The rumor mill about Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s 2017 flagship smartphone – the Galaxy S8 – is in overdrive. If the rumors about the Galaxy S8, including increased RAM, storage, updated display and digital assistant, are any indication the company will try to use the S8 to redeem itself after its nightmare year with the Note7.

Samsung’s smartphone revenue and profit dropped in its third-quarter earnings report last month. Its IT and Mobile Communications division barely broke even with sales down 15 percent and profits down 95 percent.

Here’s a look at the various Galaxy S8 rumors:

Under the hood: increase in RAM and storage

The latest rumors about the Galaxy S8 is that the device will get an upgrade in both RAM and storage when it launches next year. Rumors coming out of China suggest the Galaxy S8 will feature 6GB of RAM and storage options of up to 256GB.

The current Galaxy S7 has just 32GB of internal storage, which is expandable to 256GB thanks to the microSD card. If the increase in storage rumor is to be believed, the question remains whether Samsung will retain the microSD card slot.

The increase in storage would put the Galaxy S8 in line with the iPhone 7, which has storage options up to 256GB.

According to specifications released about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip, it suggests the Galaxy S8 will be one of the first phones to incorporate the latest chip next year.

Display upgrade

The Galaxy is rumored to have a 2K or Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440 resolution) full screen OLED display with extremely thin or no bezels at all. The Galaxy S8 edge-to-edge display could increase the device’s display area ratio, which on an average smartphone is about 80 percent, to 90 percent next year. With the company having ambitions to push it to 99 percent in the coming years, according to Park Won-sang, principal engineer at Samsung Display.

The rumored edge-to-edge display does mean that Samsung may do away with the device’s home button and rather integrate an optical fingerprint sensor under the display.

The trend towards bezel-free devices is becoming increasingly popular for high-end smartphones. Xiaomi Inc.’s recently launched Mi Mix smartphone has a 91.3 percent screen-to-body ratio. While iPhone 8 rumors point towards Apple Inc.’s latest flagship sporting an OLED, edge-to-edge display with embedded camera, home button and Touch ID.

Other rumors suggest that the Galaxy S8 will launch in two phablet sizes – a 5.7-inch model and a 6.2-inch model – with both models featuring Samsung’s edge display technology.

Artificially intelligent voice assistant

Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S8 will feature a digital assistant. What services will be offered by the digital assistant are not yet known, but the company has said that users will be able to access third-party services. “Developers can attach and upload services to our agent,” said Rhee Injong executive vice president at Samsung. “Even if Samsung doesn’t do anything on its own, the more services that get attached the smarter this agent will get, learn more new services and provide them to end-users with ease.”

Samsung acquired artificial intelligence firm Viv Labs in October, whose founders are the same team that built Siri for Apple. “Samsung is setting its sights on becoming a major player in software and services, and specifically AI,” said Dag Kittlaus, chief executive officer of Viv Labs.  

Wireless charging upgrade

According to reports, the Galaxy S8 will integrate 3-coil wireless charging, which will allow for faster wireless charging as the area of contact between the charging plate and the device is increased.

It is rumored that Apple will finally bring wireless charging to its next flagship – the iPhone 8. However, its wireless charging is rumored to differ from other manufacturers in that the iPhone 8 will be chargeable from a distance of up to 15 feet from a plugged-in transmitter.

Price and availability

If Samsung launches a model with 6GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage, there is a strong possibility that the company will also need to increase the price of the top-of-the-range model.

Samsung’s normal release date for its flagship takes place a day or two before the Mobile World Congress, which is due to kick off in Barcelona on Feb. 27. However, rumors suggest that Samsung will start testing the Galaxy S8 in January and delay market launch until April. A rapid testing cycle for the discontinued Galaxy Note7 has been suggested as the reason the device’s battery issues were overlooked. Something Samsung will not want to repeat with the Galaxy S8.

Sources: iDigitalTimes; Know Your Mobile

Image credit: Maurizio Pesce; Flickr