Samsung has announced the Galaxy S4 Black Edition, Digital Spy reported.

The refined version of the company's flagship handset features faux-leather casing in place of the polycarbonate shell of the original model.

Powered by a Qualcomm 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, the device includes a 5-inch Full HD screen, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and a 13-megapixel rear camera.

Samsung has also given the Black Edition treatment to its downsized Galaxy S4 Mini smartphone, but the new model retains the hardware specs of the standard model.

The Black Edition handsets have only been released in Russia for the time being, with availability in other territories yet to be confirmed.

Samsung is expected to announce its Galaxy S5 smartphone this quarter, ahead of a launch in March or April.