Another day, another alleged photo of the Galaxy S8. The latest set of shots comes from gadget leaking blog Slash Leaks, which includes a photo that claims to show both the hotly-anticipated phone and its larger rumored counterpart, the Galaxy S8+, side-by-side.
Slash Leaks says the photo comes from an anonymous “screen protector manufacturer” — that usually isn’t the most reliable source of info, so take this with a grain of salt, but in this case the shot appears to square with the many rumors that’ve surrounded the phones over the past few months.
The leak shows two phones with big, wraparound screens and tiny bezels, falling right in line with the alleged press shot that was shared by famed gadget leaker Evan Blass last week. There doesn’t appear to be a physical home button or fingerprint scanner on the front of either device — previous reports have said that the former will be cut this time around, while the latter will be moved to the back. Other shots claim to show the top and bottom of the devices.
The most notable thing here may be the sheer size of each device. The Galaxy S8 is reported to hold a 5.8-inch display, while the Galaxy S8+ is said to have a 6.2-inch panel. The shrunk-down bezels should make them feel smaller than those numbers would suggest, but we’re likely looking at two big smartphones either way.
As a reminder, Samsung is widely expected to unveil both new phones at its “Galaxy Unpacked” event on March 29. They’re then expected to hit retailers in late April.
—Evan Blass (@evleaks) March 1, 2017
Aside from the tidal wave of leaks, reports from Blass, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and others have pointed to two phones with curved OLED displays, the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipsets (in the US), a new voice assistant named Bixby, and 3.5mm headphone jacks, among other features.
Though it’s not as high a seller as Apple’s iPhone, the “Galaxy S” series is usually Samsung’s biggest launch of the year, and one of the most prominent high-end handsets running Google’s Android operating system. It’ll take on particular importance this year, as the Korean firm attempts to recover both financially and perceptually from the disastrous recall of its Galaxy Note 7 phone.
At this rate, however, Samsung might not have much left to reveal at the end of the month; we're now past the point of mere hype-building teases of the new phones, and the gadget-leaking call and response may just keep on going until launch day.
