File Photo Of Employee Of Samsung Electronics Walking Past The Company Main Office In Seoul
An employee of Samsung Electronics walks past the company main office in Seoul in this April 6, 2010 file photo. REUTERS

Could it be that the Galaxy Note 4 release date will be delayed while the rumoured Galaxy Alpha or Galaxy F will remain housed in plastic instead of metal, no thanks to tension brewing between top Samsung executives?

According to DigiTimes, which picked up the report from ET News in South Korea, heads of Samsung's manufacturing and purchasing sections are currently at odds and the ongoing conflict could lead to serious repercussions.

One possible casualty of the corporate turf war is the upcoming Galaxy Note 4, the assembly of which could be delayed and the rollout as well. The Galaxy Note 3 replacement is touted to debut between September and October 2014.

The internal infighting could also negatively impact on the Galaxy maker's other product line up, one of which is the Galaxy F, which in recent reports has been referred to as the Galaxy Alpha, that is said to hit the market clad in metal.

Yet in a separate DigiTimes report, the chance is close to zero that Samsung will deliver a metallic smartphone anytime soon. The reason: supplies to support such design are hard to come by at the moment.

"Sources from chassis makers pointed out that Samsung may not be able to obtain sufficient supply as most available metal chassis capacity has already been booked by Apple ," said the DigiTimes report.

It appears that the plan for a metallic Galaxy smartphone came very late in the game and is plagued by lack of logistic preparations.

While it was not mentioned in the report, the oversight on Samsung's part could be traced to the divisive quarrel discussed above.

The tiff aside, it seems improbable for Samsung to find a metal chassis supplier anytime soon as key players in the region are all committed to Apple's 2014 iPhone thrust, DigiTimes added, citing its unnamed sources.

Still, speculations are persistent that a premium Galaxy device will hit the market this year - if not the Galaxy Alpha then a version of the Galaxy Note 4. Samsung itself has hinted that two variants of the phablet will roll out this year - mass-geared edition and an upscale version that the company said is designed as a niche product.

To banner this Note 4's exciting features is an entirely new form-factor, Samsung said, that Sammy fans interpret as the phablet's awaited shift from plastic to metal casing.

While its actual release date could come later than expected, the Galaxy Note 4 is likely geared for unveiling via the 2014 IFA Berlin gadget trade show scheduled in first week of September.