Samsung is all set to launch it’s much anticipated 2017 Galaxy flagship tomorrow in New York. The company had made the date official during Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 event at MWC last month. The event will be live streamed on Samsung’s official website at 11 am EDT from New York, which will be 8:30 pm in India. Samsung has also introduced an ‘Unpacked 2017’ app for the event live stream. So even though you’ll hear everything official about Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ tomorrow, here is what we expect from rumours and probably almost everything we know about them so far.
Samsung Galaxy S8 Design: ‘No Home Button’, Rear fingerprint sensor and new Iris Scanner
This would probably be the biggest difference among all Galaxy flagships till date. Samsung is ditching its signature physical ‘Home Button’ for a bigger screen on Galaxy S8 and S8+ yet keeping much narrower bezel or bezel-less design to keep the overall form factor compact. The home key has been around since Samsung’s entry into the smartphone segment and the new Galaxy S8 & S8+ will be the first two to leave the legacy for a smarter and compact design.
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What it means is that the fingerprint sensor shifts to the back panel and what leaks have suggested that it would be located next to a camera. Since it would not be the ideal position for a sensor (at least this is what we feel), Samsung is also rumoured to add a new layer of security by including iris scanner to the front of both phones, one good thing borrowed from Galaxy Note 7. The Iris scanner will eliminate or reduce the need for a fingerprint sensor if worked fine and since Iris scanner in Note 7 was lighting fast and quite accurate, we think it might not become a major issue for buyers, unfortunately, the phone didn’t have much life for users to experience it.
Dual curved edge display will be standard on Galaxy S8 & S8+
Unlike Samsung Galaxy S7 edge variant and flat display Galaxy S7, this time around Samsung is more likely to use a dual-curved screen in both the variants as a standard. Hence it is also leaving the ‘Edge’ naming convention behind and the variant will now be called the Galaxy S8+.
If the leaks are to believed then the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ will boast of 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch Super AMOLED pressure sensitive displays respectively. Samsung is expected to name it ‘Infinity Display’ which will have 18:9 aspect ratio, much like the LG G6. Although some wild reports had suggested the display be 4K, but in real the chances are that the South Korean giant might just stick to 2K display and since the aspect ratio won’t be typical
Snapdragon 835, but other rumoured specifications
While it is official that Samsung will be using Qualcomm’s premium Snapdragon 835 SoC in the next flagship, what’s also in the pipeline is company’s own Exynos 9 (Exynos 8895) chipset variant which will be released in some markets, similar to what has been the trend from last few times. Samsung has moved to a 10nm process for the Exynos 9, much like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. This brings a higher level of efficiency, better graphic performance and imaging.
Talking about what we expect in both Samsung Galaxy flagship smartphones, these are some widely rumoured and much-anticipated specification.
Samsung Galaxy S8
- 8-inch Quad HD+ (1440×2880 pixels) curved Super AMOLED pressure sensitive display
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 835/ Samsung Exynos 9 Series
- 4GB RAM, 64GB storage
- Dual-SIM (Hybrid), expandable with microSD up to 2TB
- 12-megapixel Dual Pixel rear camera with LED Flash, f/1.7 aperture
- 8-megapixel front-facing camera, f/1.7 aperture
- 3000mAh battery with fast charging (also wireless charging)
- Heart rate sensor, Fingerprint sensor, Iris scanner
- IP68 certified water and dust resistance
Samsung Galaxy S8+
- 2-inch Quad HD+ (1440×2880 pixels) curved Super AMOLED pressure sensitive display
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 835/ Samsung Exynos 9 Series
- 4GB RAM, 64GB storage
- Dual-SIM (Hybrid), expandable with microSD up to 2TB
- 12-megapixel Dual Pixel rear camera with LED Flash, f/1.7 aperture
- 8-megapixel front-facing camera, f/1.7 aperture
- 3500mAh battery with fast charging (also wireless charging)
- Heart rate sensor, Fingerprint sensor, Iris scanner
- IP68 certified water and dust resistance
Samsung’s own virtual assistant ‘Bixby’
Samsung has already announced its newly developed AI-based digital assistant called Bixby. The company will be using this virtual assistant instead of Google Assistant on Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.
“Bixby will be a new intelligent interface on our devices. Fundamentally different from other voice agents or assistants in the market, Bixby offers a deeper experience,” noted InJong Rhee while announcing Bixby.
Three new colour options – Blue, Orchid, Pink?
According to KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the upcoming Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones will have a glass casing design and will be made available in seven colours out-of-which there will be three new colours – Blue, Orchid, Pink – and four other colours Gold, Silver, Bright Black and Matte Black. Evan Blass also suggested official names of three colours – Black Sky, Orchid Grey, and Arctic Silver.
Release, Availability and Price rumours
What has been widely rumoured is that the South Korean company will be putting the Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones on pre-order from April 10 and apparently it will happen worldwide.
According to a previous report, the pre-ordered devices will start shipping on April 28 in Canada and the same might also be the case for several other countries as well. Evan Blass and Kuo from KGI securities have shared a different date, which is April 21.
For the price, Blass suggests that the Galaxy S8 will start from Euro 799, which is roughly Rs. 56,000. The Galaxy is expected to start from Euro 899, which translates to roughly Rs. 63,000.