Apple and Samsung have long been at each other’s throats over a number of patent disputes around the world that continue to rumble on. Away from the court battles the two companies are fiercely contesting the smartphone market with the heat set to be turned up even further this year, and today we are looking at the iPhone 5 refresh aka the 5S vs the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Obviously there is no confirmed news about either handset so far, but Samsung has recently joined Apple with regards to upcoming mobile devices being hugely speculated about with rumours and supposed leaks. Apple have been tipped to simply refresh the iPhone 5 this year, which going on the company’s iPhone history is understandable, but Samsung meanwhile are expected to reveal an all new model to replace the Galaxy S3.

Going as far back as November rumours begun that Samsung would be using a 4.99-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display for the Galaxy S4, which if true is another bump up in size compared to last year’s model. Apple meanwhile provided a larger display on the iPhone 5 for the first time, and this year there has been suggestions the size will remain the same but include an improved screen courtesy of Sharp’s IGZO displays along with 128GB of storage.

With each new iPhone model that Apple has released so far we have seen a bump in specs regarding the handsets processor, while the Galaxy S4 is supposedly getting the Samsung built Exynos 5 Octa processor with its eight cores in tow.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has been rumoured to be unveiled at an Unpacked event taking place on March 22nd in the US ahead of a shipping date of April 15th. The iPhone 5S is again being tipped to return to a WWDC unveiling during the summer, which has been missed out for the last two iPhone releases.

Other titbits that have recently been leaked include wireless charging for the Galaxy 4S, along with some new software features, and the iPhone 5S is being rumoured to be using a Sony 13-megapixel sensor that proceeded some images of alleged components for future iPhone models.

If Apple does only refresh its iPhone this time around it could see the company lose more consumers to Samsung as it seemingly takes over the smartphone mantle of coming up with new and innovative ideas.

Going on the current speculation which handset will you be getting this year?