South African carriers hint at getting the Samsung Galaxy S III in July

It all started with MTN's spokesperson saying that the carrier will offer the Galaxy S III in lieu of the Galaxy Nexus, but didn't divulge the expected launch timeframe.

Virgin Mobile chimed in, though, saying that it hopes to have the Samsung Galaxy S III on the shelves some time in Q3, after all the testing has been done, while Cell C straight out confirmed it will probably be already carrying Samsung's finest in July. "No pricing is available yet but it is likely to come in where the SGS2 was priced at launch,” Virgin Mobile spokesperson Jonathan Newman said.

If these summertime hints indicate the global rollout plans, that seems like quite a wait for probably the most anticipated Android handset this year. Hopefully it also means that the summer will see its US rollout too, as Samsung is said to try and narrow the months-long launch gap between US and the rest of the world this year. If the next iPhone is unveiled again in the fall, as recent rumors suggest, and Samsung needs more time to iron out the kinks in its own cloud service, then a summer launch actually makes pretty good sense for the SGSIII.

Now the big mystery, besides the spec sheet, is when will Samsung announce the handset - closer to launch might be a good bet this year, so late spring is shaping up to be probable timing for a grand unveiling event. Hopefully we'll have more leaks to keep us entertained until then, otherwise the wait will do irreparable damage to our nervous systems.

source: Mybroadband via AllAboutPhones.nl