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Samsung’s much anticipated return to the flagship smartphone market is expected to begin today, with the tech giant holding one of its live Unpacked events to debut its new smartphone, which is likely the Galaxy S8.
The eyes of the tech world are on Samsung because this is the company’s first flagship phone announcement since the Note7 incident, when Samsung was forced to recall the phablet after multiple reports of overheating and fires which were eventually linked to faults in the phone’s battery.
Samsung has since been very public on the ways it is enforcing change to avoid such incidents in the future – a new stringent safety test program is in place (you’ve probably seen the TV ads) and this launch is taking place around a month later than usual, hinting at more time being taken to get the new device just right.
But what should we look out for when Samsung execs take to the stage to officially announce the S8?
There have been plenty of leaked images alleging to show the new S8 and what all those images have had in common is larger screen and near non-existent bezel (or border) to the screen front on the device.
This would extend a theme Samsung has explored in the past in their edge line-up of phones which had a screen which curved on to the sides of the device.
The S8 could have a screen that fills almost all of the front of the phone, which could also mean the end of the physical home button, instead being replaced by one built into the display. Keep a look out for more information on that too.
Samsung has already announced Bixby, its new AI-powered virtual assistant, and confirmed that it will be present in the S8, but Unpacked will represent the first chance to see the software in action and how it integrates into the phone.
Samsung has spoken of Bixby being embedded into apps and usable anywhere within those apps, as well as being able to understand the context of any questions you ask or commands you give it.
You would expect a hefty part of Samsung’s presentation to detail exactly how this is going to look for everyday users of the S8, with hopefully several demos to go along with the details.
As well as keeping an eye on the size of the S8′s screen, the overall size of the device will be notable too, or to be exact whether or not it will be available in one or more sizes.
It’s very on-trend to offer a smartphone in two sizes, and Samsung has done so in the past.
A ‘plus’ version of the S8 has also been spotted in some allegedly leaked images, so we could well see more than one version of the phone announced.
Based on previous Samsung flagships it’ll be worth listening out for news on whether the S8 is water resistant, has any expandable storage, a fingerprint or iris scanner and how the camera specs stack up against its rivals.
There will also no doubt be a new range of accessories to coincide with the launch, and Samsung may also choose to give us an update on the Gear VR and their future plans for the virtual reality headset.
Could we also hear any word on wearables and smartwatches?
Should you want to watch a live stream of Unpacked, Samsung has created a dedicated Unpacked app for doing just that – you can download it for free from Google Play and the App Store.
