Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge allegedly already in testing at AT&T

Over recent weeks and months we’ve read numerous reports regarding the Galaxy S7 and its dual-curve sibling. Most recently, the rumors have suggested the device will see an earlier-than-normal release, perhaps indicating that Samsung will unveil its next hot flagship before MWC in Barcelona. Some speculate we might even see an announcement as soon as January. A tweet from well-known leakster, Evan Blass, does nothing to discredit those rumors:

[tweet https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/665279918633295872 align=’center’]

Blass believes that with testing already happening at AT&T, we could see the phones land in the early part of Q1 2016. In other words: Between the beginning of January and mid-February. While the tweet alone doesn’t confirm anything, it certainly adds credibility to those previous launch timeframe rumors.

In recent years, Samsung has used MWC in Barcelona as the platform to announce the Galaxy S lineup. But it hasn’t always been that way. With MWC scheduled for 22-25 February in 2016, and big press events normally occurring before the conference officially kicks off, Samsung could once again use the Barcelona event to show off its next flagship phones. If it did, it would certainly (just about) fit in with Evan’s early-to-mid Q1 launch timeframe. Or Sammy could do what it did with the Galaxy Note 5 launch and decide to steal a march on a major conference by announcing its devices at a separate event beforehand.

It’s been reported in the past that Samsung will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor in the Galaxy S7 (at least in some markets). The powerful quad-core chips has just been officially outed by Qualcomm, and looks like it’ll be next year’s processor to beat. Saying that, it’ll be interesting to see how it compares performance-wise with Samsung’s own recently-announced Exynos 8890. If rumors are to be believed, the Snapdragon models will go for sale in China and the US, while the Exynos-equipped phones will be sold in Europe and other international markets.