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A brand new version of the Galaxy S8 is about to launch

Published Jun 13th, 2017 9:41AM EDT
Galaxy S8 Active Release Date
Image: Zach Epstein, BGR

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Samsung’s Galaxy S8 was released back in April of this year, but it’s arguably still the best Android smartphone on the planet. Power and performance are still top-notch despite the fact that a few newer flagship phones have debuted since the S8 was released. And the design Samsung whipped up for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ is hands down the sleekest and most stunning smartphone design the world has ever seen at this point. In fact, if rumors pan out and Apple indeed releases an iPhone 8 with that hideous cutout at the top of the display, the Galaxy S8 could very well be the best-designed phone of 2017 when all is said and done.

Of course, visual design is one thing but technical design is another. While the S8 indeed features the best looks we’ve seen so far, the glass front and back also make it one of the most fragile flagship phones ever. In fact, no smartphone has ever performed worse in SquareTrade’s drop tests. A new leak reaffirms that there’s a new version of Samsung’s Galaxy S8 that’s about to launch, and it addresses the current model’s biggest problem.

As recently as a few years ago, Samsung had a bizarre strategy for its flagship phones that involved releasing as many as a dozen different versions of the same smartphone. Thankfully that craziness has been reined in, but there’s one alternate version of the company’s flagship phones that has survived. That’s right, we’re talking about the Galaxy S7 Active, a ruggedized version of last year’s flagship Galaxy S phone. And in 2017, the S7 Active will get a successor.

Rumors surrounding Samsung’s Galaxy S8 Active have been floating around for a while now, but it looks like the phone is almost ready for primetime. An image of the new Galaxy S8 Active leaked late last month for the first time, and now performance test results have been spotted online.

Via Slashleaks, we find Geekbench 4 benchmarks on the Primate Labs website. Beyond the fact that they reveal impressive performance that even outshines some test results we’ve seen for the original Galaxy S8, the appearance of these benchmarks could mean that the phone is being tested by people outside of Samsung ahead of its release.

It’s still unclear when the Galaxy S8 Active will be released, but it should be very soon.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.