Although most market attention is currently directed at the forthcoming release of the Galaxy Note 5, Samsung is working hard on next year’s Galaxy S7 behind the scenes. This will be a major smartphone release for the corporation in 2016, with the Galaxy S series still considered to be the flagship of the Korean corporation.
While the Galaxy S5 was greeted with a rather lukewarm response when it released in 2014, the Galaxy S6 was certainly a step in the right direction for Samsung. After the plasticky feel of previous Galaxy S devices being criticized as being dated and unattractive, Samsung opted for a largely metallic design with the Galaxy S6. The general consensus of opinion was that this significantly improved the Galaxy S series, and Samsung will look to build on the momentum that it achieved in 2015 with this forthcoming range.
Samsung in fact spent nearly $14 billion on research and development during 2015, which is widely acknowledged to be an extremely large amount of money, even for a corporation of its mammoth size. This played a central role in the development of the Galaxy S6, as Samsung successfully achieved the transition from a gimmicky device with an unappealing plastic visage to a modern metallic handset equipped with useful features and functions.
Galaxy S7 benchmarking shock?
But Samsung is also associated with producing particularly high spec devices, so the latest news about the forthcoming Galaxy S7 will be of particular interest to potential consumers. All major mobile devices go through a benchmarking process, with a points score attributed to this benchmarking test. It has emerged that an unknown Samsung device has recently gone through this process, and been attributed a massive score of around 96,000 points. It is already know that such a number could not be achieved by a Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, or a Galaxy Note 5, so it seems likely that the device in question is indeed the Galaxy S7.
Screenshots obtained by Weibo indicate that a mystery Samsung handset given the model name SM-G8508S managed to obtain a score of 95,972 points during this benchmarking process. By comparison, the existing Galaxy Note 5 has achieved a score of just under 70,000, indicating that a chipset considerably more powerful than the Exynos 7420 could be included in this next generation smartphone.
Recently it has also been suggested that Samsung will return to the Snapdragon series in 2016 when the Galaxy S7 releases. This suggests that the Snapdragon 820 could feature in this flagship smartphone, and Samsung is apparently testing this upcoming SoC at present. It has also been reported that the next generation Qualcomm chipset will not feature the company’s Kryo cores, but a quad-core CPU comprising of the firm’s own developed Hydra cores.
Put the two together and this certainly suggests that Samsung will be utilizing this processor in the next generation Galaxy S7, and that this device will be capable of processing speeds that have been hitherto unimaginable in the smartphone range.
Display
Aside from these recent rumors, the Galaxy S7 has also been linked with a raft of outstanding specs. Central to this is the suggestion that the Galaxy S7 could be the first mass market smartphone to include a 4K resolution screen. Samsung is often associated with high quality displays, not least because it is the biggest seller of televisions in the world, and if any corporation is going to break mobile’s 4K virginity, then the Korean Company must be a solid bet. Such a screen resolution would certainly require a powerful processor, so this would make the Snapdragon 820 link logical.
It has also been widely reported that Samsung will switch the emphasis of its smartphone series in the next generation. Particularly essential to this will be the evolution of the screen variant of the Galaxy S range to a more mass market proposition.
Although Samsung has already become psychically linked in the public consciousness with curved screen technology, the mobile products it has produced with curved displays are still premium devices manufactured in relatively small numbers. But it has been reported from sources close to the Samsung supply chain that the corporation is intending to change this perception in 2016, and will produce large quantities of a reported Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone.
Considering the popularity of Samsung’s proprietarily curved screen technology, it would seem to make sense for the corporation. Samsung’s raft of curved screen televisions have proved extremely successful, and the innovation of including this trademark in mobile devices has already prompted other manufacturers to produce such curved screen devices. Additionally, Apple has been linked with the release of a curved screen iPhone in the foreseeable future.
Camera
It has also been reported in recent weeks that the Galaxy S7 could benefit from a particularly revolutionary camera. Reports have emerged from Korea that the technology giant is currently working on a brand new camera sensor, which will probably feature in the Galaxy S7. Samsung is apparently readying itself to unveil the world’s first 1.0 micrometre 16MP CMOS image sensor, and this could make an appearance in its 2016 range of mobile devices.
This is intended to eliminate the camera bulge that was prominent in that Galaxy S6, ensuring that the Galaxy S7 is an even more attractive device than the previous flagship Samsung smartphone. The ultra-thin camera module utilizes Samsung’s ISOCELL technology to receive more light, which could also be a massive boost to the low-light shooting capabilities of the Samsung handset.
Release date and pricing
Samsung is largely expected to follow the release schedule for the Galaxy S6 next year, which would mean that the Galaxy S7 would be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. In terms of pricing, Samsung would seem to have very little room for manoeuvre, as the corporation continues to be challenged by affordable Android devices in East Asia. This could mean a price freeze for the Galaxy S7, regardless of the specifications that Samsung includes into this handset.
