Much like the arms race between the USA and the Soviet Union after the Second World War pitted two giants against each other, there’s another desperate race going on, although this time it’s not for domination or to keep the peace. This time, it’s for your hard-earned cash and the right to be called the most advanced smartphone manufacturer in the world. So enter Apple with its next iPhone and Samsung with the Galaxy S8.
The future is near
While this race is nothing new, both companies compete within the same market and so are natural competitors. But new rumors are surfacing that Apple and Samsung could be on the verge of bringing about the biggest change the smartphone has seen since 4G.
Imagine a handset with its face completely taken up by a display. Seriously, from edge to edge, rounded corner to rounded corner! It’s thought that Samsung is slightly ahead of Apple in this tech display race and that the iPhone 8 probably won’t incorporate such a display. But the same cannot be said for Samsung because even with all of its current Galaxy Note 7 woes, it has the foresight to think ahead. So if the current rumors are correct, we could see a Galaxy S8 with an edge-to-edge display as early as February.
Galaxy S8 concept
Of course Apple won’t allow Samsung to have everything its own way, and the rumors coming out of the U.S. tech arena point towards the 10th anniversary iPhone being no slouch. There’s talk of it having no Home Button at all and the Touch ID scanner being embedded into its screen.
However, seeing as Samsung is further along in the development of the Galaxy S8 than anyone previously thought. A new video has been published in which the creator imagines what the device may look like.
What can you see?
If you’ve not watched the video yet, it’s clear that its creator hopes the Galaxy S8 benefits from a dual-lens setup. Right now this feature seems to be a growing trend among many of the top handset manufacturers. However, the jury is still out on just how good it is until more people get more real-world experience with the iPhone 7 Plus.
Obviously, there’s also the edge-to-edge display I mentioned earlier. One negative of this that I can see is the constant touching of the screen, meaning that one could easily activate something by mistake, which is often the case on displays surrounded by a bezel. Also it’s clear that the creator would like the fingerprint sensor embedded into the display, much like has been talked about with the iPhone 8. Personally, I like buttons, but I am open to change. What about you?
Next up, there’s the super fast Snapdragon 830 chip; right now this chip isn’t in any other handset. So if the Galaxy S8 is going to get it, we’ll probably see something like 6GB of RAM.
Back from the brink
Whatever you think Samsung should produce with the Galaxy S8, it surely must focus on repairing the damage done by the Note 7 debacle. It has decided to discontinue that handset just two months after its release, which as far as I know is unprecedented in smartphone history.
According to some estimates, Samsung is going to have to recall a staggering 2.5 million handsets. It has no choice but to remove them from circulation due to not knowing which could explode.
So there’s no question that Samsung needs something like the Galaxy S8 concept in the video to repair its reputation. As for what we will get, it looks like the Home button will go, and with the extra space inside, it may incorporate a dual-lens camera.
Additionally, there could be two Galaxy S8 variants; check out the details here.