of supposed Galaxy S IV photos have appeared on a Chinese forum. The photos show a phone that looks like a stretched Galaxy S III made to be taller. The larger size is expected given last week's leaked Galaxy S IV specs suggesting that the Galaxy S IV has a 5-inch screen with 1080p resolution. However, the latest set of leaks doesn't match the previous rumors of the phone having a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor; these photos suggest a 1.8 GHz quad-core processor. The source of the images says this is a dual-SIM version for China, so perhaps the difference in processor could be market related.

The Samsung Galaxy S IV may look nothing like the device pictured in these leaks. In an effort to keep the Samsung Galaxy S III from prematurely appearing online, Samsung went through the trouble of placing the phone in a disguised form and seeding out fake images of the device to distract users. It's possible that the company could seek the same protection for the Galaxy S IV and the latest images are nothing but smoke and mirrors. We'll know if that's the case this Thursday.