Samsung is not in a very good place right now. The company is in the midst of a global recall of its latest flagship phone, the Galaxy Note 7. As we’re sure you’ve read by now, some Note 7 models shipped with faulty batteries that have been found to explode while charging. The explosions have so far caused personal injury to some users and extensive property damage for others. We’ve seen stories of Note 7 fires engulfing a parked Jeep in flames and even burning down one family’s house. Most recently, an exploding Galaxy Note 7 started a vehicle fire while the car was driving down the road.
The South Korean smartphone giant is taking a huge financial hit as a result of the recall, and its image has been tarnished as well. Of course, these will ultimately just be temporary setbacks; time heals all wounds and people forget about gadget gaffes pretty quickly — see Antennagate, Bendgate and every other “gate” for examples. So what’s coming from Samsung next year, when all the fuss over the Note 7 has long since been forgotten?
MUST SEE: You’ve never seen an iPhone that looks like this
Samsung has two flagship launches each year. In the first half, the company updates its Galaxy S lineup and in the second half, the Galaxy Note lineup is updated. With the Note 7 launch behind us, sort of, attention is now beginning to turn to next year’s Galaxy S8, which Samsung is undoubtedly eager to launch as it looks to put the Note 7 debacle behind it.
We’ve seen a few reports that have begun to paint a picture of what we might expect from next year’s Galaxy S8. One of the more recent claims is that the phone will come in two sizes just like the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, but both the 5.1-inch model and the 5.5-inch version will feature curved displays. Another report stated that the S8 series could be among the first smartphones to feature 4K ultra HD displays.
Now, a new report out of China on Thursday morning states that the new Galaxy S8 models could be powered by a new Samsung Exynos 8895 processor. According to the report, which comes from a Weibo user (via WccfTech) who has posted a few leaks in the past, the new chipset will be clocked at 3.0GHz but will be more energy-efficient than any previous Samsung processor. It will also apparently improve image processing by as much as 80% compared to this year’s Exynos model.
If accurate, this sounds great on paper — but we should all bear in mind that specs on paper don’t always translate in real-world usage. As we know all too well, Apple’s iPhone 6s from last year is still faster than Samsung’s brand new flagship smartphones despite paling in comparison on paper.
