Samsung bumps up the Galaxy S II with an LTE and overall-improved version.

Samsung and Apple have something of a history. The two have been direct mobile competitors, and Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone and tablet lineup has arguably been the most capable rival to Apple’s iOS ecosystem. We’ve recently seen their battle taken to the legal level in various sordid patent litigations—and of course, there’s the fact that Samsung has provided component parts for Apple.

So it should come as no surprise that Samsung’s latest Galaxy S handset is likely to go head-to-head with the long-awaited iPhone 5. And while the iPhone has more fervent fanboys on its side, Samsung is trying to outfit the latest Galaxy S with something to steal a little of that attention. At the IFA Berlin trade show, the company announced that in addition to the Galaxy S II, it will introduce the Galaxy S II LTE. In addition to LTE service, the phone will offer a few other improvements over the HSPA version. It will have a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display and a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU. The "regular” Galaxy S II has a 4.3-inch display and a 1.2GHz CPU.