New Samsung Galaxy S3 render pops up. Is May 22 the official release date?

After I recently wrote about how easy it is to create a render for the Samsung Galaxy S3, it’s now time for me to write about exactly that, as a new supposed depiction of Samsung’s upcoming superphone has surfaced in Korea. I was set to approach this latest “rumor” about the Galaxy S3 with caution, but I actually believe that we might be looking at the real thing. Here’s why.

The timing of this “leak”, which has popped up on a few Korean websites, couldn’t be better. With the recent announcement of the HTC EVO 4G LTE and the HTC One X already shipping to select countries in Europe and India, Samsung really needs to step up its game and announce the Galaxy S3. While a lot of people are eagerly waiting for this device, they might eventually get fed up with the wait and go ahead with an (supposedly) equally good, if not better, device. I, for one, am certainly vexed about the endless speculations about the device and I will be more than a little upset if the device isn’t announced soon.
Other fake renders that we’ve seen in the past have mostly been design changes made on top of the Galaxy S2 or other existing devices, and as such, it has been possible to weed out the fakes easily. I’m no Photoshop expert and I know that the above render can be made up with some time and effort, but I feel like this could be authentic. The phone design is futuristic and impressive, and in line with what we expect Samsung to do with its next flagship device.
The May 22 date and the London location are certainly in line with the strong possibility that Samsung will announce its hero device ahead of the Olympic Games, of which it is a main sponsor.

In a recent tweet, Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin, one of the few persons believed to have held the actual device, left us with a “No comment” which is generally corporate speak for “It’s true, but you’re not supposed to know about it yet.” While this is just further speculation on my part, could this tweet be an indication that we finally have a real image of the S3?
My above reasoning can easily be turned upside down and used to show that this latest render is fake. As we’ve seen, it’s not that hard for an expert to put something like this together. The image of the phone is also similar to a lot of concept phone designs I’ve seen around the web. Along those lines, anyone could arrive at the potential date and location for the “actual” announcement of the device, especially since that date has been rumored before.
With no official confirmation from Samsung about the S3, we can only process this newest information with the mandatory grain of salt. All we, the millions of Android fans impatiently waiting for this device, can do is send out a humble request (which will eventually turn into an angry demand, I’m sure) to Samsung: Please, do not drag this out any longer!