Samsung Galaxy S7 vs Galaxy S8
Galaxy S7, £569 inc VAT; Galaxy S8 £TBC
The big news of the moment is that the Galaxy S8 won’t launch at MWC 2017. But everyone is sort of overlooking the important part of this story: the S8 is still coming, and it is still expected to go on sale in April. If anything it’s bad news only for Samsung’s rivals, who aren’t allowed to use the new Snapdragon 835 processor until the Galaxy S8 has launched. So, is it worth you waiting for the Galaxy S8, or should those who need a new phone now grab themselves a cheaper option in the S7? We should reiterate the fact that the S8 information is based on rumours, but as in previous years we expect a lot of what has leaked to come true.
Price
Today you can buy a SIM-free Galaxy S7 for under £450, and this price is likely to drop further when the Galaxy S8 is announced. Meanwhile, contract prices start below £40 per month.
Should you opt for the Galaxy S8 when it comes out you can expect contract prices to start above £50 (with no upfront charge for the phone), while SIM-free it is
rumoured to cost £679 and the Plus version £749. Either way you look at it the Galaxy S7 will be the significantly cheaper option.
Models
The Galaxy S7 came in two versions: one with a standard 5.1in Quad-HD SuperAMOLED display, and an ‘edge’ version with a 5.5in Quad-HD AMOLED dual-curved-edge display.
For the Galaxy S8 the dual-curved-edge display is expected to become standard across the range, so it no longer makes sense to have an ‘edge’ model. Instead, the larger of the two is thought to be called the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus.
The Galaxy S8 Plus should be a larger version of the Galaxy S8 with a higher-capacity battery and potentially a dual-camera.
Design
The Galaxy flagship is expected to get a lot more screen estate in 2017, yet without a drastic change in the dimensions. As we’ve noted above the dualcurved screen is thought to be standard across the range, but Samsung has other changes in mind.
Edgeless displays are the new trend for 2017 and we expect to see Samsung fit a larger display (5.8in up from 5.1in on the standard S8 and 6.2in up from 5.5in on the S8 Plus), but keep down the dimensions with the removal of the Home button at the front and slimmed-down top- and bottom bezels.
The Galaxy S8 is expected to measure 140.14x72.2x7.3mm, a small increase in width over the 142x70x7.9mm Galaxy S7, but both slimmer
and shorter. And we should see only a slight increase in size for the Galaxy S8 Plus over the Galaxy S7 edge, with the new model some 152.38x78.51x7.94mm and the S7 edge 151x73x7.8mm.
The loss of the Home button will make the Galaxy S8 look quite different to previous Samsung flagships, though we expect the company to continue with the metal and glass front/rear design introduced in the Galaxy S6 and refined in the Galaxy S7. The scanner itself is likely to go on the rear of the device, while the Note 7’s iris scanner may now feature at the front.
The display itself could get a further upgrade as Samsung poises its handsets at the mobile VR market. It was one of the first to fit a Quad-HD screen, but due to the fact VR headsets half the resolution for each eye there is an outside chance it will increase the resolution to Ultra-HD (4K). We’re not entirely convinced on this, however, and think that in common with its predecessor the Galaxy S8 will feature a Quad-HD display.
Stylus
The Galaxy S7 didn’t feature a stylus, but the Galaxy S8 is rumoured to come with the S Pen previously unique to the Note family. This will fill a gap in Samsung’s product range following the discontinuation of the Note 7, though it will bring the two devices even closer together with little to differentiate between them.
Various case renders appear to show what could be a slot for an S Pen stylus, though these
are far from confirmation of what seems like a very odd move for the company.
Processor
We can be fairly certain that Samsung will replace the Snapdragon 820 inside the Galaxy S7 with a Snapdragon 835, which it has built in co-operation with Qualcomm. This 10nm chip integrates the Adreno 540 GPU, and promises improvements in performance (up to 27 percent higher), efficiency (up to 40 percent higher), and therefore battery life. It also supports Quick Charge 4.0, which is being marketed as able to give you five hours life from a five-minute charge.
Samsung usually ships a version of the Galaxy flagship with one of its own Exynos processors inside in certain regions, too. That processor may be the Exynos 8895 with the ARM Mali-G71 GPU.
Regardless of the processor choice, you can rest assured that the move to mobile VR means Samsung will fit its Galaxy S8 with much more powerful hardware than it did the Galaxy S7.
RAM
Both versions of the Galaxy S7 came with 4GB DDR4 RAM, but the new Snapdragon 835 chip can accept up to 8GB. A more likely upgrade is to 6GB, and that’s exactly what has been rumoured.
Cameras
A 12Mp camera was fitted to the rear of both the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, but for the Galaxy S8 there’s talk of a dual-camera. It’s possible that this will be included only on the Samsung Galaxy
S8 Plus, as is the case with Apple’s latest iPhone line-up. The standard Galaxy S8 is likely to continue using a 12Mp primary camera, but with some improvements including support for iris scanning and visual search through Bixby. The selfie camera is also expected to get an upgrade, and now come with an autofocus.
Audio
Samsung has recently acquired audio firm Harman, which is well known for its Harman Kardon speakers. The Galaxy S8 is expected to substitute the bottom-facing speaker on the Galaxy S7 with stereo speakers at top and bottom of the handset.
There was a lot of talk about Samsung ‘doing an Apple’ and dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack in favour of new USB-C audio (itself replacing the Micro-USB slot). More recently it has been rumoured that the Galaxy S7 will feature neither ports, and audio will be completely wireless.
A number of case renders have popped up online supporting both theories. We’re not entirely sure which direction Samsung will take with the Galaxy S8, but we’d be surprised if it went out of its way to upset fans further following the Note 7 problems. Making an educated guess, we’d suggest there will be a 3.5mm headphone jack and USB-C.
Battery
Should the Samsung Galaxy S8 come without a USB-C or even Micro-USB port then all charging will
be wireless, which is unfortunate – and therefore probably not likely – given the Snapdragon chip’s support for Quick Charge 4.0. The Galaxy S7 already supports fast wireless charging, so while it will annoy many users it’s certainly feasible.
Software
One of the most talked about new features in the Galaxy S8 is Bixby, a virtual assistant to rival the Google Assistant that is based on recently acquired Viv’s AI technology. Bixby (the male voice, and potentially Kestra for the female voice) is said to be able to conduct mobile payments, control apps and even perform image search and OCR using the camera. The S8 will ship with Android Nougat, whereas the S7 came with Marshmallow. But this isn’t a reason to choose the S8 over the S7, as that update should be rolling out for the S7 now. Expect the latest version of TouchWiz to be overlaid.
Verdict
Samsung has lost an awful lot of money over the Note 7, and more importantly it has lost consumer trust. It has no option but to come back fighting with the S8, and for that reason alone it’s likely to be an incredible upgrade. There may be some frustrations if it does as is rumoured and removes both the headphone jack and USB port, but once you get used to the changes the Galaxy S8 will offer improvements across the board. The only reason to choose the Galaxy S7 will be if you demand the headphone jack or can’t stretch to monthly payments of upwards of £50 or the higher SIM-free price. Marie Brewis