We’re just a few hours away from the official unveiling of Samsung’s next flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. As with other major launches in the past, there have been a lot of leaks and rumors about the specifications and appearance of the SGS7/SGS7 Edge.
So we thought of rounding up some of the more plausible rumors that we’ve seen on the web and try to piece together an early picture of what we can expect from Samsung’s new flagship handsets, starting with the design.
Design and Build
Since the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge rumor mill started turning, there has been no shortage of leaked pictures showing off the two handsets, either through purported press renders, or alleged actual photos of the handsets. With the exception of older “concept” renders, the newer leaks suggest that Samsung has gone for the same design and premium build on its new handsets, albeit has made the corners more rounded.
The camera module on the back also seems to be less protruding compared to the previous models. Although it’s not that evident on some of the leaked pictures, it’s speculated that the water-resistant feature of the old Galaxy S5 might make its return on the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge.
A couple of pictures also suggest that both of Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphones will be equipped with a traditional MicroUSB port instead of the reversible USB Type-C that’s slowly becoming the norm for high-end devices.
Display
Looking at the past releases, it’s highly likely that Samsung will not veer away from the use of Super AMOLED screens on its upcoming hero devices. Moreover, the South Korean firm will also implement the same screen size (5.1-inch) on the Galaxy S7, as well as the same Quad-HD (2560 x 1440) screen resolution.
There are, however, some speculations that Samsung might increase the size of the screen of the Galaxy S7 Edge to 5.7-inch, putting it at par with the Galaxy S6 Edge+ in terms of screen size. Other rumors suggest that it’ll sport a 5.5-inch Quad-HD panel, making it bigger than the previous model, but a few centimeters shy of the S6 Edge +.
Other notable speculations about the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge’s display include the use of ClearForce technology which works similar to Apple’s 3D Touch, and a new Always-On feature.
OS and Apps
Unless there were unforeseen changes in the plans, we can expect that both of these flagship smartphones will come pre-installed with Android Marshmallow with the company’s proprietary UI laid on top of it.
Other Samsung apps should also make its way to the new handsets such as Samsung Pay, Smart Manager and S Health.
Processor, RAM and Storage
As these upcoming smartphones belong in the flagship tier, one could expect that it’ll both be equipped with the latest and greatest engine setup the tech industry has to offer. Thus, it’s not surprising that rumor-mongers are suggesting that Samsung might use the new Snapdragon 820 on its new smartphones.
At the time of writing, the RAM capacity remains shrouded in mystery. But given that we’re dealing with flagship-caliber smartphones, it’s likely that Samsung will equip the S7 and S7 Edge with 3GB of RAM, and possibly even 4GB RAM if the company goes all out on its new smartphones.
As for the storage, we expect that Samsung will keep the same storage scheme that we’ve seen in previous releases, offering the handset in variable storage capacities starting from 32GB all the way up to 128GB.
There is, however, one fascinating claim that the MicroSD might make its return on Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphone. Recent leaked photos (seen above) shows that there is MicroSD cutout on the SIM card tray which suggests that there might be some truth behind this rumor.
Camera
We’ve already mentioned on our previous post that the rear camera of both the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge might get a decrease in resolution. From 16MP of its predecessors, Samsung’s upcoming hero smartphones will only be equipped with a 12-megapixel rear shooter.
New speculations about the resolution of the rear camera of the S7/S7 Edge seem to agree with previous rumors. However, it seems that Samsung will make up for the decrease in resolution with the use of bigger image sensor (1/2.5-inch) with a bigger pixel size of 1.4 microns which, in theory, should result to better low-light performance and image quality.
Battery
After the Galaxy S5, Samsung has stopped using removable battery pack on its flagship smartphones, both on the Galaxy S series and Galaxy Note lineup. Based on the recent leaked pictures, it seems that the South Korean giant will continue that trend on its new hero smartphones.
Since Samsung is likely to use a non-removable battery on the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, rumors about the capacity of the power packs used on this handsets are few and far in between. However, there were claims that suggest that both devices will receive a slight upgrade in the battery capacity, 3000mAh on the Galaxy S7 and 3,600mAh for the Galaxy S7 Edge.
Release date and Pricing
The Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge are expected to hit the market starting next month. As for its price, we are likely to see the same pricing scheme that we saw during the launch of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.
Disclosure
With the exception of its official launch date, Samsung has not confirmed any of things that were listed here, as such it should be taken with your usual grain of salt.