Samsung and Apple are the only two smartphone vendors currently seeing growth in the United States, and although it was Apple that saw the most between September and November of last year, it’s Samsung who will attract most customers throughout 2013. The Korean electronics giant will see 35% growth over the next 12 months, according to Strategy Analytics, further increasing the lead over its arch rival in Cupertino.

The real deal?

A leaked photograph claimed to be of Samsung’s official Galaxy S IV press shot has been leaked online, along with specifications for the device. It reportedly came from an insider at Samsung, who claims this is the successor to the hugely successful Galaxy S III. It’s expected to offer a larger 4.99-inch 1080p display, plus a 2GHz quad-core processor. But is the image genuine?

Samsung has begun rolling out a software patch to address a major security flaw with its Exynos processor that leaves a handful of Android handsets vulnerable to attack. The update is first reaching Galaxy S III owners in the United Kingdom, but we would expect Samsung to be working hard to make this one available worldwide as quickly as possible.

Apple and Samsung are the only two smartphone manufacturers currently seeing any growth in the United States. The pair are slowly eating away at the market share held by their rivals, including LG, Motorola, Research in Motion, and HTC. In the three months leading up to November 2012, Samsung increased its market share from 25.7% to 26.9%, but Apple is catching up with the Cupertino company enjoying slightly more growth.

It appears Samsung is hard at work on a new Android handset that combines a physical QWERTY keyboard with a touchscreen, possibly to succeed the Galaxy M Pro GT. The new handset has been pictured out in the wild running the Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, and it sports the GT-B7810 model number that was approved by the FCC back in June 2012.