Samsung Galaxy S7 Launch Pegged For February: 4K EDGE Display

Samsung is preparing another duo of Samsung Galaxy S7 flagships

It may be a new year, but some things stay the same for Samsung. This time last year we were talking about the forthcoming Galaxy S6 and
how imporant the launch was for the Korean firm, as the previous Galaxy S5, though not a complete flop, failed to deliver on consumer expectations, meaning it didn't sell in anywhere near the numbers Samsung needed. The Samsung Galaxy S6 was in fact a considerable improvement on its predecessor, critically acclaimed by journos across the world - we think it's fair to say the Galaxy S6 and its stable-mates are some of the best phones Samsung has ever produced.

But despite this, we're in a similar scenario again. You see, although everyone praised the Galaxy S6, it still failed to shift in the numbers Samsung wanted - the kind of big figures it had seen in 2012-2013 with the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4.

Samsung's earning reports paint a gloomy picture.

“Samsung flagged a second-quarter drop in operating profit on Tuesday that missed analyst estimates after sales of its newest flagship smartphonefailed to meet expectations,” reported The Telegraph. “The earnings forecast came as a South Korean court ruled in Samsung's favour against a US hedge fund's efforts to block the proposed merger of two major affiliates. The giant smartphone and memory-chip maker predicted operating profit of around 6.9 trillion won (£4 billion) for the April-June period, down more than 4 per cent from a year earlier.”

Samsung blamed the lacklustre sales on not being able to produce enough Galaxy S6 EDGE units. Analysts, however, had other ideas and pointed towards a more sinister problem: long standing Android users defecting to iPhone. Throw in China for good measure, a market Apple smashed in 2015, and you have a recipe for bad earnings calls. With all this in mind, it’s no wonder Samsung has fast-tracked development of the Galaxy S7, the handset that will do battle with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

“Double-digit shipment growth is a thing of the past for vendors as the global market has begun to plateau in 2015 after years of growth” said TrendForce smartphone analyst Avril Wu. “While Samsung has kept its shipment title through the year, it is struggling against Apple in the high-end market and being pushed out of the mid-range and low-end segments by Chinese competitors. Facing challenges on two fronts, Samsung’s smartphone business will operate in an increasingly difficult situation in the near future. Closely trailing Samsung in global shipments is Apple, which remains as the dominant and most profitable vendor in the high-end market. As for Chinese brands, they are expanding overseas to gain market share. Huawei’s shipments surpassed 100 million units this year and became the third leading vendor on account of its export efforts. Xiaomi and Lenovo are also branching into the emerging markets.”

So yes, here we are again. Samsung, once again, needs to pull out all the stops for the Galaxy S7 and knock things right out the park. Surely though it's not merely a question of aesthetic design and build quality? After all, the Galaxy S6 had that nailed pretty well. Perhaps it's a feature set problem that is preventing as many users as we once saw jump on the Samsung bandwagon? It will be interesting to see how Samsung aims to tackle the issue.

According to the latest rumours on January 13, Samsung's Galaxy S7 range has been named as a trio of devices. The information comes from reliable Twitter source Evan Blass, aka @evleaks, who says that although he is "surprised" by the move, he has seen evidence to suggest the main model will be called the Samsung Galaxy S7, while the other members of the range will be the S7 edge and S7 edge+. Those name logo images also seem to be official promotional material and have a background with a water-splashed finish, which may sit with earlier rumours for waterproofing on one or several models. Also omitted from the group is a Galaxy S7+ rumoured previously.

The Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge and a set of official view cover cases for the duo have received official certification, according to reports on January 18. Indonesia's certification authority has certified the SM-G930 and SM-G935, beleived to be the S7 and S7 edge respectively. The pair have also appeared in the US FCC certification authority databses alongside a set of official cases which appear similar to Samsung's established "View Cover" brand (the ones with a window), marked as EF-NG930 and EF-NG935 described as "LED View Cover".

The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge have been spotted in the Zauba import database on January 22, after being shipped from South Korea to Delhi, India, for testing, as per the usual pre-launch practice we've seen for the last few Samsung generations. Importantly, the shipping info, which explicitly mentions the "SAMSUNG MOBILE SM-G935R4" and "SM-G930R4", both "FOR TESTING", also mentions that the former (the Galaxy S7 edge) has a 5.5in display and the latter (Galaxy S7) has a 5.1in display, apparently confirming previously rumoured display sizes.

The Galaxy S7 has rocked up in live photo images, or at least the front panel, display, and camera module, all have. GSMArena was handed some snaps on January 25 by a tipster - the images are said to come from inside a Samsung production facility. The main takeaway here is the display panel, which looks fairly typical for Samsung.

Samsung To Introduce Smartphone "Lease" Program With Galaxy S7?

According to a new set of rumours from January 27, Samsung may have plans to follow in Apple's footsteps and offer consumers the option to "lease" a phone, effectively on a contract, direct from the manufacturer itself. The move comes not too long after Apple introduced a similar system for its iPhone series with the Apple Upgrade Program, announced alongside the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in September 2015. Samsung, it seems, may also plan to introduce a similar setup with its new Galaxy S7 flagship upon the launch of that device around MWC.

The report comes via sources in Korea speaking to Reuters, which allege that it'll follow a similar model to Apple in allowing buyers to pay monthly installments for their Galaxy S7, with annual upgrade options - and it'll all be tied to local carrier tariffs. At the moment there is no word on rollout plans for this scheme with respect to which regions it will be available in - so far Apple has only introduced its Apple Upgrade Program to the US.

Galaxy S7 vs Galaxy S7: Samsung Exynos 8890 Pitched Against Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 In Variant Benchmark Battle

There are multiple variants of Samsung's Galaxy S7 which will be distributed across different regions, as usual, different devices have different sets of hardware and compatibilities tailored to local networks and the like. But, broadly speaking, all of these variants can be divided into two camps - the ones with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor (which will likely be seen in most regions including North America and Europe) and the model using Samsung's homebrew Exynos 8890 chipset (most likely restricted to Asia). Both types have now rocked up in benchmarks and their resulting scores can be directly compared with each other.

The Exynos 8890 model appeared a few days ago chalking up a score of 5946, just shy of Huawei's Kirin 950 chip (inside the Huawei Mate 8) with a score of 6088. Now the model destined for distribution via US network AT&T has popped up with a Snapdragon 820 inside. Not only is this model scoring lower than the Exynos 8890 equipped Galaxy S7 stable mate, but also lower than last year's Galaxy S6 wearing the Exynos 7420, with scores of 4979 and 5215 respectively. Ouch!

Of course it's not a direct reflection of day-to-day performance but does hint at how these phones might handle top-end tasks and applications. Also because these are pre-release devices there's possibly a bit of software and hardware tweaking to be done before they're final, so take it with a grain or two of salt. Right now though, Samsung's processor tech has something of an edge here, and it does once again beg the question of when/if we might one day see Samsung distributing its own chip devices outside of Asia? We can but dream!

Samsung Galaxy S7 Release Date

Samsung's flagship launch schedule may have shifted around a bit over the years and there are always a lot of rumours, more than most, implying the firm will try to bring things further and further forward from what we're used to. Despite all that, Samsung has been fairly consistent for the last couple of years in launching a new Galaxy S flagship model around the time of Mobile World Congress (either just before, or during the expo itself), which has typically taken place at the end of February, though last year kicked off in early March instead. Still, we're talking Q1 either way.

We've good reason to expect the same again in 2016. More so when you note that the rumours are indeed lining up to reinforce this idea. All the talk currently says a Galaxy S7 will arrive around the beginning of next year. That's when Samsung likes to show it can do better than Apple's September iPhone launch. At least that's the idea.

“Samsung could launch its new Galaxy S7 smartphone in January, bringing it forward a month compared to its usual launch date in an effort to get the jump on Apple, its competitor in the high-end smartphone market,” reports The Independent. “As reported by South Korea's Electronic Times, insiders in mobile phone component industries have said that Samsung is planning to launch the new flagship phone in January.”

According to multiple reports from November 11 Samsung is planning an "early" launch of the Galaxy S7, one of those reports more specifically points to February 21. The first snippet of info comes via reputable source SamMobile, and details some leaked firmware. There are two firmware codes marked as G930FXXU0AOK6 and G935FXXU0AOK6, which could either suggest different processor variants of the handset (Snapdragon 820 and Exynos), or different variants such as an EDGE display model or the rumoured folding flexible handset.

“In the U.S. market it appears that the Snapdragon 820 variant of the Galaxy S7 will be identified as G930V on Verizon, while the Galaxy S7 Edge will be G935V. On Sprint the Galaxy S7 will carry G930P and the Galaxy S7 Edge G935P,” reports Value Walk. The Exynos variants will carry the following numbers. G930F and G935F will be unlocked versions of the S7 and S7 Edge respectively, while the G930T and SM-G935T will be shipped to T-Mobile. AT&T will receive the G930A and G935A.”

The information shows that the firmware began development earlier than usual in Samsung's development cycle, which has been interpreted as an indicator of an earlier launch ahead of MWC 2016. This conflicts with the second report, which comes via reputable Twitter tipster Ricciolo, who says to "forget and 'early announcement'...nothing changed," before posting a picture of a Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2016 banner. But what this means is that the event will happen just like this year, just slightly ahead of MWC 2016, and next year MWC 2016 is happening a little earlier on February 22.

Information surfacing on November 16 suggests that two Samsung Galaxy S7 models are already in testing with a US carrier. The word comes via reputable Twitter tipster Evan Blass, aka @evleaks, who took to the social network stating that the SM-G930A and SM-G935A are now in testing with AT&T, which he believes ties in with the rumoured Q1 2016 launch, likely for MWC.

"AT&T already testing both Galaxy S7 variants (SM-G930A and -G935A), adding weight to rumors of an early- to mid-1Q16 release."

Samsung Galaxy S7 Rocks Up In AnTuTu Wearing Snapdragon 820

Samsung's forthcoming flagship, and in particular the variant that will likely be the UK, Europe, and North American model, has popped up in the AnTuTu benchmarking suite. The handset in question showed up as the SM-G935A, a number already associated with the Galaxy S7, but here it is carrying the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip. Based on Samsung's established habits, it's assumed the model released in the firm's home region of Asia will pack its own Exynos chip hardware, while everywhere else we get the Qualcomm-based edition. Including the processor model, the benchmark shows the Galaxy S7 has exactly the same specs as the already benchmarked Galaxy S7 edge+, aside from the smaller 5.1in display that doesn't have curved edges, of course.

So the spec line-up includes 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage (though there may be other storage variants) - as expected the software is Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

As of January 20, AnTuTu has leaked a set of specs for the Exynos-based Galaxy S7 and promises that benchmark results will follow soon. The specs detail what's inside the Exynos 8990-equipped SM-G930F, where previously we've seen specs from the Snapdragon 820 powered SM-G935A, which revealed the above 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, as well as a 5.1in QHD display and 12MP camera. Unsurprisingly, the Exynos model specs, aside from the processor itself, are pretty much the same, including the 64GB storage. We still haven't seen evidence for any other storage models yet, which doesn't necessarily mean they don't exist, but we do wonder if Samsung is tidying things up to a 64GB/128GB split.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Features: Removable Battery & MicroSD

Samsung also made its batteries non-removable and this too irked plenty of its hardcore users. The reason behind this was simple enough, though: Samsung wanted to make the design of the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5 as seamless as possible and in order to do this it had to apparently make the handset an all-in-one setup just like the iPhone 6s or the Nexus 6P.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 has been spotted for the first time in pictures. ITSkins, a third party case manufacturer has handed a selection of CAD renders of the handset to GSMArena, as well as a few details. It seems there will be both a regular Galaxy S7 and a larger 6in Galaxy S7 Plus using the same design - so far there are no details on edge variants. The renders appear to confirm earlier reports that the Galaxy S7 would closely follow a similar design to the Galaxy S6. The report states the Galaxy S7 will be nearly the same size as the Galaxy S6 at 143.37 x 70.8 x 6.94 mm, while the Galaxy S7 Plus will be bigger than even the Galaxy Note series at 163.32 x 82.01 x 7.82mm - likely meaning a 6in display panel.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Casemakers Reveal Design Cues

Although we already knew from the earlier rumours that the Galaxy S7 launch was getting close, this latest bit of info pretty well confirms that it's imminent. What's happened is quite a common occurance - before a handset launches, the manufacturer sends details of the device to various case and accessory makers so that they can build cases and the like for the new handset in time for its launch. Invariably, one case maker or another ends up either leaking the details, or enthusiastically posting its new case design ahead of the launch, thus revealing at least partial information or visual details about the phone before it officially arrives.

This time, UK retailer Mobile Fun has published some snaps of Olixar cases for the Samsung Galaxy S7. As usual, although the cases obscure some of the phone's bodywork, we can still discern a bit of the design. And, sure enough, the Galaxy S7 seems to look quite similar to the Galaxy S6 - but then that's been rumoured for a while, so it's not really a shocker.

According to the latest leaked information, emerging on November 23, the 'edge' variant of the Galaxy S7 will be even edgier and curvier than before. It's claimed the display will have a curvature around the phone's top and bottom edges, as well as a slightly less pronounced curve on the sides as with the current S6 edge model. The news comes via HDBlog.it's "reliable sources" and SamMobile, which also reports that Samsung is considering adding microSD card support back into the Galaxy S flagship series with the Galaxy S7. What isn't clear is whether both S7 and S7 edge will have microSD, or just one, although for our money both seems more likely, if at all.

At the moment the only cases shown are for the Galaxy S7, although cases are listed for the Galaxy S7 edge too, without images. There's nothing at all for the Galaxy S7 + and Galaxy S7 edge +.

Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Plus, Galaxy S7 edge & Galaxy S7 edge Plus Apparently Confirmed

Ok so a bit of a double-whammy of Samsung Galaxy S7 news today. First up, the metal bodyshell of the flagship device has been snapped in some pictures and then leaked onto the web - as usual, this stuff leaked via Chinese social network Weibo and, as is often the case, the images have since been removed; though not before plenty of people took screenshots (Slashgear). So it's allegedly a Galaxy S7 shell, but we do urge you to take it with a pinch of salt just in case.

As expected, the design seems fairly similar to the Galaxy S6, with earlier reports suggesting Samsung will not do anything too radical in the design department, having already stumped up the cash for the big metallic rebuild on last year's model; the changes here are thought to be more to do with hardware and features. It's hard to be sure, but to our eye the Galaxy S7 shown here looks a little bit squarer than its predecessor, but that may just be the visual effect of not having the rest of the glass bodywork in place.

Samsung TouchWiz For Android Marshmallow Leaks

We've had a little preview of what the software will probably look like aboard the Galaxy S7 when it launches. Chinese sources on Weibo posted screenshots of the Galaxy S6 Marshmallow update, including a brand new face-lift for TouchWiz, the images were taken down but have been preserved by SamMobile. The images of course show how the software will appear on the Galaxy S6 when Marshmallow arrives on that existing device, however, Samsung likes to be consistent so it is very likely the look and feel of Marshmallow on the Galaxy S7 will be much the same. What we can say is that this appears to be the cleanest TouchWiz build EVER, far more Google Material Design faithful than Samsung has previously delivered.

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