Even as holiday shoppers gear up for some fantastic discounts on smartphones this Thanksgiving, they may wonder if they should buy the current-gen models now at a discount or wait for the next-gen impending handsets.
We take a look at some of the best upcoming smartphones in 2017 — the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, One Plus 4, LG G6, Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8.
iPhone 8 And iPhone 8 Plus
The 4.7-inch iPhone 8 and 5.5-inch iPhone 8 Plus are expected to debut in the second half of 2017 and will house several firsts per rumors. The next-gen iPhone — the tenth anniversary special — is speculated to have an OLED screen instead of the LCD one. The display is rumored to be a curved one.
It is also anticipated to offer support for wireless charging and may have an iris scanner, as well as lose a Home button.
The iPhone 8 is also tipped to house a faster A11 processor, but the chip will not be produced by Samsung but TSMC.
The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are also rumored to boast a new form factor — no bezels and curved edges. The devices are also said to tout an all-glass back. A new patent also hinted at the possibility of the next-gen iPhones offering support for gesture control.
Samsung Galaxy S8
Rumors pertaining to Samsung's next flagship have been surfacing online for a while now. The Galaxy S8 — the successor of the Galaxy S7 — has apparently been given the codename Dream. However, unlike its predecessor, the Galaxy S8 will be available in a curved screen option alone.
The handset is anticipated to tout a 4K screen, a pixel density of 806 ppi and may pack in a 10nm Exynos 8895 SoC. The Galaxy S8 could possibly include the Mali-G71 GPU from ARM.
The smartphone may also offer support for Force Touch display and its very own AI assistant called Bixby. The Galaxy S8 is also expected to have no Home button. The smartphone is said to have a "slick design" and a new camera as affirmed by the company's vice president.
The Galaxy S8 may also have an optical fingerprint scanner embedded into the device's home screen.
The Galaxy S8 is expected to make its appearance in February 2017 at the MWC. The latest buzz is that the smartphone will come in two sizes — a 5.7-inch and a 6.2-inch version to win back Galaxy Note 7 customers.
OnePlus 4
Another much-awaited handset in 2017 is the OnePlus 4 which is rumored to sport a 5.5-inch OLED screen which may be a flexible one. The resolution of the display will be an improvement from the OnePlus 3 and is rumored to be 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. The OnePlus 4 will offer support for NFC and house a Snapdragon 830 CPU, as well as 8 GB of RAM.
Rumors hint at either a 21 MP or 23 MP primary snapper and either a 16 MP or 12 MP selfie camera. It may have a dual-camera setup with AR/MR support.
The OnePlus 4 will apparently offer 128 GB of on-board storage, as well as microSD support (256 GB). The handset will apparently come with Oxygen OS with Android Nougat out of the box.
The OnePlus 4 is rumored to debut in April or May 2017.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
The debacle of its Galaxy Note 7 notwithstanding, Samsung is forging ahead to redeem itself with the next-gen Galaxy Note 8. The company has already supposedly got LG on board to make the batteries for its Galaxy S8 and could take the same route for the Galaxy Note 8.
Like the Galaxy Note 7, the successor will apparently tout a 5.7-inch screen but with a 4K display. Under the hood, the Galaxy Note 8 may house either the impending Snapdragon 830 CPU or the Exynos 8895 processor. While the Note 7 housed 4 GB of RAM, consumers would be hoping for a bump up to 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM.
The handset will likely offer support for fingerprint and iris scanners as well. The Galaxy Note 8 may also house its speaker in the S Pen stylus per a new patent.
The Galaxy Note 8 is expected to debut in the second half of 2017.
LG G6
The LG G6 — the successor of the LG G5 — is rumored to come with a 4K display, but may stick to the 5.3-inch screen size. It too was said to be packing in a curved OLED screen instead of LCD, which seems to be the new trend for 2017 smartphones, but reports suggested that it had canceled the plans.
The LG G6 is also rumored to be discarding the modular design it used for the LG G5. A new and exciting feature for the LG G6 is the iris scanner, which will be welcomed by users. Under the hood, it could house the Snapdragon 830 CPU and 6 GB of RAM.
It will likely come with a bigger battery, a dual-camera setup like the LG G5 and Android Nougat.
The LG G6 is expected to be unveiled at the MWC 2017 in February and may hit the shelves a month later.
