In recent years, Samsung have become one of the most sought after premium smartphone manufacturers. The South Korean giants have made such an impact on the market, Apple are bucking trends and releasing a mid-season special in the iPhone 5SE to coincide with the launch of the latest Samsung Galaxy S range. So just what will Apple be competing with? All will be revealed at the upcoming Samsung Unpacked event, as Samsung plan to announce the Samsung Galaxy S7.
Last year Samsung went back to the drawing board and completely reinvigorated the smartphone industry with the S6 and S6 Edge/Edge Plus. This gathering of flagships brought with it a fresh new approach to design, some fancy added features, curved edges in some cases, wireless charging and an affiliation with the Marvel Avengers franchise to boot. Samsung will have to do a lot to replicate the success and sex appeal of the S6, but with that said a lot remains that could be improved. We’ve rounded up all the rumours, rants and ridiculousness to give you a breakdown on what to expect from Samsung’s latest flagship.
Samsung Galaxy S7: Leaked pictures
It was late on Friday evening when the news landed that Samsung are going to host their latest Unpacked event in the Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona on Febraury 21st, a full day ahead this year’s Mobile World Congress event hosted in the same location. Along with this announcement, Samsung has released a small teaser trailer, reviving the hashtag #TheNextGalaxy for the launch.
Rethink what a phone can do. February 21. #TheNextGalaxyhttps://t.co/oCVxCmiwO8
— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) February 1, 2016
The ever so closely guarded secret looks of the new handset would also appear to have been leaked galore.
https://t.co/JT6X0g8sBu pic.twitter.com/J78eezrU5o
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 29, 2016
So with the looks out of the way, what’s under the hood?
Samsung Galaxy S7: Specs
You can expect to find a 5.2″ AMOLED display within the Galaxy S7 powered by a 20% bigger battery than the Galaxy S6, jumping from 2550 mAh to 3000 mAh. It appears that the Galaxy Edge, Galaxy Edge Plus and Galaxy Note are likely to be combined into one 5.5″ AMOLED handset powered by a 3600 mAh battery. Galaxy Edge users will rejoice given the poor battery life experienced in the first models. All that screen quality and no power makes Jon a dull boy, or at least gives Jon a dull screen. The expected battery capacities are a clear attempt to drive the iPhone 7 into the ground before it even appears.
Samsung Galaxy S7: Design
There may be a few tweaks and changes to the design of the S7, but nothing too crazy, remembering that last year Samsung pulled a complete 180 with the design of the Galaxy S6 after introducing waterproofing for the Galaxy S5. With that said, there are rumours that the Galaxy S7 will indeed be IP67 certified (totally dust proof and water resistant up to 1 meter).
Yet, while those who’ve had a few pints only to see their smartphone land in the jax, most will be celebrating the return of Micro SD memory. Following widespread criticism at the exclusion of expandable memory in the Galaxy S6, Samsung have listened and will reintroduce the memory slot, expected to allow expansion up to 200GB.
Samsung Galaxy S7: The camera
So with expandable memory back on the table, you can go mad taking photos, but just how good will those shots be? We’d be shocked and appalled if the rumours of a 12MP camera are true and hope the Galaxy S7 comes with no less than a 16MP camera. Should the 12MP option come to fruitition, you can expect the focus (pardon the lazy ass pun) to shift towards low-light performance alá HTC.
Parting ways is the Samsung Galaxy Edge and Edge Plus (quite possibly the Note too), making way for a once size fits all solution in the new 5.5″ AMOLED Edge version
Samsung Galaxy S7: What’s new?
You’d be forgiven for thinking this is all a little underwhelming, but there is more. Samsung do appear to be favouring the inclusion of a USB Type C port over micro USB, meaning no more looking for the mystic third side of the USB port when trying to get a charge as it works either way first time round. The future is here people. Once you’ve dried your phone from it’s fall in the toilet, you’ll be able to charge it much quicker after plugging in on the first attempt (please note, we do not recommend plugging your phone in after it gets wet).
Samsung Galaxy S7: The verdict
Waterproofing, expandable memory and a first time plug in charger might not be enough to win this round of phone launches for Samsung. Consumers want a little more magic, that stuff that the crowd with the half eaten fruit on their device has been doing for years. The vavavoom factor can only be found in the ever building excitement coming up to launch day, the hype. This hype still seems to elude the South Korean phone manufacturers, but will they get it right this time? Find out on February 21st.
