The Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus will launch in China this May, according to a recent rumor originating from social media website Weibo. The rumor indicates that Samsung will launch its upcoming pair of Android-powered flagships on May 10, while both the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus will allegedly be available for pre-orders in China on April 28. For added context, recent reports suggested that Samsung will release its flagship duo in Korea on April 21, while the handsets will reportedly hit the market in the United States on April 28, meaning China may get the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus relatively late compared to other major phone markets. On the other hand, the Chinese variant of Samsung’s new high-end flagship is said to sport 6GB of RAM compared to 4GB of RAM that the device is expected to feature in other markets. Likewise, several recent rumors suggested that the 128GB models of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus will be exclusively available in China during the launch period of both handsets.
The Chinese variants of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus are expected to be powered by the Exynos 8895 system-on-chip (SoC), just like the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge that launched in the Far Eastern country last year were also fueled by the Samsung-made chipset. The devices will likely feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC in some other markets like the United States as Samsung reportedly caused an industry-wide shortage of Qualcomm’s latest flagship chip in preparation for the mass production of the Galaxy S8. Regarding other features, the Galaxy S8 is expected to sport a 5.8-inch display while the Galaxy S8 Plus is said to ship with a 6.2-inch one, though screen sizes of both handsets will likely be somewhat smaller once their rounded display corners are accounted for. Both smartphones are expected to feature Samsung’s new voice-enabled assistant called Bixby and an improved version of the iris scanner that debuted on the Galaxy Note 7 last year.
The Seoul-based tech giant previously confirmed it will announce its next high-end Android device in New York City on March 29, so more details on the Galaxy S8 will certainly follow soon.