Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ Launched: Specifications, Release Date and More

Samsung at its Unpacked 2017 event in New York unveiled the latest addition to Galaxy premium range, the Galaxy S8. The South Korean company on Wednesday also unveiled the Samsung Galaxy S8+ at the same event. Both the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+ will be going on sale starting on April 21, and will be offered in Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver, Coral Blue and Maple Gold colours.

Samsung at the event stressed how the new Galaxy S8 is the “start of a new era.” The company also showcased its in-house voice-based virtual assistant named Bixby which will debut on the flagship Galaxy S8. As expected, Samsung’s Bixby will be taking on other voice-based virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence including Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, Microsoft Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa. The Galaxy S8 will come with a set of pre-installed apps that will work with Bixby.

As rumoured for months, the all-new Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will sport iris recognition, which was earlier seen on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 which has been discontinued. As the name suggests, the biometric recognition scans iris to unlock the phone, verify Samsung account, and more. Additionally, both the devices also sport fingerprint scanner which is located at the back.

Samsung has also finally introduced its Microsoft Continuum-like feature, Samsung DeX, which will let users use smartphone like a computer by docking it to monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Similar to the Galaxy S7, the Galaxy S8 is water-resistant and comes with IP68 certification. Both the handsets run on the company’s UI based on Android 7.0 Nougat.

In terms of specifications, the Samsung Galaxy S8 features a 5.8-inch QHD+ (1440×2960 pixels) Super AMOLED display while the Galaxy S8+ sports a 6.2-inch QHD+ (1440×2960 pixels) Super AMOLED display. The company is terming these as Infinity Displays. Both the smartphones sport 12-megapixel ‘Dual Pixel’ rear camera while there is an 8-megapixel front camera on board as well.

Both the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will come powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 SoC. The new Galaxy S8 and S8+ will be powered by an octa-core 10nm processor (four cores clocked at 2.3GHz + four cores clocked at 1.7GHz). Samsung adds that the Galaxy S8 series will be available in different variants based on markets.

The smartphones will be also available in Exynos 8895 SoC variants which will be released in select markets, including most probably India. Both the handsets pack 4GB of RAM and come with 64GB inbuilt storage while also supporting expandable storage via microSD card (up to 256GB). The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will support wireless charging as well as fast charging. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ pack 3000mAh and 3500mAh battery respectively. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ can also connect to the new Gear 360, which was also unveiled at the same event, to create 4K 360-degree videos and 15-megapixel photos.

The Galaxy S8 measures 148.9×68.1x8mm and weighs 155 grams. The Galaxy S8+ measures 159.5×73.4×8.1mm and weighs 173 grams. Lastly talking about the pricing, according to the The Verge post Verizon Wireless has the lowest rates, at $720 (roughly Rs. 46,700) for the Galaxy S8 and $840 (roughly Rs. 54,500) for the Galaxy S8+. Prices go up to $750 (roughly Rs. 48,700) and $850 (roughly Rs. 55,200) respectively.