This year could be the year smartphones start ditching the physical buttons. We’ve been hearing over and over that the iPhone 8 won’t have a physical Home button, and now we’re hearing that the Galaxy S8 won’t have one either. In fact, Nokia seems to be planning to launch a new flagship that will also lack a physical Home button, although the Nokia 8 isn’t official yet.
Galaxy S8 rumored again with no Home button
This isn’t the first time we’re hearing that Samsung will ditch the physical Home button on the Galaxy S8. We heard the same thing in December at least twice. In the second half of the month, it was reported that the S8 would lack a physical Home button just like the iPhone 8, and then earlier in the month, it was reported that the smartphone would have a true edge-to-edge display and a “virtual” Home button.
The source of this newest version of the Home button rumor is a pair of promotional videos Samsung Display posted on its Korean YouTube channel. Of course we don’t speak Korean, so it’s unclear what they’re saying, but if you watch the video entitled “AMOLED” all the way to the end, you’ll see a smartphone that the tech rumor mill is assuming to be the Galaxy S8.
Flat display instead of curved one?
As you can see in the video, the smartphone has ultra-thin bezels on all four sides but especially the long sides. There are very thin strips along the top and bottom, and the screen is flat rather than curved. This is particularly interesting because most of the rumors about the S8 have pointed to a curved display rather than a flat one. In fact, the rumors have tended to state that the Galaxy S8 will only be available in models with curved displays.
There’s no branding on the phone in the video, so it could be a phone from any manufacturer. Thus, it might not be the Galaxy S8 after all. However, the video clearly demonstrates that Samsung Display has successfully made a display that will can work edge to edge on a smartphone, which would be something new. In addition to stretching from edge to edge, the display is also much thinner than an LCD, thus enabling it to help smartphones slim down even further. Samsung Display also claims that the screen offers better colors compared to LCDs.
The second promotional YouTube shows off the same phone as the first one.
It’s only natural for Samsung to try to make a smartphone under its own brand using this new technology, so it would be strange for it to land on a phone made by another brand first.
