Java - strings equals when decompiled

I decompiled some Java code the other day and found this:

String s1 = "something";
String s2 = "something_else";

if (s1 == s2) {
// Path 1
} else {
// Path 2
}

Obviously using '==' to test for string equality is bad

But I wondered - This code has been compiled and decompiled. If all the strings have been defined at compile time and interned and the code has been compiled - is it possible that s1.equals(s2) could have been optimized down to 's1 == s2'?