With the Galaxy Note5 and iPhone 6s out of the way, Samsung is undoubtedly working full force on next year’s flagship, the Galaxy S7. At the moment, Samsung is leading the Android pack, with benchmark crushing performance and finally a premium build utilising metal and glass materials.
So what will Samsung do next for the first half of 2016? Based on what we’ve heard so far, they are introducing a couple of new features to widen its gap against its competitors.
USB Type C
For starters, the Galaxy S7 is expected to use USB Type C, a reversible cable connector that’s supposedly a future standard. Not only it allows faster rapid charge, it also provides faster data transfers even when compared to USB 3.0. New flagships like the OnePlus 2, Lumia 950/950XL and Nexus 5X/6P have already adopted this connector standard and we should be seeing more of these in 2016.
3D Touch/Pressure Sensitive Display
The Huawei Mate S has it and so does the latest iPhone 6s. It was recently revealed that Samsung has patented a display tech that’s similar to 3D Touch. This allows it to differentiate the amount of force being applied onto the screen, based on corresponding voltage.
From the illustrations above, the feature allows multi purpose input such as alternating between space/tab and apply upper case when a key is pressed with extra force. It is possible that Samsung might introduce this on their future flagships, and it may or may not be the Galaxy S7.
Newer Exynos and Snapdragon Processors
The Exynos 7420 processor on the Galaxy S6/Note5 is a proven workhorse, churning out insane benchmark figures yet maintaining frugal battery consumption. For next year, Samsung is rumoured to release the Galaxy S7 with up to 3 processor variants.
The Exynos 7422 which was earlier rumoured for the Galaxy Note5 will is expected to power India based units while a newer Exynos 8890 (also known as the Exynos M1) will find its way to Korea, Japan and European markets. Given a pass for Samsung’s 2015 flagships, Qualcomm appears to be making a come back with a Snapdragon 820 processor. The Snapdragon 820 variant is said to be fitted for China and US bound units. So far there’s no mention of what we’re getting in the South East Asian region.
20MP ISOCELL Cameras
For imaging, the 16MP shooter on the Galaxy Note5/S6 remains unchanged since the Galaxy Note 4. To bring its photography capabilities to the next level, Samsung could be upgrading to a higher 20MP camera that utilises Samsung’s own ISOCELL sensor. Word also has it that it could carry a dual-camera set up, similar to the HTC One M9+.
Galaxy S7 launch before MWC 2016?
With the Apple iPhone 6s/6s Plus being announced in September, Samsung had brought forward its Galaxy Note5 launch to August, ahead of its traditional September IFA launch. This gave Samsung an early head start to build up its sales momentum before the iDevices go to market.
For 2016, it appears that Samsung might announce the Galaxy S7 as early as January instead of its usual February/March timeline in conjunction with Mobile World Congress. Similar to its current Galaxy S6, there would be two models – SM-G930 and SM-G935 which carry a standard and a dual-curved display. January is just 3 months away. So if you’re planning to get a new flagship smart phone, would you just grab the Galaxy Note5 or wait for the next big thing?
