Samsung’s much anticipated Galaxy S8 has a lot riding on it. The S8 is intended to be Samsung’s comeback phone that has to take on the iPhone 7 and has to make up for their huge Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Recall that tainted the company’s image. To do this, Samsung is pulling out all the stops and making sure that this next phone, which is expected to arrive in April 2017, will be feature-packed and feature game-changing technology.
To make it easier to keep track of all the latest rumors going around, we’ve reviewed them all and came up with a list of what we think we’ll actually see at the Galaxy S8 launch event.
Galaxy S8 Features
Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth 5.0 is the latest iteration of Bluetooth technology, which on paper promises twice the speed, four times the range, and eight times the broadcast message capacity of Bluetooth 4.0. This also means that if true, the Galaxy S8 will be the first phone to support it. Given that Samsung is a member of the Bluetooth SIG consortium, according to BGR, Bluetooth 5.0 would be ready in “two to six months” we’re fairly confident this will be a feature.
Chance of Happening 80%
(Almost) All Screen Display
We previously reported that after the Xiaomi Mi Mix launch, Samsung engineers were confirming that they plan to unveil phones that have all-screen displays with as much as a 90% screen to body ratio and barely any bezel. This is expected to be one of the biggest game-changers as phones such as the iPhone 7 and Google Pixel all still have the same subpar 66% screen to body ratio.
Chance of Happening: 90%
No Home Button
A larger display means that the bezel will be smaller, and the home button will have to go. Instead, the S8 will feature a fingerprint sensor around the rear camera, something they’ve already patented. To help Samsung possibly introduce an iris scanner to unlock their phones by scanning their eyes, a second front-facing camera would do.
Chance of Happening 75%
Variations of the S8
Much like Samsung did with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7, we anticipate that the S8 will come out in two versions: the regular Galaxy S8 and a Galaxy S8 Edge, the will feature an edge-to-edge display.
Other rumors anticipate a larger version of the S8 to compete with the iPhone 7 Plus, but we find this highly unlikely because the Galaxy Note generally takes on that category. A reintroduction of the Note that will have features to take on the iPhone 8 Plus after the Galaxy S8 has launched is more likely.
Chance of Happening: 90%
Ditching the Headphone Jack
Many sources say that Samsung will follow Apple’s footsteps and ditch the headphone jack and instead opt to rely on the USB-C port to provide audio. We believe that this would be a big mistake on Samsung’s part because while Apple’s range of headphones and accessories is quite large, Android phones’ support is not quite there. Many believe that Android phones won some customers over who did not want to ditch the traditional headphone jack by upgrading to the iPhone 7.
Chance of Happening: 30%
Missing:Finger Print Sensors Under the Display
While many were hoping that Samsung’s larger edge to edge display will feature fingerprint sensors under the screen, we feel this will be unlikely. We believe that Samsung will continue to build up that technology and perhaps launch it with a new Note phone later in the year. This is a major blow to Samsung as it’s one of the most highly anticipated features of the iPhone 8.
Release Date
Many sources point to an April phone unveiling at a private event in NYC (we guess it will be at the Samsung 837 Store). This would be right after Mobile World Congress, from Feb 27 to March 2, 2017.
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US Mobile plans to carry the Samsung Galaxy S8 when it goes on sale in late-April 2017.
