After the Samsung Purple Galaxy S III first made an appearance earlier this month with claims Spring would launch the new amethyst colored smartphone sometime in April, Engadget posted a leaked price and release date on Wednesday night.

According to the site, Sprint has the aubergine or eggplant colored GS3 which is slated for an April 12 release at a price of $99 on a new two year contract with a $50 mail-in rebate.

The 16GB version of the GS3 smartphone was originally found when users navigated the Spring webpage dedicated to the GS3. In addition to the standard Pebble Blue and Marble White colors, a third option titled "Amethyst" was available in a drop down menu.

The GS3, a 5.38 inch smartphone, has a maximum of 2GB of RAM, depending on the model, as well as an HD Super AMOLED display which measures in at a whopping 4.8 inches, which made it Samsung's third largest phone screen at the time and only exceeded by the Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note II.

The phone also is equipped with an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera similar to the GS2 as well as a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera capable of recording 720p videos.

Samsung's next generation of the Galaxy, the GS4, has been a hot topic of late and last week an article in Bloomberg Businessweek revealed the flagship phone would be accompanied by a mini version as the company had done with the GS3.

The GS4 mini, whose specs were leaked last week, runs Android 4.2.2, the latest version of Ice Cream Sandwich and boasts a 1.5 GHz dual core CPU. The phone will also sport a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED display screen with qHD resolution.

The mini has a striking resemblance to the larger GS4 but is smaller in size and will target consumers who are looking for a lower-cost alternative to the GS4.

Tags: samsung galaxy s3