Samsung Electronics is apparently pushing the Galaxy C7 (2017) through the necessary formalities ahead of an official market launch. Last month, a device bearing the model number “SM-C7100” was certified by Bluetooth SIG, and more recently, the same smartphone passed through the Wi-Fi Alliance where it received the green light for the consumer market. The WFA confirms that the smartphone runs Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box, and supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity.
As per the usual case, the WFA’s listing doesn’t say much about the device’s hardware characteristics, but it’s logical to assume that the Galaxy C7 (2017) will have updated internals compared to the Galaxy C7 (2016) released in June last year. The first model in the series was equipped with a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display featuring a resolution of 1920 x 1080, and its body concealed the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 system-on-chip (SoC), combining eight ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores clocked at up to 2.0GHz with the Adreno 506 GPU and 4GB of RAM. 4GB of RAM should be enough even for more demanding users that have high multitasking expectations, so the upcoming model will probably see no changes in this particular aspect. Nevertheless, it’s very likely that the Galaxy C7 (2017) will at least be launched with a more modern SoC under the hood. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC was succeeded by the Snapdragon 630 chipset announced in May 2017, so there is a possibility that the Galaxy C7 (2017) could employ the next silicon in line, assuming that the South Korean tech giant doesn’t opt for a more radical product strategy change.
The Galaxy C7 (2016) was officially announced in May and launched in June 2016, and considering the fact that new smartphone models are generally launched on a yearly basis, this would technically be the right time for the Galaxy C7 (2017) to make an official appearance. With Bluetooth SIG and Wi-Fi Alliance certificates out of the way, the smartphone is likely on its way to a market debut in the United States, though it remains to be seen which other countries Samsung decides to target. More information building up to the eventual release of the Galaxy C7 (2017) is bound to emerge in the coming days or weeks.