Samsung Galaxy S8: UK price, release date, specs and rumours about 2017's first big smartphone launch
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Samsung's Galaxy S8 smartphone seems all-but-confirmed and could launch in as little as three months early next year.
As is common with tech manufacturers now, when the S8 does arrive it will likely do so in two different sizes. Early indicators suggest that we'll see a 5.1-inch and a 5.5-inch model.
What's not clear is whether or not Samsung will introduce an 'edge' version of the new phone with a curved screen. It has taken this approach with both the S7 and the S6 in the last two years.
(Photo: Samsung)
The South Korean company is also only starting to recover from the disastrous global recall and cancellation of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. It's launching its first product, the Gear S3 smartwatch, in the UK later this month.
And then there's the small matter of Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus that are currently proving a hit with fans, despite the controversial decision to remove the headphone jack.
Although it's unlikely that we'll see the next Samsung Galaxy phone on our shelves before March 2017, there are already plenty of leaks about the gadget showing up online.
(Photo: Samsung)
Whilst Apple appears to refine and strip down its phones, Samsung appears to be going the other way. If the current crop of internet rumours are to be believed, the company will be throwing everything it has into its next blower.
So, what do we know so far? We've collected all the latest whisperings right here and will continue to update this piece as we learn more.
Latest news
Amid rumours that Samsung is planning to follow Apple's lead and remove the headphone jack on the Galaxy S8, some sources are now claiming that Samsung will launch a pair of lightweight bluetooth earbuds – similar in design and functionality to Apple's AirPods.
Samsung already offers a pair of wireless earbuds, called the Gear IconX, which track your physical activity, have enough internal storage for around 1,000 music tracks and include a small touchpad to control music playback.
However, SamMobile reports that the South Korean company will launch a new pair of wireless earbuds alongside the Galaxy S8 in 2017, citing sources with knowledge of Samsung's product roadmap.
The new earphones could integrate with Samsung's new voice assistant, Viv, allowing users to dictate messages, request songs, make phone calls and ask for directions - just like users of Apple's AirPods can with Siri.
Release date
We might not know anything concrete about the Galaxy S8 release date for months yet, but thankfully it's a relatively easy thing to predict.
(Photo: PA)
Samsung's Galaxy phones have (since the S2 in 2011) been announced at or around the time of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in Barcelona. It happens each year in late February or early March. This lets Samsung have its phones on the shelves by the end of March or, more likely, early April.
It appears the Samsung Galaxy S8 will be no different. According to Phone Arena, Samsung has released a teaser image of its annual "Unpacked" event.
Although there's no specific mention of the new phone, Samsung has given a date: February 26, 2017.
The image was first revealed on Twitter by user Ricciolo - a reliable source of Samsung leaks.
Last year's event saw a surprise appearance from Mark Zuckerberg as well as the unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S7.
Price
As with Apple's iPhones, the Samsung Galaxy handsets have more or less plateaued when it comes to price. The current 32GB S7 comes in at £569 whilst the slightly larger S7 edge is £639. It's unlikely that Samsung's new phones will deviate too far from this kind of pricing. So you better start saving.
What could change things is if Samsung decides to offer multiple storage options. At the moment you can only get the S7 with 32GB of storage. If Samsung opts to increase this to 64GB or even 128GB the price could increase also.
However, the company could also keep the storage space as it is and instead include the capacity of the microSD card slot.
Design
Perhaps in an effort to rescue something from the doomed Galaxy 7 Note, Samsung could be planning to put an edge-to-edge display in the new S8.
That's the message coming from tech site Droid-Life, which claims the new S8 will come in two sizes and won't feature any bezels. Samsung will release a 5.7-inch model and a whopping 6.2-inch model - which makes it practically a tablet in our eyes.
(Photo: Getty)
What's more, the site is claiming Samsung will ditch the home button - something that has always been a feature of Galaxy phones.
"With the removal of the home button, it should be expected that we might see on-screen buttons, instead of Samsung’s long-standing capacitive keys," claims the site.
Samsung is also reportedly planning to put a pair of stereo speakers on the forthcoming Galaxy S8 flagship phone - something Apple did with the iPhone 7.
The news comes from gadget site Fone Arena, which alleges that the new blower might also sport branding from audio company HARMAN.
"According to our sources this dual speaker technology will have a branding, like the HTC’s Boomsound," wrote the site. "It could also come with HARMAN branding, and powered by technology from HARMAN that it recently agreed to acquire for about $8.0 billion."
Specs
Aside from the aforementioned 4K screen, there are a few rumours circulating about what kind of power the S8 may have under the bonnet.
Samsung's cameras have been exceptionally good recently, but the proliferation of dual-lens snappers from the likes of Apple, Huawei and LG may inspire it to follow suit. According to tech site Trusted Reviews , Samsung is indeed planning to include dual-lens cameras in its next phone.
(Photo: MEN)
A recent leak, reported on by the gadget site Pocket Lint , seems to have a clear picture of the S8's specs. It says the new phone will pack in 6GB of RAM and a 30-megapixel camera.
There will also be a 4,200mAh battery which - providing it doesn't explode - should easily see the phone through 24 hours of solid usage.
A report on Samsung-watching site SamMobile hit on the fact that the S8 may include an Exynos 8895 processor coupled with a Mali-G71 GPU. According to the site, that means the new phone will be up to 1.8 times more powerful than the already-impressive Galaxy S7.
What's more, SamMobile echoes other sites that suggest the S8 will have a 5.2-inch 4K-capable display. The reason? Samsung's pushing heavily into virtual reality and having a powerful screen resolution means you can use the phone in VR headsets like the Samsung Galaxy Gear and Google Daydream VR.
No headphone jack
It's being rumoured that Samsung will follow Apple's lead and ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack on the Samsung Galaxy S8.
If true, it would force users to adopt wireless headphones or, potentially, use a USB Type-C compatible pair, if that's what the new handset uses for charging.
The latter is what Samsung fan site SamMobile believes will be the case when the Galaxy S8 is unveiled at Mobile World Congress in 2017.
Galaxy S8 leaks suggest Samsung is planning to copy one of the iPhone 7's best features
(Photo: REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji)
By ditching the port, the company could make the phone sturdier and likely improve waterproofing while keeping the casing slim. But it's also likely to irk a huge number of people who rely on the old-fashioned analogue connection.
Apple wasn't the first major manufacturer to remove the headphone jack, but the decision caused the biggest stir when the iPhone 7 was unveiled. Third-party manufacturers have raced to offer wireless headphones and phone cases to resolve the issue.
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