Update: Leaked renders show design in detail
The Samsung Galaxy S7 may still be a few months away, but there are a few things we already know about this upcoming device. The Galaxy S7 release date is pretty much locked down, it's sure to cost as much as its predecessor, the S6, and rumors suggest there may be an S7 Edge too. Check out what we know about the Galaxy S7 release date, price, specs and rumors below
Samsung Galaxy S7 release date
We've got this one nailed down pretty well. The Galaxy S6 launched at MWC 2015, and the Galaxy S5 launched at MWC 2014, so the Galaxy S7 release date will undoubtedly coincide with MWC 2016: that's February 22-25, 2016.Market availability will likely be around five or so weeks after the launch. That would put it on shelves in the last few days of March (or the first few days of April).
That said, Korean site Electronic Times reckons the Galaxy S7 will be announced a month earlier, in January, to dissuade S6 customers from jumping ship to the iPhone instead of waiting for an S7 launch in February. We're not so sure about this particular rumor, despite Electronic Times citing its source as "many people that are in parts industries".
The Electronic Times rumor is corroborated by further murmurings that the Exynos 8890 chip has entered mass production. If this proves true, it could be that Samsung is indeed eyeing a January launch and February release for the Galaxy S7.
In further speculation, a rumor coming via SamMobile suggests that the Samsung Galaxy S7 will indeed be unveiled earlier in the year than the Galaxy S6 was, but only by a matter of days. MWC 2016 takes place eight days earlier than MWC 2015 did, and Samsung is likely to stick with tradition and unveil the phone on the eve of the event, February 21.
Samsung Galaxy S7 price
We'd expect the Galaxy S7 price to be pretty high, if the Galaxy S6 is anything to go by. We're not sure if the rumors of a 4K display will pan out to be true, but if they do you can expect another price increase, especially if the base model internal storage increases from 32 GB to 64 GB.However, in November, Chinese analyst Pan Jiutang speculated that the Galaxy S7 will see a 10 percent price drop compared to the S6 at launch. This is contrary to common sense, but in line with an evolving market and Samsung CEO Kwon Oh-hyun's adapt to survice call. Treat this rumor with caution, however, as it appears to be mere speculation at this point.
Galaxy S7 design
In early December, a report from Korea suggested that the Galaxy S7 design will be very similar to its predecessor, the S6. The decision comes at a time when Samsung is looking to cut costs in an increasingly competitive market.According to Korea Times sources, Samsung sees little point in spending time and money reinventing a design that has proven successful and prefers to focus its energy on improving speed, display quality and cost. Samsung reportedly sees these factors as key in determining the success of a new smartphone, with market research group Counterpoint highlighting the success of Samsung's low-cost Galaxy J series.
This report was corroborated on December 7 when smartphone case makers ITSKINS posted some renders of the Galaxy S7. The renders were quickly removed, but thankfully not before they were captured by GSMArena.com.
The renders showed, as expected, a device remarkably similar in design to the S6. The only noticeable differences are that the home button has adopted a rectangular shape, shedding the rounded corners of the S6, the SIM card slot has been moved further down the right-hand side, and the front-facing camera now sits to the far right of the top panel.
The most interesting piece of information to come from the renders is the measurements of not one but two devices. While the standard S7 looks set to have almost exactly the same dimensions as the S6, the second device's measurements are 163.32 x 82.01 x 7.82mm.
This would suggest that the larger Galaxy S7 device will have a huge 6-inch display, 0.3 inches bigger than even the Note 5's display.Samsung Galaxy S7 camera
A recently published solution brief from Samsung, brought to our attention by Galaxy Club, flaunts a 20 MP camera that uses 1.0-micron pixels, making it more compact and able to fit in a thinner smartphone. It also features a lower power draw than the 16 MP 1.2-micron sensor used in current Samsung flagships.Samsung also claims that the camera's RWB color pattern enhances light sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio in low-light and back-light conditions.
In contradiction to the above rumors, a report from November 3, coming via gforgames.com, made the claim that Samsung is actually planning to use a 12 MP camera.
If Samsung were to reduce the pixel count, it would mean it is looking into other ways to improve the quality of the camera, through an increased sensor size and dual-photodiode technology, which essentially places two diodes on each pixel of the sensor. This allows each pixel to record a pair of parallax images, which are then brought into alignment, increasing the focus quality.
On December 8, SamMobile.com uncovered a patent filed by Samsung trademarking the term DUO PIXEL. This has led to speculation that this is the term Samsung intends to use for the above-mentioned camera technology. At the very least, it brings to mind Canon's term for its version of the technology, Dual Pixel.
A new report from MK, a Korean publication, claims that the Galaxy S7 will come with a dual camera setup as well as a 5.7-inch display, which is a large bump from the current 5.1-inch display on the Galaxy S6. The report doesn't provide any proof for these specifications, however.
A previous phone that was launched with dual rear cameras is the HTC One M8. It didn't necessarily equate to better photographic capabilities on that device, but we suspect that if the Galaxy S7 were to feature dual cameras, Samsung would get the formula right, something HTC was not entirely successful at.
Samsung Galaxy S7 specs
Galaxy S7 could use 8890 Exynos chipSamMobile reported that Samsung is planning to use three different chips for the S7. SamMobile's source suggests that it will use its own Exynos 7422 chip, originally intended for the Galaxy Note 5, for the Samsung Galaxy S7 in India, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 earmarked for China and the US, and the Exynos 8890, for Korea, Japan and Europe.
Samsung using the Snapdragon in any territory would be big news for Qualcomm, which may have thought its days of powering Galaxy devices were over. The two companies have had a strained relationship ever since the Snapdragon 810 chip was dropped from the Galaxy S6 in favor of Samsung's Exynos processors in 2015. There were rumors that the switch was related to overheating issues with the 810, but nothing was ever confirmed.
Galaxy S7 performance benchmarks
Whatever the inside story, Samsung and Qualcomm seem to be back on speaking terms. Chinese site Weibo recently posted benchmarks of two versions of the Snapdragon 820 against the old 810. The yellow bar represents the Snapdragon 820-A and the red represents the 820-B. The green is the Snapdragon 810.
The Exynos 8890 chip that Samsung reportedly intends to use in the Korean, Japanese and European models of the Samsung Galaxy S7 is rumored to feature a custom, in-house designed CPU core. The report, which was published on October 28, 2015, says the custom core is tentatively named M1. The move would mean Samsung is the third company, behind Apple and Qualcomm, to produce its own custom core. It would make sense for the company to make this step at this time, because it is hoping to expand the profile of its semiconductor arm.
In late November, GSMArena posted an AnTuTu benchmark, said to be from a device running the Exynos 8890 chipset. The score was ludicrously high – over 100,000 – which comfortably beats the impressive score of 65,000 set by the Kirin 950 chip (now in use in the Huawei Mate 8).
There's no way to confirm whether the result – supposedly leaked out of China – is real, but the model number of the device it refers to is SM-G9300, which is believed to be the Samsung Galaxy S7.
In early December, a leak out of China, coming through phoneArena.com, provided unconfirmed single- and multi-core Geekbench results for the Snapdragon 820-equipped Galaxy S7. The numbers were impressive: 2,456 in the single-core benchmark and 5,423 in the multi-core benchmark.
The numbers compare favorably with earlier leaks of Exynos 8890 benchmark results, which came in at 2,294 and 6,908 for the single- and multi-core benchmarks, respectively.
Unconfirmed reports, coming via 9to5Google on October 27 2015, suggest that the Snapdragon 820 chip Samsung intends to use for its Chinese and US models of the Samsung Galaxy S7 is suffering from overheating problems and that Samsung is working to stabilize it.
The news should be taken with a pinch of salt, as chip optimizations happen regularly, but there are of course echoes of Qualcomm's woes with the Snapdragon 810 last year, which was eventually dropped from the Samsung Galaxy S6.
The report indicated that Samsung is working hard to fix the issues by modifying the microprocessor control program, or installing a radiating pipe.
The lengths to which Samsung appears to be going to rectify the problem suggests it has no plans to drop the Snapdragon 820 from the Samsung Galaxy S7. The decision would appear to be financially motivated, with the success of the Snapdragon 820 benefiting sales of both the Galaxy S7 and Samsung's semiconductor business, as it is manufacturing the chip itself this time around.
These rumors have been categorically denied by Qualcomm as of October 29. The company stated that the chip meets Samsung's design specifications and optimization is ongoing. The rumors that plague Qualcomm's chips frequently seem to have some basis in fact, but at this stage it is one word against another, so we will have to remain patient and see how things develop with the Snapdragon 820.
Rumors out of Korea, coming via GSMArena, indicate that the Exynos 8890 chip has entered mass production earlier than expected. The ahead-of-schedule production suggests that the Galaxy S7 could be ready to ship in February following a January unveiling.
Further rumors suggest that Samsung has plans to ship as many Exynos 8890 variants of the Galaxy S7 as they do Snapdragon 820 ones.
Other benchmark results on Geekbench have shown the possibility that there might be two variants of the Galaxy S7: one with 3 GB of RAM and another LTE version with 4 GB of RAM. Both devices have appeared under the codename Project Lucky.
However, in September, Samsung launched the industry’s first DRAM chip that would allow smartphones to run 6 GB of RAM. The company said it will appear in "next-generation flagships". The new chip is reported to perform 30 percent faster and consume 20 percent less energy than Samsung's previous LPDDR4 module. If it does make an appearance on the Galaxy S7, it would surely make it the fastest smartphone in the world.
MicroSD card
Could it be that Samsung has bowed to public pressure? The latest rumor, coming via HDBLOG.it, suggests that Samsung is considering reinstating a microSD slot in the Samsung Galaxy S7.
The lack of removable storage in Samsung's range of 2015 flagships caused global outrage and speculation over Samsung's reasoning has been swirling around ever since. Whether it was financially motivated or down to technical reasons, support for microSD cards was sorely missed, and murmurings of a comeback will no doubt cause excitement.
Keyboard cover
A rumor has surfaced which suggests that the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge could come with a keyboard cover. According to SamMobile, Samsung could release an S View Cover, Glitter Cover, Clear View Cover and a Keyboard Cover for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge in February 2016.
As far as smartphone accessories go, a keyboard cover (like the one pictured below) could be a little chunky if either the S7 or S7 Edge are any larger than the S6 is. This is almost certainly a hat-tip to the BlackBerry Priv and its physical keyboard, which BlackBerry fans would gravitate towards.
Samsung Galaxy S7 premium
In mid-November, a rumor arose via gforgames.com suggesting that there might be a premium edition of the Samsung Galaxy S7, which would be exclusive to South Korea.
The rumor suggests that the premium device will use a 14-core version of the Mali T880 GPU featured on the Exynos 8890 chip, as opposed to the 12-core version that will be common to the S7. Not only that, but the device may feature a 4K screen and dual-lens camera module.
Galaxy S7 Force Touch technology
A patent filed by Samsung in April 2014 strongly suggests the company has been working on its own 3D touch technology. It describes a system where different voltages result in different options being selected. So, a hard press gets you a capital letter, a softer press, a lowercase letter.
An earlier post on Weibo suggested that Samsung is one of the companies partnering with Synaptics on their ClearForce technology and that is it looking to use it in the Samsung Galaxy S7.Both Samsung's own patent and ClearForce appear very similar to Apple's 3D Touch, which it implemented on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, or the Force Touch technology found on the Huawei Mate S 128 GB version.
Whether Samsung has continued developing its own technology or has indeed partnered with Synaptics remains to be seen, but it does seem that 3D touch tech is almost certain to appear on the Galaxy S7.
Samsung flirted with similar tech on the Galaxy S4. It featured Air View, which enabled you to hover your hand over the screen for extra options.
A report from Vietnam suggests that Samsung plans to release just one Edge handset next year and that it will be part of the Samsung Galaxy S7 range. This lends credence to earlier reports that Samsung has been testing two S7 models, one with a 5.2-inch screen and another with a 5.8-inch screen. The latter would presumably be the Edge model.
The Galaxy Note 5 arrived with a QHD display, but now that the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium has broken the seal on 4K screen technology we might just see one on the Galaxy S7. What's more, Samsung is said to be priming an alternative to Corning's Gorilla Glass screen protection with something known as Turtle Glass. If this rumor is true, we will likely see the new technology on the Galaxy S7.