Rumors continue to trickle out regarding the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S7, which is set to be officially announced on Feb. 21 at the Mobile World Congress 2016.
The latest information regarding the device, reported by tech news website VentureBeat and coming from a source that was briefed on Samsung's plans, brings back a feature that was missing from the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge flagship devices of 2015.
Memory Expansion
According to the source, both the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge variant will be offering microSD card slots that are compatible with memory cards of up to 200 GB. Expandable memory was inexplicably not included among the features of the Galaxy S6, and Samsung fans will rejoice to have the feature back in the Galaxy S7 if the information is true. It's not the first time we hear about the return of expandable memory with the next-gen Galaxy flagship, as rumors of a Galaxy S7 microSD expansion slot have made rounds before.
Batteries
The batteries of the Galaxy S7 duo will see a capacity increase from 2,550 mAh and 2,600 mAh for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, respectively, to 3,000 mAh for the Galaxy S7 and 3,600 mAh for the Galaxy S7 edge. Wireless charging time was revealed to take 2 hours for the Galaxy S7 and 2.2 hours for the Galaxy S7 edge. However, the upcoming smartphones will not be bringing back one other highly requested feature, which are removable batteries.
Displays
The source also revealed that the Galaxy S7 will include an always-on display functionality, which would enable a glanceable screen that shows things such as downloaded content. The feature will be consuming about 1 percent of the smartphone's battery per hour. The display size of the Galaxy S7 is said to be 5.1 inches diagonally, with that of the Galaxy S7 edge at 5.5 inches, refuting earlier reports that it would be carrying the same 5.7-inch size of the Galaxy S6 edge+.
Waterproofing
It was also revealed that the Galaxy S7 will feature IP67 dust and water resistance certifications, a feature that will come in handy for both active users and clumsy ones.
Processing Power
The source claimed that the Galaxy S7 will be powered by the company's own Exynos Octa 8890 chipset, which was partially based on an ARM design. The processor offers four high-performance 2.3GHz cores with four power-efficient 1.6GHz cores. An integrated cellular baseband model, meanwhile, could enable LTE Category 9 connectivity.
It should be noted, however, that Samsung often uses different CPUs for its devices across different regions. Other reports claim that the North American versions of the Galaxy S7 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. The smartphone will most likely be featuring the same 4 GB of RAM across all regions though, with internal storage options of 32 GB and 64 GB. A third option with 128 GB of internal storage was not mentioned, but it could be a possible choice for certain channels.
Cameras
The main camera sensor for the Galaxy S7 will only be 12 megapixels, down from 16 megapixels in the Galaxy S6 variants. However, resolution is not all that makes up a good camera, as the Galaxy S7 will also be packing an f/1.7 lens aperture compared to the f/1.9 lens aperture of its predecessor. This would maintain the camera's capability to take high quality shots in low-light conditions.
The hump at the back of the Galaxy S6 due to its camera is expected to be removed with the Galaxy S7, while no changes are expected for the 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
Just recently, the front panel of the Galaxy S7 was leaked and compared with those of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5. The images appear to be confirming a larger 5.2-inch display compared with the 5.1-inch display of the Galaxy S6, which goes against the report by VentureBeat, along with being squared-off similar to the Galaxy Note 5.
The information contained in the rumors has not been confirmed in any way by Samsung, and it would seem that the true details of the Galaxy S7 will only be unveiled once the company officially does so in over a month's time.
