As the rumors are heating up that a new 4-inch iPhone will be launching sometime in the first half of 2016, which would entail an unheard of change in strategy and schedule for Apple, a new report pegs an earlier-than-expected release date for the next flagship from Apple's rival, the Samsung Galaxy S7.

According to the South Korean tech site Digital Times (via PhoneArena), two variants of the Samsung Galaxy S7 are slated to be released sometime in February 2016.

If true, that puts the release date window for the next Samsung Galaxy S handsets quite a lot earlier than the timeline that Samsung normally follows. For example, this year, the Samsung Galaxy S6 was announced in March and then launched the next month.

There's precedent for a Samsung device launch earlier than usual, though. As Latin Post previously reported, the unveiling and release date of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 this year was pushed forward by about a month. The Note 5 ended up being both introduced and launched in August 2015, likely to catch consumer and media attention in the relatively calm month before the storm of Apple iPhone mania hits every September.

Perhaps Samsung decided to react the same way when a respected Apple analyst reported he believed a new 4-inch iPhone launch was coming sometime in the first half of 2016. As PhoneArena notes, this isn't the first time tech watchers have predicted an early release date for the Samsung Galaxy S7. In fact, the February launch is a month later than what many expected.

Besides the release date, the ostensible Korean leak reported that the Samsung Galaxy S7 and its likely edge counterpart will both come with support for LTE Cat. 12, which can achieve lightning fast top speeds of 600Mb/s down and 100Mb/s for uploads. That means very little for those in the U.S., though, as all U.S. carriers are not even close to supporting that technology yet.

Other rumors surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S7 include the inclusion of the new Samsung Exynos 8890 system on a chip for international variants and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 system on a chip -- which Samsung itself has supposedly taken on the responsibility for manufacturing.

Maybe the company felt burned by the overheating issues Qualcomm had with the Snapdragon 810 this year.

Stay with Latin Post Tech for more updates as they happen, and we'll see if the beginning of next year will truly be a lot more exciting for smartphone fanatics than any before.