Samsung Galaxy S8 Rumors

Samsung is one of the biggest smartphone manufacturing companies in the world. The flagship phones released by the company are touted for their premium builds, high quality screens and expensive price tags.

Released recently, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are some of the best phones on the market. They are a step up from last year’s critically acclaimed S6 and S6 Edge and have bigger batteries, expandable storage and water proofing.

Naturally speculations and rumors start to spread soon after the release of the latest flagship phones. What would the Galaxy S8 offer in terms of specifications? Would it see an upgrade in its build quality or design? A new killer feature or two?

There’s no denying the appeal of Samsung’s yet-to-be-released successor to the S7 series. Here’s our speculations about the Galaxy S8 smartphone.
The Release Date

Lets start with the most overlooked but very important aspect of smartphones – their release date.

Even though there are no leaks suggesting a release date, Samsung has a history of releasing its phones in February or March every year so we can safely assume that this would be the release window for the Galaxy S8. Release dates for the flagships are listed below for reference’s sake.

Galaxy S – March 2010
Galaxy S2 – February 2011
Galaxy S3 – May 2012
Galaxy S4 – March 2013
Galaxy S5 – February 2014
Galaxy S6 – March 2015
Galaxy S7 – February 2016

The release window of February-March is due to the yearly Mobile World Congress which is held during that time.

Likelihood of Being True: Very
The Models/Variants

The Korean smartphone manufacturer is known for following the advice “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This usually means that Samsung sticks with features or phones that were successful the last time around. The Galaxy S7 is evidence enough which follows the same design language as the last year’s S6.

However, Samsung is also known for experimenting and are just as likely to introduce new models for the phones as well. South Korean media reports that Samsung could be releasing as much as 5 flagships next year.

This could include the regular S8, the Edge version, Galaxy Note and a rumored bendable Galaxy X. There could also be a Galaxy S8 mini if the rumors are to be believed.

Likelihood of Being True: Reasonably
The Display

The current trend in displays for flagships are a 5.1 inch screen size approximately. This size serves as a middle ground between the gigantic 6 inch screen phablet phones and the 4 inch iPhone-like screen size phones.

Samsung has been using the 5.1 inch screen size since Galaxy S5 so, again, it can be safely assumed that the S8 will also have a similar screen size.

The Edge variant of the S7 although has a 5.5 inch screen size, so the same can be said for the S8 Edge that comes out next year.

The screen resolution Samsung opted for this time around was the usual Quad HD (2560 x 1440). But Samsung is very likely to move to Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) due to Gear VR. Currently Gear VR doesn’t have a good enough display and may appear pixelated due to the Quad HD resolution.

This can be easily be solved by an Ultra HD screen which would offer a better Gear VR experience.

Likelihood of Being True: Reasonably to Not at All
The Design

The S8 will likely follow the same design language with a Glass and Metal body found on the S6 and S7. The design is popular among consumers so the probability of Samsung opting to stick with the current design is high.

A removable battery is what Samsung fans are asking for but Samsung’s proprietary fast charging and the new faster wireless charging are the more useful features that may make it to the S8 next year.

Likelihood of Being True: Very
System on Chip

The Galaxy S7 used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 and Samsung’s own Exynos 8890 this year, which decreases the burden on the company for having chips available for use in the phones.

A recent leak from ARM company shows that they are working on 10nm chips which will be more powerful and energy efficient compared with this year’s 14nm chips used in Snapdragon 820 and the Exynos 8890.

The S8 may use the Snapdragon 830 and Samsung’s upgrade to the Exynos 8890, which are highly likely to feature the same 10nm chips.

Aside from the faster and more efficient processors, Snapdragon 830 is also rumored to include Qualcomm’s next generation X16 modem (currently X12 is used in Snapdragon 820) which will offer speeds of upto 1Gbps.

Not that you’ll get that much from your internet connection any time soon, but its good for the 5G networks been tested around Europe. However, don’t expect them to launch anytime soon though.

Likelihood of Being True: Very
The Camera

The Galaxy S series has always gone toe to toe with other smartphone manufacturers when it comes to cameras. The rumors suggest that Samsung may very well roll out a dual camera setup those seen in the HTC 10 and the Huawei P9.

The camera modules will be manufactured by Samsung Motors (Semco) indicating that it will include homegrown lenses instead of Sony’s lenses.

Likelihood of Being True: Reasonably
The Battery

A 4k display, more energy efficient 10nm processors and the inclusion of Android N will affect the battery capacity of the S8. The 4k display will most likely warrant the inclusion of a bigger battery.

Lets take a look at battery capacity of the S Series in the past few years.

Galaxy S7 – 3,000mAh
Galaxy S7 Edge – 3,600mAh
Galaxy S6 – 2,550mAh
Galaxy S6 Edge – 2,600mAh

The Edge models tend to have bigger batteries due to the larger screen sizes of 5.5 inch compared with the 5.1 inch screen size. The trend will likely continue with the S8 Edge, if it does in fact come out.

Likelihood of Being True: Reasonably
USB type C

Samsung’s Galaxy S7 was originally rumored to have a type C port but that was put to rest when the S7 was released with the older and slower microUSB port.

That said, type C is the future with capabilities to transfer more power (100 watts), more data and being reversible in nature (can be plugged in from both sides). It makes sense if Samsung moves on to the type C with next year’s flagship smartphone.

Naturally, Gear VR will also have to include type C support next year if the phone’s include it. The increased bandwidth requirements call for it.

Likelihood of Being True: Likely
Waterproofing and price

The removal of waterproofing from S5 to S6 and then the inclusion of it from S6 to S7 suggests that if the phone itself is good enough to sell, Samsung will include it in its flagships. Being waterproof also provides an edge to S7 as many of the other flagship phones by other companies (aside from Sony) do not have waterproof phones. There is no concrete information about the Galaxy S8 being waterproof though.

In Pakistan, we saw the S6 and S7 models launch at these introductory prices:

Samsung S6 – Rs. 79,000
Samsung S6 Edge – Rs. 93,000
Samsung S7- Rs. 79,000
Samsung S7 Edge – Rs. 89,000

Please note that these were the prices that those models were first introduced in the Pakistani market. The prices have, since then, being subject to market fluctuations.

The S8 could cost about the same as the S6 if the rumored/speculated specifications are to be believed. Same goes for the Edge variants.

What is your take on this? Do you agree with the rumored specs? What new features do you believe will Samsung include with the S8? Let us know in the comments below.

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