Rumor Round-Up: The Future Smartphones of 2012

Rumored specs: Quad-core processor, 720p Super AMOLED Plus display, 12-megapixel camera, 2 GB of RAM, with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, according to tech blogger Eldar Murtazin and Unwired View.

What’s interesting about it: Samsung’s Galaxy S line is known for high-end specs, slim designs and no gimmicks. That simple combination has helped Samsung sell more than 30 million Galaxy S and S II phones worldwide. The third model, reportedly due out in April, should be one to watch. (The above image is from a Samsung CES wrap-up video, and could be the Galaxy S III.)

Rumored specs: Quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 4.7-inch 720p display, 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front camera, 16 GB of storage, 2,000 mAh battery, less than 0.35 inches thick, with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, according to PocketNow.

What’s interesting about it: The gargantuan display should help LG’s phone stand out from the quad-core pack, and hopefully that big battery will keep the phone running through a busy day. It’s rumored to launch in the late spring or early summer.

Rumored specs: Dual-core processor, 4.3-inch WVGA display with glasses-free 3D, 5-megapixel rear camera, 8 GB of storage, less than 0.39 inches thick, with Android 2.3, according to PocketNow.

What’s interesting about it: I still think 3D phones are a cheap trick, but LG’s going to try it again with a brighter display, a thinner design, and a way to convert 2D video into 3D. It could launch this spring.

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Apple TV to come in 3 sizes, top out at 55 inches, report says

The rumor mill is heating up around Apple's television plans, and now, a new report claims to have information on the device's screen sizes.

Citing anonymous sources in Japan who work at a "major" company working on the set's production, Australian technology site Smarthouse reported on Sunday that Apple television buyers will be able to choose from three screen sizes, ranging from 32 inches to 55 inches. In addition, the sources say that the television will ship with the same Apple A6 processor expected to come in the iPad 3.

On the software side, Smarthouse's sources say that Apple has built entirely new software that will allow users to "call up programs" with the company's Siri virtual personal assistant application.

Talk of Apple producing a television has been making its rounds for years. Back in 2009, for instance, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said that he believed the tech giant would sell its first television by the end of this year. Since that hasn't happened, Munster has revised his schedule a bit, saying now that the television will likely launch by the end of next year.

But Munster hasn't only speculated on the set's launch. Last week at the Business Insider Ignition: Future of Media conference, Munster said that Apple firmly believes consumers want an all-in-one television that isn't tied down to external boxes. He also predicted that Apple would sell its line of televisions for twice the price a comparable alternative.

Like Smarthouse's sources, Munster believes the televisions will come with Siri support and a few different screen sizes.

Apple hasn't said that it will, in fact, launch a television. However, those who have been hoping for it became a bit more confident about the possibility earlier this year when Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography revealed that the Apple co-founder was not only thinking about a television, but found a way to make it match his vision.

"I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use," Jobs told his biographer. "It would be seamlessly synched with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."

In an interview with CNET last month, however, Isaacson said that an Apple television wouldn't launch anytime soon.

"He told me it was very theoretical," Isaacson said of Jobs. "These were theoretical things they were thinking about in the future."

Bloomberg reported in October, citing sources, that Apple has tapped iTunes creator Jeff Robbin to head up the television's development. Those sources said Apple currently has a TV prototype, but there is still a possibility that it won't go beyond that stage.

Apple did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment on the Smarthouse report.