Earlier this week, there were rumors making rounds that Samsung has axed the production of the 64GB version of Galaxy S3 but those rumors could turn out to be false. The latest buzz is that the flagship Samsung phone with 64GB storage will hit international markets sometime later this year, though fans in the U.S. may have to wait a bit longer.

Earlier this week, rumors struck the blogosphere that Samsung may have discontinued the production of 64GB Galaxy S3 after UK retailer Expansys said that Samsung "has decided not to release the unit." However, the South Korean tech giant later told The Verge that the buzz is untrue and the 64GB flavor is alive and kicking and is on track to hit international markets sometime later this year. "The 64GB model of the GALAXY S III will be available during the second half of this year. The market availability and timing may vary and will be determined at the time of release," Samsung said. The price of the phone hasn't been revealed.

U.S. fans, however, may have to wait longer as the initial rollout has been planned for the international markets only. Currently, the 16GB and 32GB versions are being sold in the U.S. and are available at all the major four wireless carriers - Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. The 16GB carries a price tag of $199.99 while the 32GB has been priced at $249.99 with a 2-year contract. At T-Mobile, the prices of the device have been fixed at $80 more.

The latest news is bound to bring smiles to Android fans because Galaxy S3 is the first Android smartphone that is giving Apple's iconic iPhone a run for its money. According to analysts recently polled by Reuters, the May 29 launch of the Galaxy S3 "created a clear gap" between Samsung and Apple and driven by the demand for Galaxy S3, Samsung likely sold 50 million smartphones in Q2. The same poll estimated that Apple likely sold over 30 million iPhones. Last month, JK Shin, head of Samsung Mobile, said he expects Galaxy S3 sales to hit 10 million in July, though it wasn't clear whether he was referring to shipments or actual sales.

Now that Galaxy S3 is coming in 64GB flavor, it means with the microSD card supporting up to 64GB of memory, the user has up to 128GB of storage at his disposal.

Galaxy S3 boasts of 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, runs on Exynos quad core 1.4GHz processor (in the U.S, it runs on dual core Snapdragon S4 1.5Ghz chip), is powered by Android 4.0 ICS OS (Ice Cream Sandwich) and boasts of a plethora of features such as 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, 1GB RAM (2GB in the U.S. variant), 4G LTE, S Voice, Smart Stay, Pop Up Play and NFC. The smartphone is available in Pebble Blue, Marble White and Garget Red (exclusively available at AT&T).