For past few weeks rumors constant rumors have been swirling in the tech media world regarding the next Galaxy Note smartphone from the South Korean giant Samsung. The existence of the device was confirmed when Samsung Mobile Arabia tweeted about the Galaxy Note 2, already being prepared by the company for release.

Adding to that, past reports from MK Business News also mentioned that rumored Galaxy Note 2 will be launched by the company sometime in October this year, with the aim to battle against Apple's next generation iPhone 5.

However, the latest rumor about the second generation flagship model - Galaxy Note 2 has been leaked by the folks at GSMArena. According to their report, they have received confirmed information about the device via "an insider source" that Galaxy Note 2 will come with a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display and will feature a slimmer design than the existing version.

Further, they have revealed that the design of the next Galaxy Note will be inspired by the company's latest flagship device Galaxy S3.

"Even though the screen size is larger than the original Note, the width of the Note 2 is actually reduced compared to its predecessor," said the report.

GSMArena has also contradicted an earlier report, which suggested that Galaxy Note 2 will be launched this October, by claiming that the release date of the Galaxy Note 2 has been moved to September. The reason for the switch is Samsung's desire to bring the smartphone to the market before Apple releases the iPhone 5 in October, thus stealing some users from the Cupertino-based company.

As far as specs are concerned, the Galaxy Note 2 is speculated to include 8-megapixel camera with improved sensor, as well as 2 GB of RAM, along with a new Exynos 5250 chipset, featuring a dual-core ARM-15 processor, Android Jelly Bean operating system (OS), longer battery life, sturdier build than its predecessor and, of course, a larger display than the current 5.3-inch model.

iPhone 5 Rival?

It would be interesting to see what features Galaxy Note 2 comes packed with, because it would inevitably be compared with iPhone 5, which is expected to debut in fall. J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz stated in a recent note that iPhone 5 will remain the undisputed king of smartphones in 2013, so unless Galaxy Note 2 boasts of impressive specs, it’s unlikely that it will snatch away the title of the single most popular smartphone in the world from iPhone.

Moskowitz mentioned in an investors note on June 28, that the next iPhone would debut this September with 4G LTE and other upgrades and will make a big splash this year, continuing its dominance in the smartphone market till 2013. "We think that a combination of revolutionary hardware enhancements and software-driven services (i.e., Passbook, Maps, FaceTime over cellular) stand to reaffirm the iPhone as the leading smartphone in 2013," Moskowitz said.

Current rumors suggest that the features most likely to be incorporated in the upcoming iPhone model include a 4-inch Retina display, an A5X Variant chip, 1GB RAM, iOS 6, 4G LTE technology, Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, improved Siri, liquidmetal casing, an 8-megapixel (or even higher) rear-facing camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chatting and an improved battery life.

In comparison, the predecessor of the rumored Galaxy Note 2 -- Samsung Galaxy Note - has already seen quite a success story, notching over seven million in worldwide sales as of now, an increase of two million over the figures announced by the company in March.