Apple’s iPhone 5s became the world’s first smartphone with a 64-bit processor when it launched this September, but as you might expect, it’ll have plenty of competitors next year. Unsurprisingly, some of those will come from Samsung, which is already planning 64-bit chips and 16-megapixel cameras for its 2014 flagships, according to industry sources.

“Following the steps of Apple’s A7 CPU, Samsung and Qualcomm both are expected to roll out 64-bit processors in 2014, which are likely to be adopted in quad-core or 8-core smartphones, added the sources,” DigiTimes reports.

“Additionally, most flagship smartphones launched by vendors in 2014 are expected to be equipped with 16-megapixel cameras compared to 13-megapixel models used currently, the sources remarked.”

We all know Samsung likes to compete with Apple very closely; in fact, Apple hasn’t done that many things that Samsung hasn’t copied a short while later. After all, that’s why the South Korean company was forced to hand over millions of dollars for patent infringement last summer.

So today’s report from DigiTimes was to be expected. Having said that, we usually advise you to take anything from DigiTimes with a pinch of salt. Its track record is pretty poor — particularly when it comes to rumors regarding Apple’s plans — so you should never rely on it too heavily.

It certainly seems a plausible move, though. Samsung’s first flagship smartphone of 2014 is likely to be the Galaxy S5, so we’ll have to wait for that to see what the company really has up its sleeve.

• SourceDigiTimes