Just as a one new phone arrives, another is hot on its heels hoping to be bigger and better, or capture the attention of those the first one failed to.

LG recently launched its G3 smartphone less than a year after the G2 and Sony has also released two flagship Xperia smartphones a year for the past couple. Now it is Samsung's turn.

The Galaxy S5 was only introduced to the market in April, but rumour has it a new metal-constructed handset called the Galaxy Alpha is on its way. We have rounded up all the rumours and speculation in one place so keep reading to find out everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy Alpha.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha release date

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha first appeared on the rumour mill in July after Sam Mobile published some photos of a smartphone with an aluminium metal frame, which it referred to as the Galaxy Alpha. It is said to be the first model from a new line of premium smartphones by the South Korean giant.

The site claimed the device would launch at the end of August, which would be just in time to take on the iPhone 6 that is expected to be announced on 9 September.

Supporting the name of the device and its existence was a post from a UK retailer that accidentally put the device up from pre-order before quickly taking it down again. It set the price at £549 SIM-free, putting it into the premium sector.

The rumoured release date was set at 13 August, but more recently it has been suggested that the Galaxy Alpha could appear during Samsung's Unpacked event that will take place on 3 September at consumer electronics show IFA in Berlin.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha design

A metal constructed device would be a first for Samsung as despite rumours suggesting the Galaxy S5 would step away from the more plastic build, this never came to light.

The pictures published by Sam Mobile present a device with a squarer shape than the Galaxy S5, making it more like the Note 3 and according to the site, it will still come with a faux leather rear plate.

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A couple of weeks after the Sam Mobile images were published, Chinese site Weibo released some images of a white variant of what it claimed to be the Galaxy Alpha handset, featuring a metallic outer edging.

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The UK retailer that accidentally put the Galaxy Alpha pre-order page live listed it as having a metal outer rim too, which is said to be similar to what the iPhone 5S offers.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha display

The Galaxy Alpha is rumoured to be coming with the same 4.7-inch display as the Galaxy S3, which would suggest pixel density of 320ppi if the report from Sam Mobile is accurate.

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4.7-inch Super AMOLED display with 320ppi was confirmed by the pre-order listing, and this was also the screen size and resolution noted by TechTastic, which recently leaked another image of the device. 

Samsung Galaxy Alpha specs

In terms of specs, the Galaxy Alpha might look more like the Galaxy Note 3 but Sam Mobile claims its specs will be closer to the Galaxy S5 mini, only a little better.

It is said to be coming with a fingerprint sensor but the Sam Mobile images suggest there will be no heart rate monitor on the Galaxy Alpha. No microSD expansion is rumoured to be offered either but you should find 32GB of storage on the new model and it is also said to be coming with a nano-SIM.

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The 32GB internal storage capacity with no microSD support was detailed on the pre-order listing that was accidentally posted, as was Android KitKat 4.4.4, but contrary to the Sam Mobile report, the Galaxy Alpha was also listed as having a heart rate monitor like the Galaxy S5. Plus there was also mention of a fingerprint sensor on the listing.

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Powering the handset will be Samsung's own octa-core Exynos 5433 processor, which recently beat the Snapdragon 805 on AnTuTu benchmarking, backed by 2GB of RAM.

Dutch website TechTastic also recently quoted a 32GB storage, no microSD support, 2GB of RAM, Android 4.4.4 and Samsung's own octa-core Exynos 5433 processor.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha camera

Details of the Galaxy Alpha camera weren't mentioned until the pre-order listing, but according to UK retailer's page, it will come with a 12-megapixel rear camera featuring "super-fast autofocus" and a 2-megapixel front-facing selfies camera. 

TechTastic supported the idea of a 12-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera in a recent post, where it also published an image of the device with the Android back-end on display.

Conclusion

While the Samsung Galaxy Alpha was originally rumoured to arrive in August, we suspect a September release where the company uses Unpacked to reveal it is a more likely scenario.

The metal build seems likely given the number of image leaks that have appeared all supporting the same conclusion and the pre-order page that was quickly removed suggests the name and specs listed are also likely.

We will update this feature as more rumours surface and we will be at IFA to give you the latest news from Samsung's Unpacked event so watch this space.