Samsung Galaxy S8: The display, the chipset and the camera, here's everything we have on the flagship

One of the most anticipated smartphones this year will be coming from Samsung and the hype has never been this high.

The Galaxy S8 has seen its share of leaks and rumours in the past six months, and while everyone was expecting the smartphone to make an appearance at the Mobile World Congress this year, the company only left us with a teaser for an ‘Unpacked event’.

This is going to take place on 29 March, that’s tonight, at 8:30 PM.

The Korean tech giant is under a lot of pressure, ever since it had to deal with faulty batteries on the Galaxy Note 7 last year and eventually kill the device. This year, not only does it have to impress its loyalists but it needs to regain customer trust.

Now, let’s just give you all the details that we have gathered over the past few months around the Galaxy S8.

Availability and launch

First things first. Let’s talk about when we would actually see the smartphone officially. As mentioned above, the flagship smartphone never made an appearance at MWC, which we expected thanks to a couple of reports. Samsung did however tease us with a short video and announced an Unpacked event dated 29 March. Which means tomorrow we will officially get to see what Samsung has in store for us. If you are interested in the launch, click here to know more on how you can follow the announcement.

The smartphone will not be available immediately as it is expected to hit markets a month later, so somewhere at the end of April is when the smartphone will be available for purchase.

Design and renders

It all started with some rumours where a bunch of sources claimed that Samsung will launch the device with a 4K display, a dual-camera setup and support the S-Pen, since the Note 7 was killed. Others suggested that Samsung will ditch the 3.5mm audio jack as well. Then some renders popped up and eventually we saw the handset in a leaked image by case makers itself. Early renders suggested that Samsung will only have a curved-edged Galaxy S8 and will say goodbye to the flat design.

Boo!

It was rumoured that Samsung would also add the option for users to lower the resolution to Full HD and HD resolutions. This would be great to save some juice.

We also saw one extra hardware key which was and is still being speculated to trigger a digital assistant just like Siri or Google Assistant. Samsung has at least confirmed that it’s called Bixby . Some sources said Samsung would make the handset bigger this time around, in terms of display size, which could go up to as much as 6 inches.

Early leaked images started to drop in where we saw the device with a display covering most of the front and no home or navigation buttons. A few days later, we saw yet another leak showing the back of the device which confirmed that Samsung would not indulge in a dual-camera setup and that it would place the fingerprint scanner right next to the camera rather than placing it below. Oh and the 3.5mm headphone jack appeared to be intact.

Right after Samsung’s MWC (Mobile World Congress) press conference, we saw famous tipster Evan Blass tweeting an image of what is believed to be the real deal.

https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/836762073384292353

We also saw a short glimpse of the handset in hands-on video. The video revealed the UI and both the variants, S8 and S8+ side by side.

So rounding it all up, we think the smartphone will be similar to the S7 Edge, which means a glass and metal finish. It will have a curved display and really slim bezels on the top and bottom. Considering this, Samsung will put a 5.8-inch display but maintain a footprint of a smaller 5.2-5.5-inch device.

There is speculation of an S8 Plus which will have the same design but a larger 6.2-inch display. Of course, there will be no hardware navigation keys and we could see on-screen buttons. There is going to be an extra hardware button on the right side which could be used to trigger an AI assistant. Dust and water resistance goes without saying.

Most importantly, the camera setup will be a traditional one (no dual-lens), but the placement of that fingerprint scanner will be quite odd.

Specifications

Samsung was expected to fully load up the Galaxy S8 to cover up for the Note 7 losses. Everything from 4K displays to facial recognition scanners and even 8GB of RAM were rumoured. However the biggest news came in when Qualcomm announced its new flagship mobile SoC, the Snapdragon 835.

Samsung was said to have exclusive access to the new chip plainly because it helped Qualcomm in perfecting the 10 nm processor architecture. What’s more, no other smartphone maker could launch a device with the same chip until the Galaxy S8 hit markets.

As it is with almost all Galaxy S flagships, Samsung is speculated to launch an Exynos SoC variant of the S8. This is even more convincing as the company recently announced its own 10 nm Exynos chip. This could be exclusive to Asian markets.

As we mentioned above, sources suggested that Samsung will go with a larger display with 4K resolution. However, we have eventually come down to believe that we will see a 5.8-inch WQHD+ (2,960x1,440) resolution Super AMOLED curved display on the Galaxy S8 and a similar 6.2-inch one on the larger Galaxy S8 Plus.

https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/834550877058953216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

So no 6GB or 8GB RAM, but still quite a healthy package Samsung will have this year.

Update: A leak from Tenaa , a Chinese certification site, confirms many of the above rumours. Bear in mind that China does get unique variants of certain mobile phones so the specifications listed on the site may not apply to globally available devices. Anyway, Tenaa states that the upcoming phone will be available in an S8 and S8+ variant offering a 5.8 inch and 6.2 inch screen respectively. The resolution will be WQHD+ or 2960 x 1440 and that versions with 64 GB and 128 GB storage options. 4 GB RAM and 6 GB RAM variants will also be available. Strangely enough, the site lists the device as having a 4-core processor, which can’t be true. The device will apparently support microSD cards up to 256 GB in size, which is actually far short of the 2 TB supporting devices we’ve seen from some other manufacturers. The battery capacities will be 3,000 mAh and 3,500 mAh in the regular and plus models respectively.

Camera

With a number of smartphone makers  (yes even Apple) going in for a dual-camera setup, Samsung could stick to a regular single lens setup. It will be similar to last year’s flagship with a 12 MP sensor and dual-pixel technology, but if rumours are true, the camera on the S8 could feature a 1,000 fps capturing capabilities thanks to the embedded DRAM.

This means slow-mo videos are going to be a treat. Sony recently showcased something similar with its new flagships, the Xperia XZs and XZ Premium.

The sensor itself is rumoured to be the IMX 333 sensor from Sony. It’s very likely to be the same one that Sony demoed at MWC 2017 on the XZ Premium.

At the front we will see a feature that was seen on the Note 7 before it was sent to its grave. It is expected to pack in a 3.7 MP iris and facial recognition camera. Who doesn’t need added security?

Colours

This needs a special mention. The S8 was seen in multiple leaked images and in a variety of colours. From silver to golden, red to green. We have been quite confused and excited at the same time. We’ve placed our faith on the most recent leak though, which mentioned three colours, ‘Black Sky’, ‘Orchid Grey’, and ‘Arctic Silver.’

https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/843424632254468096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftech.firstpost.com%2Fnews-analysis%2Fnew-press-images-of-samsung-galaxy-s8-and-s8-in-black-sky-orchid-grey-and-arctic-silver-leak-367605.html

Price

Samsung has slowly progressed and has made its flagship smartphone more premium year on year. This has also led to increased flagship smartphone prices. The good thing though is that usually prices are slashed within a couple of months of launch, at least in India. Just yesterday we saw UK-based retailer MobileFun giving us an idea as to how much the smartphone would cost. According to the pre-order price,  the S8 could cost £799 (around Rs 65,000) for the 64GB 5.8-inch version, and £899 for the S8 Plus (around Rs 73,000).

To make the deal a bit worthy, a report suggests that the S8 will launch with a 3-month unconditional refund offer. This means a user would be able to use the Galaxy S8 and return in for the refund within three months regardless the condition of the device. The company will not ask any questions or demand any explanations about the return. This is assuming it doesn’t blow up of course.

Stay tuned for our coverage of the Samsung Galaxy S8 launch event .