Samsung Galaxy S7: Rumours point to January release date and discounted price

Insiders at Samsung said the company has begun building firmware for the phone a month earlier than usual - suggesting a January release

Could Samsung be gearing up to release their next phone early? (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/GettyImages)

As we reported last month, it's been whispered that the Samsung Galaxy S7 could be released a month early, in January 2016.

Those whispers got louder today, after sources at Samsung told SamMobile that the company has begun developing firmware for the new phone - a month earlier than they did for the Samsung Galaxy S6 last year.

It was suggested that Samsung wanted to launch their new phone a month early in order to pick up some iPhone 6S sales - if users know the S7 is coming out sooner, they may be more inclined to wait a little longer rather than just buying a 6S and getting the latest device now.

A January launch date would also match up with the Mobile World Congress - a major trade show where many smartphones get unveiled.

It's still far from certain, but these added claims support the January release theory.

SamMobile also said it's likely that two S7 models will be released - the S7 project has two internal codenames, suggesting that Samsung could release both a normal and a curved screen version of the phone, as they did with the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.

In other exciting news for Samsung fans, the new phone could also end up being cheaper than expected - Chinese analyst Pan Jiutang predicted that Samsung would price the new phone around 10 per cent lower than the S6, in an effort to give the S7 a boost.

Potential for an early release and a discount? Samsung is spoiling us.