HTC One vs. Samsung Galaxy S4: First Big Smartphone Battle of 2013

The HTC One vs. the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be the first significant smartphone battle of 2013.

The HTC One, announced in February is an impressive device that comes with new "ultrapixel" camera technology, a high grade aluminum body, a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, a 4.7-inch 1080p display, and the latest version of Android.

The Galaxy S4's official specifications have been all but confirmed officially by Samsung. However, they are sure to be impressive.

Rumors point to the Galaxy S4 being slightly bigger than the HTC One with a 4.99-inch screen. It will also utilize a PHOLED display which is said to be an improved version of the AMOLED screen found on many of Samsung's successful devices including the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2.

Other rumored specs for the Galaxy S4 include a quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor, a 13-megapixel rear camera, 2GB RAM, and will come in three different memory capacities with 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models set to launch later this year.

What processor will be used to power the Galaxy S4 is still up in the air at this point as different publications are either reporting that it will come with the Snapdragon S4, or Samsung's new Exynos 5 Octa-core chip.

Based on its hardware alone, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be in a different league. And even with its special enhancements to the HTC One's camera system, the Galaxy S4 will still have an advantage with its rumored features such as "Eye Scroll," and "Floating Touch."

A Samsung employee recently told The New York Times that the company hopes to set its smartphone apart from the pack with its software features and not depend on hardware.

If this competition was based solely on hardware alone, the Galaxy S4 would win, but features will become the deciding factor once the Galaxy S4 is released.