The purported Samsung Galaxy S8 has just leaked in the wild, with real-life images showing a sleek design with no home button and virtually no side bezels.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 has been leaking extensively as of late, and the hype is getting stronger by the minute, especially since the handset is expected to be a truly impressive powerhouse in order to make up for the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.
The latest leaked images showing the alleged device portray a sleek smartphone with extra screen real estate, thanks to the lack of a physical home button and the extremely thin side bezels. The frame of the smartphone also seems slightly more curved than what previous leaks have shown, but it looks good nonetheless.
Samsung Galaxy S8 Home Button Removed
Rumors of Samsung ditching the physical home button with the Galaxy S8 have been making rounds for quite some time now, and the latest leak seems to bolster such claims.
The new images surfaced on Weibo (via Techupdate3) and show the purported Galaxy S8 with no home button below the display. The images don't show any onscreen buttons either, which indicates they're activated when touching the display.
Samsung branding is prominent below the display, where the physical home button used to be on previous Galaxy smartphones, and the images show a gold-colored version of the device.
The right side of the smartphone seems to have the physical power / lock button, while the volume rocker buttons are located on the left side. The images don't show the rear of the device, so it remains unclear whether the Samsung Galaxy S8 would have a dual rear camera setup after all. Recent rumors indicated that Samsung gave up on the idea, and the Galaxy S8 would have a single main camera.
Earlier reports also claimed that Samsung has already started testing the Galaxy S8 in China, which could explain why the user interface (UI) of the device shown in the newly leaked images seems to be in Chinese.
Samsung Galaxy S8 Release Date Rumors
While the Samsung Galaxy S8 was initially expected to debut in February at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 and go on sale shortly after that, recent reports revealed that Samsung has delayed the launch to April.
Samsung is expected to introduce two Galaxy S8 models this year: the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. The regular Galaxy S8 might have a flat screen, while the Galaxy S8 Plus could have a curved edge display and support the company's S Pen stylus, typically found in the Galaxy Note series.
Galaxy S8 rumors also indicated that a smart A.I. assistant called "Bixby" could also be in the mix, but it remains to be seen whether it would actually happen. Google could reportedly kill off Samsung's A.I. assistant plans based on a patent-sharing agreement the company signed back in 2014.
That agreement apparently included a non-compete provision that would prevent Samsung from making any major software changes, and an A.I. assistant would be pretty major a change.
Keep in mind, however, that Samsung has yet to disclose any official information regarding its Galaxy S8 plans, which means that it's all in the rumor state at this point. As always in this case, take all leaks and rumors, including these newly leaked images, with a solid grain of salt.
