Serious 15 April 2017 = Samsung S8 launching - Gay phones must die!

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Samsung Galaxy S8 launch set for 15 April
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Adam Shepherd, Dale Walker, Clare Hopping, Ingrid Fadelli, Rene Millman
News
17 Jan, 2017
Rumours suggest the next Galaxy could launch after MWC

The next Galaxy device will be unveiled by Samsung on 15 April, according to recent leaks coming out of the hardware firm's home country, South Korea.

First reported by Korean site ET News, the leaks claim that the Samsung Galaxy S8 will be revealed at a special event in New York. This tallies with other rumours, most of which also put the event's date at mid-April.

If accurate, the news marks something of a departure from Samsung's usual pattern. The company generally times its announcements to coincide with Barcelona's Mobile World Congress - although it hasn't launched a phone at the convention itself for some time.

The rumours also suggest that Samsung will be putting substantial focus on the front-facing camera for the S7's successor. Adoption of a dual-lens rear camera - a configuration used by manufacturers like Huawei and Apple - was also mooted for the new device, but the idea was supposedly dropped during production.

It has also been suggested that the Galaxy S8 will be the first model to do away with the physical home button, allowing Samsung to fit it with a virtually edgeless display.

This would require the company to relocate the fingerprint sensor to the back of the device, as it is currently housed in the home button. However, as the S8 is also set to adopt the iris-scanning tech first debuted in the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7, the company may opt to jettison the fingerprint scanner altogether in favour of the newer biometric tech.

Similarly, the Korean OEM may follow in the footsteps of other manufacturers, ditching the headphone port in favour of a slimmer profile.

None of this is yet confirmed, but further leaks are expected in the run-up to the device's reveal.
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09/01/2017: Samsung aims to ship 60 million Galaxy S8s

Samsung is hoping to sell more than 60 million units of its upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone, far more than its previous generation of flagship devices, according to a report.

The South Korean tech giant, which continues to be the the world's largest supplier of smartphones, has requested suppliers manufacture enough components for 60 million units, an anonymous source told the Investor, adding that the release schedule, typically held in March, has now been postponed until mid-April.

The shipment goal stands much higher than that for previous models in recent years. The Galaxy S7 managed to ship 48 million units, while the S6 and S5 managed 45 million units each. Samsung has struggled to build on the success of earlier models, with the company's biggest selling Galaxy phone, the S4, setting a record of 70 million units sold. The Galaxy S3 was similarly successful, shipping 65 million devices.

"As the release date of the S8 has been postponed to mid-April, Samsung seems to have set a more ambitious goal than before to make up for the loss caused by the Note model, which has so far led Samsung's smartphone business every first quarter," said an industry source, speaking to the Investor.

It is currently unclear whether Samsung will be able to hit its targets for the latest Galaxy flagship phone, as the significant dent to profits following the Note 7 recall and added pressure in Chinese markets may hamper any plans for a comeback.

However, Samsung has been bolstered by its semiconductor and display business in recent months, leading to a higher than expected fourth quarter result in 2016, ending on a 9.2 trillion won operating profit. Some of this unexpected growth was also attributed to a successful marketing campaign of the S7 and S7 Edge, as a replacement device for those looking to buy a Note 7.

Chinese firm Huawei has managed to boost sales by 23% since 2015, shipping almost 34 million units in the country last year, according to IDC. The worldwide market has become saturated as other companies have made their own in-roads into the smartphone business, such as Google's Pixel handset.

Apple also seems to be ramping up for a massive launch of its iPhone 8 flagship device, with sales expected to be almost 86 million by 2018, according to analysts at Nomura Securities, speaking to Business Insider. This surge in sales is attributed to a reluctance to upgrade to the iPhone 7, leaving a large number users still waiting to upgrade to a new device.

09/01/2017: Samsung might ditch the headphone jack in Galaxy S8

Samsung could follow Apple in culling headphone sockets from its Galaxy S8, according to reports.

An article in rumour blog Sammobile said that the Korean firm could remove the 3.5mm headphone jack from the upcoming phone, scheduled to launch next year.

The removal could pave the way for more speakers, but it is also thought that the new smartphone will feature a USB-C port, which would mean that headphones would either need to have such a socket, use a USB-C adaptor, or be wireless.

As with Apple, removing the port could enable thinner phones or a bigger battery too. Integrated stereo speakers could also be on the cards with offerings from Harman, a firm the Korean company picked up for $8 billion.

The move could anger some users who will not be able to use wired headphones and charge the device at the same time, just like users of the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

The report also claims that Samsung could remove the home button by putting a fingerprint sensor underneath the display, which could cover the front of the device.

08/11/2016: Samsung AI button may delay Galaxy S8 launch until April

The Samsung Galaxy S8's AI button could be delayed until April 2017, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Rather than using just speech to fire up the device's virtual assistant, the publication explained it's more likely customers will be able to use a hardware shortcut button to trigger the feature.

"The latest internal prototypes of the premium Galaxy S8 handset include a button on the side edge of the smartphone that would be used to launch a beefed-up virtual assistant," says the WSJ. However, it would seem the feature is still a way off, because sources told the WSJ that "prototypes aren’t final and could change."

The fact that Samsung hasn't yet agreed on how the AI assistant will work suggests the company may not be ready to launch the flagship handset at Mobile World Congress in February as is usually the case. Delays in testing the hardware and software working together could delay it for a few months, sources added.

Other reports have revealed that the AI smart assistant could also be integrated into Samsung's other devices, including its white good and wearables to make every Samsung user's life connected to their own personal assistant, that will learn everything about them.

07/11/2016: Galaxy S8 could have Samsung's new AI assistant

Samsung will be introducing its newly acquired AI virtual assistant Viv into its Galaxy S8 smartphone, according to a report by Reuters.

The virtual assistant was developed by some of the same engineers who brought Siri to life, including Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham.

Samsung announced it had acquired Viv Labs about a month ago, saying the AI was aimed at being an even more efficient version of Siri, Cortana and other AIs.

Viv was developed to address a wider variety of tasks and be integrated with a greater amount of services and apps, thanks to a feature that its creators call "dynamic program generation". This feature allows the AI to create its own code to address complicated tasks that it has not been specifically programmed to address.

This should allow Galaxy S8 users to access and use other third-party services through its new virtual assistant.

During a briefing, Samsung Executive Vice President Rhee Injong said: "Developers can attach and upload services to our agent. Even if Samsung doesn't do anything on its own, the more services that get attached the smarter this agent will get, learn more new services and provide them to end-users with ease."

Viv Labs now provides services to Samsung but still continues operating independently.

Samsung hopes that the new S8 will help boost sales and re-establish its reputation after the explosive Note 7 smartphone issue, which is expected to significantly affect profits in the company's next quarterly financial statement.

Samsung should release its new Samsung Galaxy S8 in early 2017.

17/10/2016: Will Galaxy S8 get Samsung's 10nm chip?

Samsung has started mass producing semiconductors using 10-nanometer technology, likely for use in Galaxy S8 devices in 2017.

The System-on-a-chip (SoC) will be developed for "digital devices launching early next year", Samsung confirmed in a statement today, using FinFET 10nm technology.

The world's largest smartphone manufacturer announced earlier in October that it had secured the contract to produce all of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 830 processors using the 10-nanometer technology, used in over half of the Galaxy S devices released in 2017.

"The industry's first mass production of 10nm technology demonstrates our leadership in advanced process technology," said Jong Shik Yoon, executive vice president and head of Foundry Business at Samsung, in the statement.

"We will continue our efforts to innovate scaling technologies and provide differentiated total solutions to our customers."

Using 10nm chips, the company believes devices will see a 27% performance increase at 40% less power consumption. A second version of the chip dubbed '10LPP' will feature even bigger performance boosts and will go into production in late 2017.

While no explicit mention of the Galaxy S8 has been made, it is heavily rumoured to be a candidate for the new 10nm chip, releasing sometime in early 2017.

Samsung will be relying on a truly spectacular year in 2017, to counter not only the $5.3 billion loss on the Note 7 but a severely damaged public image. Sales of memory chips and displays have helped ease the pain over the last few months, according to Samsung's Q3 results.


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