The Xiaomi Mi MIX took the world by storm when it launched back in 2016 thanks to its almost bezel-less screen. Well, it seems Samsung Galaxy S8 will be borrowing a few design cues from this Chinese OEM.
For the first time since rumors about Samsung Galaxy S8 begun showing up from last year, we now have our first look at the real images of this phone thanks to Evan Blass. In the leaked images, there are lots of similarities with what has been ongoing in the rumor mills. Talk of a curved dual-edge screen, a missing physical home button, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner as well as a curved glass design for the front and back panels.
This will be the first Samsung Galaxy S series phone to ship without a physical home button and a fingerprint scanner on the back. However, unlike other OEMs who have placed this feature on the backs of their flagships, for instance, Xiaomi Mi MIX, the Galaxy S8 has an egg-shaped fingerprint scanner that is placed on the side of the rear camera. The other side of the snapper has a dual-tone LED flash, but you will still have to deal with a hump on the camera.
When compared to the Xiaomi Mi MIX, the Galaxy S8 is slightly different. Rather than have a screen that is curved on three sides of the phone, you only get the curved edges on the left and hand side of the phone. The Mi MIX goes further to include a bezel-less top, with the only bezel appearing on the bottom side. The fingerprint scanner is on the back, but it is rounded and placed just below the rear camera. As for the front shooter, the Xiaomi Mi MIX has it placed on the bottom bezel, but Samsung Galaxy S8 will keep it at the top end as well as include a fingerprint scanner.
In terms of specs, Evan Blass says that Samsung Galaxy S8 will ship with a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED screen and according to a new report, the resolution will be 2960 x 1440 pixels. The larger model will come with a 6.2-inch screen with the same specs as the standard version. Under the hood, the tech giant will opt for two processors – a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and an Exynos processor. Both will be products of the 10nm process and will be paired with 4GB RAM and a base storage of 64GB with room to expand it via a microSD card of up to 256GB.
On the other hand, the Xiaomi Mi MIX has a 6.4-inch QHD display screen that should compete closely with the Galaxy S8 Plus. Being a 2016 model, the Mi MIX has a slightly older chipset – a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 – but you get the same 4GB RAM. However, this RAM is just for the entry-level variant as the company has a high-end model that ships with a massive 6GB RAM. The base model has 128GB of non-expandable storage while the high-end model comes in with a larger 256GB storage.
Both phones – Xiaomi Mi MIX and Samsung Galaxy S8 – have a 3.5mm headphone jack alongside a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer. Android 7.0 Nougat will power the S8 phones out of the box, with Samsung expected to avail an update to v7.1.1 in the near future. The Mi MIX comes with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, but there is a planned Android 7.0 Nougat update in the pipes.
Unlike the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, this year’s Galaxy S8 will not be launched at the MWC 2017 show, instead, Samsung has plans to unveil it at a special event on March 29 and release it later in mid-April.
What do you think about the new Samsung Galaxy S8 design language? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.