Samsung started out 2016 in high spirits, with the Galaxy S7 outselling the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. However, upon release of the Note 7, Samsung's flagship for the second half of the year, it was met with rave reviews, but not for long, and by now everyone probably knows why.
Samsung is bolstering efforts in order to offset losses caused by the Note 7 blunder, and its upcoming flagship, the Galaxy S8, will spearhead this recuperation. A lot of rumors are already circulating about the Galaxy S8, but the surest thing for now comes from a direct word by the company. Lee Jae-yong, Samsung's communications VP said that the Galaxy S8 will "feature slick design and an improved camera, as well as an enhanced artificial intelligence service."
Here is a handy list of the most notable Galaxy S8 rumors so far.
Bluetooth 5.0
According to latest rumors, the Galaxy S8 could be the first phone to feature Bluetooth 5.0 technology, the most recent iteration of Bluetooth. The technology was officially released to developers last week, heralding range, bandwidth and speed as its strongest points, making it suitable for managing smart homes and even smart cities.
Bluetooth 5.0 promises speeds of up to 2 Mbps and a quadrupled range, with Bluetooth devices being able to cover an entire household. Such a range will allow the user to wear headphones and walk around the house without any snags or audio interruptions.
Rear-Mounted Fingerprint Scanner And Iris Scanner
Numerous rumors suggest that the upcoming flagship will have a fingerprint sensor housed in the back, while it's also reported to come with an Iris scanner, as is the case with the Note 7. This rumor conflicts with an earlier one that suggests the smartphone could come with an optical fingerprint scanner. If either rumor is true, it'll be the first time for Samsung not to stash the fingerprint scanner on the home button.
Y-OCTA Display Technology
The Galaxy S8 may reuse Y-OCTA display technology, which was first used in the Note 7. The Y-OCTA technology is a manufacturing process that allows Samsung to cut display costs and thickness by embedding touch sensors within the screen panel itself, instead of sandwiching a touch layer between the panel and the protective glass. The result is a thinner display manufactured by Samsung itself, since it doesn't have to rely on third-party manufacturers to make the touch layer.
Furthermore, according to a Samsung mobile engineer, the Galaxy S8's display will cover almost 90 percent of the phone's front panel, a few points less than the bezel-less phone Xiaomi Mi Mix.
Samsung has always released curved and non-curved versions of its Galaxy S flagships, but according to a report by The Korea Herald, the company may be considering halting the regular flat-paneled model for the Galaxy S series.
Harman Stereo Speakers
Samsung recently announced that it's buying Harman International for $8 billion, opening up Harman's connected car technology to the South Korean company. But it will also give Samsung access to Harman's audio brand, which is suggestive of the Galaxy S8 possibly being equipped with Harman Stereo Speakers.
Front-Facing Camera With Autofocus
According to a report from South Korea's ETNews, the Galaxy S8 may feature a front-facing camera with autofocus. The camera will reportedly use a focusing mechanism via an encoder, instead of the more traditional voice coil motor, meaning that the focusing actuator will be at the side of the lens instead of the middle, resulting in a camera module with lower depth.
The autofocusing selfie camera will reportedly be optimized for group shots, with the actuator being able to recognize people located at different distances relative to the camera. Sources say that Samsung plans to herald this feature as a means of distinguishing it from other smartphones.
Processor And Specs
Rumors suggest that the Galaxy S8 will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, which comes with extra power and better battery efficiency. Like previous Galaxy S handsets, however, a different model may sport a different processor.
Rumors suggest that Samsung may also equip another Galaxy S8 variant with its proprietary Exynos 8895 chipset, alongside ARM's Mali-G71 chip for graphics. The new GPU utilizes Bifrost architecture, which reportedly supports 4K and virtual reality content.
The Galaxy S8 is also rumored to come with 6 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage. It remains to be seen if the device will carve out space for a microSD slot, but 256 GB is a pretty sizable storage already, so memory expansion seems unlikely, but still plausible.
Release Date
Like the Galaxy S7, the Galaxy S8 might be unveiled during next year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. Still, if Samsung indeed unveils the flagship during the MWC, reports suggest that the phone won't be released until April.
What seems to be the most plausible Samsung Galaxy S8 rumor you've read so far? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
