Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities is today out with a new investor note concerning the upcoming Galaxy S8 release. Kuo has made a name for himself as being one of the most reliable Apple analysts in the world, but today’s report focuses entirely on Samsung and corroborates a variety of details about what we’re expecting to see at the company’s Galaxy S8 media event on March 29th.
Kuo, like others, predicts that there will be two size variants for the Galaxy S8, one model with a 5.8-inch display and 3000mAh battery and another with a 6.2-inch display and 3500mAh battery. Both are said to be OLED and feature WQHD+ resolutions of 2960×2400. The analyst predicts that the shipment split between the models will be 6:4.
Furthermore, Kuo says that variants sold in the U.S., Japan, and China markets will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor, while models sold in Europe and the rest of Asia will sport Samsung’s Exynos 8895 processor.
Moving on to RAM, Kuo says that models sold in most markets will feature 4GB of RAM, while those sold in Korea and China will sport 6GB because “users in those two markets are particularly sensitive to DRAM specs.
Kuo also offers up a handful of details regarding the design, which we’ve already seen numerous leaks of so far:
(1) Full-screen display with no physical home button; (2) all models equipped with 3D-curved cover glass; and (3) six cutouts at the top front consist of a proximity sensor, ambient light sensor (ALS), IR-LED transmitter and receiver for iris recognition, front/ sub camera, and receiver.
As for the back of the device, Kuo says the glass casing will be available in seven color options including gold, silver, bright black, matte black, blue, orchid, and pink. Kuo also notes that there will be four modules mounted next to each on the back: “a main camera (middle of the four), fingerprint scanner module (right), camera flash (top left), and heart beat measurement (bottom left).”
The front camera is said to be 8MP, while the rear camera will be 12MP. Kuo pinpoints the lack of a two-camera design on cost and “immature dual-camera ISP design.” The Galaxy S8 will also reportedly feature a PC mode when placed in a dock, which is partially thanks to the support of USB-C and its higher-speed data transfer.
As for availability, Kuo says the Galaxy S8 will go on sale on April 21st, contradicting earlier reports that had claimed the device will be delayed until April 28th. Kuo predicts shipments of 40 million to 45 million during 2017, which is slightly slower than the 52 million Galaxy S7 units that were shipped last year. Kuo attributes the slower sales to the fact that last year, the Galaxy S7 was essentially Samsung’s only flagship release of the year because of the Galaxy Note 7 debacle.
Keep up with all of the latest Galaxy S8 rumors in our continuously updated guide.
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