Although South Korea tech giant Samsung released its Galaxy S6 early this year, fans are already looking forward to the next iteration in the flagship lineup, the Galaxy S7. According to industry observers, rumors say the waiting game will end by early next year.

According to a report by TechRadar, the upcoming handset may appear in the early months of 2016, particularly during the period culminating in next year's Mobile World Congress. Based on the fact that Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge flagships at around the same time in this year's MWC in Barcelona, the rumor may have some truth to it.

Meanwhile, TechGadgetCentral said that based on word from South Korean publication EToday (which TGC said is highly credible), the new S7 will be unveiled come January instead. In addition, the website hypothesized that as what Samsung did with its predecessor, the Galaxy S7 will most likely come in two variants, with a 5.2-inch base model and a larger, 5.7-inch Edge version. According to the speculations, the two-variant rumor is based on the internal codes used by Samsung for an upcoming product – SM-G930 and SM-G935.

In addition, the new S7 will also reportedly come with microSD card support, a feature since removed from premium Galaxy phones. The feature itself will see the return of a hot-swappable port, meaning users can switch SD cards on the fly, without turning the unit off.

Inquisitr also speculated that since it was already reported that the Samsung Gear VR will have a consumer release before the year ends, Samsung might take this development into consideration and will likely follow up with the S7 having virtual reality support, pairing it up with the $100 Samsung Gear VR.