Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is now predicted to launch on April 21st according to KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. This is close to the other most recently rumored launch date which was April 28th, though now it appears that Samsung may be gearing up to launch it around a week earlier than previously expected, and now just under a month after Samsung will officially announce the new phone alongside its larger variant, the Galaxy S8 Plus, which are both scheduled to be unveiled during Unpacked at the end of this month on March 29th.
While the April 21st launch date is an earlier launch than previously thought, it’s not that much of a difference. The launch date is not the only bit of information that Kuo has leaked out though, as a number of the phone’s specifications have also been mentioned. This wouldn’t be the first time that Galaxy S8 specs have leaked out, but it does lend further credence to the specs that have already been talked about around the web, and leaves less to the imagination when it comes to what consumers can probably expect once Samsung unveils both phones. According to Kuo, the Samsung Galaxy S8 will come with a 5.8-inch display, while the Galaxy S8 Plus will come with a slightly larger screen at 6.2-inches. Both screens will be using Samsung’s WQHD+ Super AMOLED panels, which should come as no surprise, and both phones will come powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor and come paired with 4GB of RAM for markets outside of China and Korea, while those two markets will get 6GB RAM models.
The Galaxy S8 is said to have a 3,000mAh battery inside while the Galaxy S8 Plus will come with a larger battery at 3,500mAh to accommodate the larger screen, but both will come with the same front and rear cameras which are set to be 8-megapixels for the front and 12-megapixels for the back. Samsung is using USB Type-C for the charging and data transfer ports, which will make these the second phone series coming from the company to carry this technology as the first phone was the Galaxy Note 7 that initially launched last Fall. When it comes to the colors, Samsung typically doesn’t release more than a few right from the start, and there’s still no indication that this will change, but the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus may rival Huawei’s color choices as Kuo mentions that Samsung will make the phone available in Matte Black, Bright Black, Silver, Gold, Orchid, Blue, and Pink. Whether or not all of these will be available immediately is unclear. Samsung’s flagship devices are always promising and tend to do well with consumers, but that may not be the case initially with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, as they’re predicted to be less successful than last year’s Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge at launch. Kuo predicts that Samsung could reach between 40 million and 45 million unit shipments through this year, but last year Samsung sold about 52 million shipments of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. It’s also important to remember that these are just predictions, and Samsung could very well ship more units by the end of the 2017 following the launch next month.