Torrents of rumors have been flowing in about Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphone Galaxy S7. Previously, there were reports that the Korean electronics giant would launch two versions of S7: one with a standard display and another with the dual-edge display, just like the company did this year with Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Now reports coming out of South Korea claim that the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will have different screen sizes.
A departure from Samsung’s previous strategy
Citing unnamed sources, Korean publication ET News reports that the standard Galaxy S7 will have a 5.2-inch display, while the S7 Edge will boast of a bigger 5.5-inch display. Launching two phones with different screen sizes would be a significant departure from Samsung’s previous strategy. Both the flat-screen Galaxy S6 and curved-screen S6 Edge launched earlier this year featured the same 5.1-inch display.
The ET News adds that the world’s largest smartphone maker is planning an initial production run of 5 million units. It will produce 3.3 million units of the standard Galaxy S7 and about 1.6 million S7 Edge units. Samsung will finish the development of the new phones in January and begin mass production in early February. Sources told ET News that the devices will hit the store shelves in February itself. Recently, a leaked internal presentation from China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless operator, revealed that the Galaxy S7 will go for sale in China in February.
What would the back panel of Galaxy S7 look like?
Keeping the screen size of the Edge variant larger makes sense. We have seen with the Blackberry Priv and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus that a bigger display is more suitable for phones with curved screens. Separately, noted tipster Shai Mizrachi told Android Authority that the back of each device will be similar to that of the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus. It means the flat-screen Galaxy S7 will have a curved back while the curved-screen S7 Edge will have a flat back.
Earlier, there were rumors that Samsung may also launch two other variants: S7 Plus and S7 Edge Plus. But sources told ET News that only two versions would arrive. Launching four variants of the same phone could end up confusing consumers. Both the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are expected to feature 4GB RAM, a microSD slot, USB Type-c port, and a pressure sensitive display technology similar to 3D Touch in the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.
