Earlier today, rendered images and a video of Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus were leaked online revealing how the two phones will look like once released.
Even though these are not real images of the phone, they represent what Samsung is working on based on the many rumors, leaks, and speculations that are flying around with respect to the two Galaxy S8 handsets. From these images and video, we have come up with the four biggest changes that Samsung will be making to the S8 twins, especially when compared to their predecessors – Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.
New design language
The leaked renders show just about every aspect of the design of the two Samsung Galaxy S8 phones. From the images, we can conclude that Samsung is making wholesale changes to the overall look of the phones. There are no bezels on the right and left-hand sides of the phones and even though this feature is still visible on the top and bottom ends of the phones, the size is really small. In fact, the size of the both bezels is so small such that the tech giant has no room for adding its logo.
The reduced bottom bezels also mean that there is no physical home button and fingerprint scanner on the front panel. The former has been buried into the screen while the latter has found a new home just beside the main camera. There is also an additional button on the left-hand side of the phone that is believed to be associated with Bixby AI Assistant.
As noted earlier, both Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will come with very small bezels on the top and bottom ends. This means that the screen sizes will be a lot larger than the previous models, with speculations placing them at 5.7/5.8 inches for the S8 and 6.1/6.2 inches for the S8 Plus.
Improved performance
Each year, Samsung releases a new Galaxy S series phone that brings new features and improved performance. Well, this year is no different from previous years. The Galaxy S8 handsets will ship with the latest Snapdragon 835 SoC, up from last year’s Snapdragon 820. According to Qualcomm, the former is 30% smaller in size, consumes 40% less power than the latter. In addition, the 835 promises to deliver 27% improved performance when compared to the 820.
As if this is not enough, Samsung is rumored to be working on a huge 6GB RAM variant to accompany the base model of 4GB RAM, something that should take these performance improvement figures to the next level. This is a huge 50% improvement in RAM capacity when compared to the S7 and S7 Edge, however, don’t be surprised if the 6GB RAM variant remained exclusive to China, a market where phones with such huge RAM capacities have become mainstream.
Larger battery capacity
In addition to upping the size of the display screens as well as RAM, the two Samsung Galaxy S8 handsets are also rumored to be coming with even larger battery units when compared to their predecessors.
Of course, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge saw massive improvements in the battery capacity, with the former shipping with a 3000mAh unit while the latter came in with a decent 3600mAh unit. Well, according to the latest developments, we could see a larger 3250mAh unit powering the Galaxy S8 while the larger S8 Plus could retain the same capacity as the S7 Edge, but this shouldn’t mean you get the same battery life since the new Snapdragon 835 processor is more power efficient than its predecessor. Still, other reports are pointing towards a larger 3750mAh battery unit for the S8 Plus, something that would be welcome by many Sammy fans.
These batteries, despite being larger than their predecessors, will charge faster than their counterparts thanks to the new USB-C port that replaces the slower microUSB ports used on last year’s models.
Bigger storage capacity
Last year, Apple finally said goodbye to the 16GB variant of the iPhone, debuting a base model of 32GB for the iPhone 7. Samsung made this shift quite some time back and it is making it once again with the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. Apparently, fans can finally say goodbye to the 32GB storage variant and instead, the two phones will debut with base storage options of 64GB. The phones will still keep the microSD card slots, meaning you can up the storage by up to 256GB.
As noted earlier, the tech giant has plans to add a 6GB RAM variant. Apparently, this variant will be paired with 128GB of storage, but as pointed out, it is possible that this variant could remain exclusive to the Chinese market.
Last year’s Samsung Galaxy S7 camera was only bettered by the Google Pixel and Pixel XL. With the competition getting tighter thanks to the growing number dual-lens smartphones in the market, Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are expected to come in with some improvements to the cameras but do not expect anything wholesale. In fact, the main cameras could remain unchanged, but there is talk of an 8MP shooter for the selfie camera instead of the 5MP used on the S7 and S7 Edge.
What would you like to see Samsung add to the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus when compared to the S7 and S7 Edge? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.