One of the more persistent rumors surrounding the Galaxy S7 has suggested that the new phone will be launched earlier than expected.

Recent rumors over the past few months have even indicated that Samsung's next flagship offering could even be released as early as January, but that looks less likely now, thanks to recent news regarding Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

According to GSM Arena, Samsung has just detailed the contents of their upcoming CES press conference, and at least for now, there was no mention of the Galaxy S7 or any other smartphone for that matter. Instead, Samsung will apparently use CES to showcase televisions and various appliances.

It's worth noting that CES takes place very early on in January — Jan.5 to be exact, so Samsung could still be planning something big and merely be holding off until later in the month to make a formal announcement.

Still, Samsung leaving off the Galaxy S7 from CES does not bode well for the predictions suggesting that the new flagship phone could be launched within the first month of 2016.

If Samsung does not end up announcing the Galaxy S7 by the end of January, the next most logical launch window could be near the end of February, which would be when the Mobile World Congress (MWC) is in full swing, Digital Trends reported. 

Aside from an earlier release date, other rumors have suggested that significant changes will be coming to the Galaxy S7.

Whereas the Galaxy S6 did not feature microSD support, that could be changed with the arrival of the Galaxy S7.

The new phone is also expected to make use of varying chipsets, with some regions receiving Galaxy S7 units with Snapdragon chipsets, and other that are equipped with Exynos processors.

One thing that may not change is the overall design of the Galaxy S7, as it is expected to mostly resemble the Galaxy S6 upon being released.