Come Aug. 29, all eyes will be on Samsung as it readies to unveil the Galaxy Note 2, but the Korean tech giant may have a few surprises up its sleeve. While anticipated smartphones have been the cynosure of all rumors and leaks, music enthusiasts will be thrilled to learn that Samsung may be preparing to announce the launch of its new Galaxy Player.

The Galaxy Player, like the iPod Touch, is a musical database that provides access to Android apps through the Google Play store. Galaxy Player version 5.0, was released at the end of 2011, and if recently leaked images are accurate, its successor is in the cards.

On Aug. 17, SamMobile got a tip-off on Samsung's "new upcoming Media player," i.e. the Galaxy Player. The leaked image indicates that the next-generation Galaxy Player's design is a copy of the immensely popular Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone. The resemblance between the two devices is uncanny, and observers could mistake the photograph for an image of the S3.

The hardware, on the other hand, is no match for the S3 but packs a mean punch. The Galaxy Player allegedly sports a 5.8-inch qHD display and has a 540×960 TFT LCD resolution. The Android-powered high-end media player will run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and will supposedly use Samsung's new Touch Wiz. By contrast, the rival iPod touch has a 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display with 960x640-pixel resolution.

Additionally, the Galaxy Player is expected to sport a 1GHz dual-core processor, a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera and a VGA front camera, FM radio, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS support, microSD card slot, and built-in speaker. The device packs a 2,500mAh battery as opposed to the iPod Touch's 930mAh built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy player in two color variants - black and white. The company has released no information on the pricing or debut date, but industry pundits hypothesize that the Galaxy Player will be unveiled officially on Aug. 29 at the IFA 2012 in Berlin.

Samsung already dominates the smartphone market and continues to eat into Apple's market share. With a beefed up Galaxy Player set to challenge the aging iPod Touch, the Samsung versus Apple war of dominion spills over to other arenas.