Samsung Galaxy S8 release date, specs, rumours, and price explained

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S8

Samsung Galaxy 9

 The Samsung Galaxy S8 is destined to be one of 2017's biggest smartphone launches. Here's what we already know about Samsung's next flagship handset, including the Galaxy S8 release date, specs, features, and price.
Update (4 July 2016): Samsung's Galaxy S8 could feature a circular home button, possibly moved to the back of the device. It may also feature a new 'Smart Glow' ring around the rear-facing camera that replaces the notification light. This new light could also illuminate when the rear-camera detects a face, making it much easier to take selfies with the primary camera. This information comes courtesy of newly revealed patents, so these features are in no way guaranteed.
Samsung has a reputation for building bloody good phones, so it would be surprising – and frustrating – if the Galaxy S8 was any different. We're still months away from launch, but the cogs are already in motion for the coming of Samsung's next flagship smartphone.
Don't forget – the smartphone market is easy to predict. After all, we already know what processors, modems, and camera technology will be available for Samsung to utilise ahead of next year's Galaxy S8 debut. Some of the likely Galaxy S8 features include Qualcomm's Snapdragon 830 chip, a huge 1/1.7 image sensor, and a hi-res 4K/UHD display.
Samsung is expected to launch five flagship devices in 2017, according to recent rumours. One of those is tipped to be a foldable Galaxy X, but familiar entries look likely too: think the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Edge, and Galaxy Note 7.
Nevertheless, we're a long way from the Galaxy S8 release, so the phone remains a relative mystery for now. Here's our round-up of everything we think we know about the Samsung Galaxy S8...

GALAXY S8 RELEASE DATE UK & US – WHEN WILL THE NEW GALAXY S8 COME OUT?

The Galaxy S8 release date is likely to be in either March or April, based on recent history. Here’s a quick look back at previous Galaxy phone launches:
As is evident by the launch pattern, April has tended to be the most popular month for release. However, the Galaxy S7 arrived a little earlier in 2016. That was because the phone was actually announced in February at Mobile World Congress, an event that’s usually held in March. However, MWC’s timing this year meant that the Galaxy S7 was forced to land sooner than expected.
It’s too early to give an exact launch date for the Galaxy S8, unfortunately. We won’t really have any idea either, until the dates for MWC 2017 are announced. However, we've heard – courtesy of South Korean media – that Samsung is planning five flagship phone launches for 2017, including the Galaxy S8 and a foldable Galaxy X. Because we all want foldable phones, right?

GALAXY S8 FEATURES – WHAT’S NEW ABOUT THE GALAXY S8?

The Galaxy S8 is expected to be one of next year’s most exciting smartphones, so it’s likely to have seriously top-end specs. While nothing is certain this early on in the Galaxy S8’s development timeline, we have a very good idea about much of what the phone will feature.
Here’s what you can expect to see in terms of Galaxy S8 features...

GALAXY S8 AND S8 EDGE SCREEN – WILL SAMSUNG USE A 4K DISPLAY?

The first question is how big could Samsung’s Galaxy S8 be? Here are the screen sizes for past Samsung flagship phones:
There’s a clear trend of 5.1-inch panels here – it’s a decent middle ground between the lowly 4-inch iPhone SE and the gargantuan 6-inch Nexus 6, and will suit most users. While there haven’t been any rumours about the Galaxy S8 screen, we’d expect the Galaxy S8 to feature a 5.1-inch display, and the Galaxy S8 Edge to feature a 5.5-inch screen. That lets Samsung better compete with Apple’s 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones.
Next up is display resolution – will the Galaxy S8 finally debut a 4K display? The Galaxy S5 featured a Full HD display, but Samsung switched to QHD panels (1,440 x 2,560 pixels) with the Galaxy S6. This resolution was retained for the Galaxy S7 too, despite rumours of a 4K panel.

But there’s a key difference between 2016 and 2017, and that’s the proliferation of virtual reality. In 2016, VR is still finding its feet, and Samsung played to the trend with its early-to-market Gear VR headset. In 2017, however, it’s expected that VR will be well and truly mainstream – IDC predicts that nine million VR headsets will be sold next year. If there’s a single argument for Samsung adopting a 4K display on its next flagship, it’s virtual reality.
When you don a Gear VR today, the screen you’re looking at is a QHD panel. But it’s pixelated, and that’s not ideal. That’s partly because you’re not actually seeing a QHD picture. The screen is running in stereoscopic mode, which means the panel is split into two identical halves, each at Full HD resolution.
If Samsung were to use a 4K display, each image (or half of the screen) would be running at a QHD resolution, which means the Gear VR would look twice as good. If Samsung really wants to back VR – and all evidence suggests it does – then we’ll see a 4K screen on the Galaxy S8.
It’s also worth noting that the Snapdragon 820, the processor that powers a good chunk of Galaxy S7 devices, already supports native 4K display at 60fps. The Galaxy S8 will be using an even newer processor, which means there’s no risk of the chip not supporting the UHD screen.

The good news is that it might actually happen. A report by the Korea Herald on June 8 cites predictions by industry analysts at UBI Research that the Galaxy S8 will feature a 4K display. According to the market experts, there's plenty of evidence to support the theory. Researchers at the firm were quoted as saying:
“Samsung Display showcased a 5.5 ultra-high definition 4K display with a pixel density of 806ppi for virtual reality devices at the Society for Information Display, a display trade show, in California in March. Considering various factors including the production yield rate for the next-generation display expected to improve in the coming months, the 5.5-inch AMOLED will be deployed in the next Galaxy smartphone, presumably, named the S8.”
Of course, the word of industry analysts isn't gospel – they often get things wrong. But still, it's more evidence that a move to 4K displays is a sensible (and likely) one.

GALAXY S8 SPECS – HOW POWERFUL WILL IT BE?

New 10nm processor? – Next year’s mobile chips haven’t been announced yet but, like smartphones, their releases are cyclical, and thus easy to predict.
The Galaxy S7 runs on one of two chips: a Snapdragon 830, built by US chip maker Qualcomm, or an Exynos 8890, built by Samsung’s own semiconductor division. The Galaxy S6 used an Exynos processor, and the Galaxy S5 used a Snapdragon processor.
We’d say the likeliest scenario is that the Galaxy S7 will use both Samsung and Qualcomm chips once again. Splitting the manufacturing strain between two companies means you can order more chips, and get them in a timely fashion. While we don’t know much about the Snapdragon 830 – yet to be announced – or the next Exynos chip, there are some clues.Earlier this year, a leaked ARM presentation showed that the company is working on reference designs for CPUs built on a highly-efficient 10nm manufacturing process. Both Qualcomm and Samsung use ARM’s reference designs.
What’s more, Qualcomm and Samsung chips are generally built by one of two companies: Taiwan’s TSMC, or Samsung’s chip manufacturing division. TSMC has already pledged to manufacture 10nm chips by the end of 2016, and Samsung is also known to be working on 10nm chips. That means it’s very likely that both the Snapdragon 830 and the next Exynos chip will be built on a 10nm process.
By contrast, the Galaxy S7’s Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890 chips are both built using a 14nm FinFET process, which is less efficient. Moving to 10nm means the new chips will be more powerful and less power-hungry.
Super-fast modem – What’s also probable is that the Snapdragon 830 – and the Galaxy S8, by extension – will come with a Snapdragon X16 built-in.
The Snapdragon X16 is Qualcomm’s latest modem built on a 14nm manufacturing process, and supports “fibre-like” LTE Cat. 16 download speeds. That’s significantly superior to the X12 modem built into the Snapdragon 820 chip – as used on the Galaxy S7 and LG G5.


The Snapdragon X12 modem supports 600Mbps download speeds. But the Snapdragon X16 can handle incredible downlink speeds of up to 1Gbps.
That means a 4K movie – estimated at 100GB average file size – could be downloaded in just over 13 minutes. And a Blu-ray movie, which averages at around 20GB, could arrive in a quarter of that time.
Qualcomm has already revealed that manufacturers are currently sampling the Snapdragon X16, and the first products that feature the chip are expected in the second half of this year. As such, it would be very surprising if the Galaxy S8 didn’t use the Snapdragon X16.
Unfortunately, while the Snapdragon X16 can support high-speed connections, it doesn’t guarantee them. Fast speeds also depend on your phone network, and no cellular networks in the UK currently offer 1Gbps speeds. Qualcomm predicts that 1Gbps speeds may be offered in the UK within two years, however.
USB-C, finally? – The Galaxy S7 was rumoured to feature a USB-C port, but that didn’t happen. Now the Galaxy S8 is expected to debut the technology instead.
USB Type-C is a USB specification that should eventually replace the Micro USB ports that you’ll find on the majority of smartphones today. It’s already been used on plenty of devices in 2016, perhaps most prominently with Apple’s 12-inch MacBook.
USB Type-C is a reversible connection – you can stick it in upside down, basically – just like the Apple Lightning port. It also supports different “protocols”. That’s a fancy way of saying that you can have adapters that can output other types of connections – HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, etc. – from a single USB-C port. That’s why Apple’s 12-inch MacBook only needs one port.
USB-C is also capable of supplying much more power (up to 100W) compared to a conventional USB 2.0 connection (2.5W).

All this means that USB-C is a worthy upgrade over Micro USB, and it would seem very curious if that Galaxy S8 didn’t make the switch. Perhaps the only downside to upgrading would be that the Galaxy S8 wouldn’t be compatible with existing Gear VR headsets, which use Micro USB connections. However, if Samsung did switch to USB Type-C, it’s likely that a next-generation Gear VR supporting the new connection would launch alongside it.

GALAXY S8 CAMERA – EVEN BETTER THAN THE S7 CAMERA?

Samsung’s flagship phones have long been known for their impressive cameras. Why should the Galaxy S8 be any different? After all, the Galaxy S7 has one of the most innovative and impressive phone cameras we’ve ever seen, better even than the well-received Galaxy S6.
That might seem curious at first, because Samsung dropped from 16 megapixels on the Galaxy S6 camera to a mere 12-megapixel sensor for the Galaxy S7. But despite the smaller number of pixels, the Galaxy S7 camera was actually more competent.
That’s thanks to the ‘Dual Pixel’ technology built into the camera. Every pixel on the Galaxy S7’s image sensor has two photodiodes instead of one. One of the biggest advantages of this increased pixel count is faster focus. When you’re taking a photo with an iPhone, between 5% and 10% of the pixels are used for focusing. But with the Galaxy S7, every single pixel is able to take part.


More excitingly, the Galaxy S7 was the first smartphone in the world to debut the technology. So it seems probable that the Galaxy S8 will retain this feature.
But it gets better. The Galaxy S7 also features a large f/1.7 lens aperture and a 1/2.6-inch sensor. But we already know that Samsung is hard at work developing a 1/1.7-inch sensor fit for use in smartphones, and there are rumours that there’s also a lens with a faster f/1.4 aperture in the works too. Both could feature in the Galaxy S8.
Unfortunately, recent reports seem to suggest that neither innovation will be ready for the Galaxy S8 launch – or the Galaxy Note 6 launch, for that matter. Instead, it seems more likely that the Galaxy S8 will tout a very similar camera module to the Galaxy S7, at least until we hear otherwise.
Perhaps the only key difference could be an upgrade to a dual-lens camera module. We've already seen heavily speculation that Apple is plotting such a move with the iPhone 7, and Huawei already sprang for the tech in its recently launched Huawei P9. A smattering of such rumours regarding the Galaxy S8 have been posted to Chinese social media site Weibo, but it's too early to believe such reports. Nevertheless, if Apple's next flagship phone does feature a dual-lens camera, we'd be very surprised if Samsung didn't follow suit.

GALAXY S8 BATTERY LIFE – WILL IT HAVE A BIGGER BATTERY?

The matter of Galaxy S8 battery life is tricky, because how long a phone lasts on a single charge depends on so many factors.
The first is the size of the actual cell. Here’s a brief history of battery capacities for recent Samsung flagships:
  • Galaxy S7 – 3,000mAh
  • Galaxy S7 Edge – 3,600mAh
  • Galaxy S6 – 2,550mAh
  • Galaxy S6 Edge – 2,600mAh
As you can see, the Edge variants tend to have slightly bigger batteries. But the screens tend on those phones are a little bigger – moreso on the S7 Edge than the S6 Edge – which explains the added capacity. If there are two variants of the Galaxy S8, we’d expect this trend to continue.

But cell size isn’t the only factor that affects battery life. Google’s Android N – the software expected to feature on the Galaxy S8 – offers battery life improvements. Then there’s the likely 10nm processor, which will be less power-hungry than the current 14nm processor on the Galaxy S7. However, if Samsung does finally move to a 4K display with the Galaxy S8, you can count on that putting a serious damper on battery life too.
In any case, battery life is hugely important to phone buyers these days, so we’d be surprised if Samsung was willing to ship the Galaxy S8 if it could manage less than a single day’s use.

GALAXY S8 WATERPROOF – WILL IT BE IP68 CERTIFIED?

One of the best features of the Samsung Galaxy S7 was its waterproof chassis. So we’re hoping the Galaxy S8 follows suit with an IP68-certified body – but what does that actually mean?
IP stands for ‘Ingress Protection’, and it’s a rating system put forward by the International Electrotechnical Commission to let consumers know how (1) waterproof, and (2) dustproof, a device is. If a handset is IP68-certified, it can be submerged in water at a depth of 1.5 metres for up to 30 minutes. By contrast, an IP67-certified phone – like the Samsung Galaxy S5 – is only rated to depths of one metre.
So how likely is it that the Galaxy S8 will be waterproof? Well, while the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S7 were aqua-friendly, the Galaxy S6 was not, which shows Samsung is willing to skip over water-proofing for design purposes. However, the waterproof Galaxy S8 was extremely well-received, so it seems unlikely that Samsung will tamper with its winning formula too much.
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 – IP68
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 – N/A
  • Samsung Galaxy S5 – IP67
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Active – IP67
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 – N/A
  • Samsung Galaxy S3 – N/A
Unfortunately, there haven’t been any rumours specifically regarding a waterproof Samsung Galaxy S8 just yet, so stay tuned.



GALAXY S8 SOFTWARE – ANDROID N OR ANDROID O?

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 will probably launch before the next version of Android – Android O? – is announced. That means that it’s most likely to arrive with Android N on board.
Fortunately, we already know plenty about Android N, as the developer preview is already available to use. The full version isn’t expected to appear on phones until later in 2016, and we should find out more about this finalised version at this month’s Google I/O developer conference.
So what’s new in Android N? Perhaps the biggest improvement the ability to use apps in split-screen mode. However, Samsung already offers this feature in its own TouchWiz skin – the software Samsung overlays onto Google’s Android OS. But there are other new perks, like notifications tacking, a flatter ‘material design’ aesthetic, and battery life improvements.

Also exciting is the imminent launch of Google’s Android Pay. Apple Pay launched months ago, so iPhone users will be well used to paying for things contactlessly with their smartphones. But Android Pay hasn’t arrived in the UK yet – a launch later this month is rumoured.
If the rumours of an imminent launch are true, it means the Galaxy S8 will support contactless payments. That assumes the Galaxy S8 will feature an NFC chip, which is also highly likely. Jolly good.

SAMSUNG PATENTS – THE FUTURE FOR GALAXY S8?

Samsung has a huge (and ever-growing) patent portfolio, which makes for excellent future-gazing. Will any of these features make it to the Galaxy S8?
New home button
Samsung could be preparing to swap out its signature lozenge-shaped home button for something a little more iPhone-like. A recently published Samsung patent depicts a handset with circular home button sensors, just like the iPhone. And another patent positioned the sensor on the back of the phone, just like the LG G5.


Better Selfies?
It was recently reported that Samsung was planning to introduce a new alternative to Android's notification light, dubbed 'Smart Glow'. Since then, tech blog Sammobile released what it claims is accurate information about the feature.
According to the report, Smart Glow is an illuminated ring around the camera lens on the back of Samsung Galaxy smartphones. This ring lights up for notifications, and will be customisable, i.e. users can change the colour depending on the type of alert.


The report also notes that Smart Glow won't just be used for replacing the notification LED, however. It might also help impprove your selfie game significantly:
"It's also going to help users take pictures of themselves with the rear camera. Since that can prove to be a bit tricky as opposed to taking a selfie with a front camera, the Smart Glow ring will illuminate when it detects the face and the photo will then be taken in a few seconds."
Samsung is expected to show off Smart Glow initially with the upcoming Galaxy J2, rumoured for an imminent Indian launch. If the feature is a hit, there's a good chance the Galaxy S8 will also boast Smart Glow.

GALAXY S8 PRICE – HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

We can only guess at the Galaxy S8 price at this stage. To help, here’s a look-back at recent Galaxy phone mark-ups:
  • Galaxy S7 – £569
  • Galaxy S6 – £599
  • Galaxy S7 Edge – £639
  • Galaxy S6 Edge – £695
Unsurprisingly, the Edge-variant Galaxy phones tend to cost between 5% and 10% more than their more traditional counterparts. If we take the average price of the S7 and S6, and assume that the Galaxy S8 will cost about £599, then the Galaxy S8 Edge would probably retail at about £639.
However, we’ll have to wait for some leaks nearer to the Galaxy S8 release date before we can put our finger on the price with any degree of certainty.

SHOULD I WAIT FOR THE GALAXY S8?

The Galaxy S8 is a long way off, so it may be unwise to batten down the hatches and wait for the 2017 flagship.
There are plenty of great phones on the market right now, not least the Galaxy S7. But you’ll also find good value from the HTC 10 and Google’s Nexus 6P. And if you’re not a die-hard Android nut, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are very formidable handsets.
But by the time the Galaxy S8 handset comes out, there’ll be even more phones available. We’d expect to see the Galaxy Note 6, iPhone 7, LG G6, and a new Nexus phone too, all vying for your hard-earned cash.
And looking beyond that, you’ll have the HTC 11 (probably, anyway) shortly following the Galaxy S8, with the iPhone 8 and Galaxy Note 7 assuredly in tow.
What phone are you most excited for in the coming year? Let us know in the comments.

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