No Galaxy S II for Verizon, but expect a similar Samsung phone

Verizon Wireless won’t be joining the release party for Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S II smartphone, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Samsung plans to announce its long-awaited US Galaxy S II models at a New York City event on August 29, and the company is expected to bring versions of the phone to all major US carriers like it did last year. The Galaxy S II will still be announced for AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint next week, but now Samsung will be missing out on the biggest US wireless carrier.

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But don’t fret Verizon users, the carrier apparently has a “very similar” Samsung Android smartphone on the horizon, according to the mobile site Boy Genius Report. The mystery device will sport specifications nearly identical to the Galaxy S II, which means it will have at least a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen, Samsung dual-core processor and improved 8-megapixel camera. It could be branded as a successor to the Droid Charge on Verizon, which is built by Samsung.

It’s worth noting that Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 5 within a few weeks, so Verizon could conceivably want to avoid the Galaxy S II launch so that it doesn’t distract consumers from the new iPhone.