With the Note 7 fiasco still winding down, Samsung is likely hoping to move past it with their next flagship. Currently slated for April, a new rumor (via David Ruddock) corroborates several earlier reports that the Galaxy S8 is finally removing capacitive buttons for software navigation keys.
Two capacitive keys flanking a home button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor have been a long stalwart of Samsung’s phone and tablet design. Besides a notable UX departure, the change reportedly results in a very “tiny” bottom bezel. This would surely differentiate the S8 from older Samsung devices and other competitors.
The fingerprint sensor would likely be moved to the rear of phone, though “exact placement [is] not clear.” This uncertainty keeps alive a previous rumor that Samsung would embed the fingerprint sensor right into the device’s rumored 2560×1440 display.
Samsung would finally adopt on-screen navigation buttons that interestingly feature “3D touch-like functionality.” Unsurprisingly and in line with other OEMs, users would be able to configure and customize said buttons. Hopefully, the default configuration will not be too far off from the stock Android approach.
The departure of the capacitive buttons come as Samsung is reportedly slated to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack for a USB-C port. Such a move would be in line with Lenovo’s Moto earlier this year and more famously Apple with the iPhone 7.
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