Samsung Galaxy S8 Concept: Showcases a Stunning & Exciting Future For Smartphones

“The S8 concept remains true to Samsung roots, while ensuring that it’s as futuristic and practical as possible”

There are only a handful of phone brands that can manage to excite users even before their devices become official. The Korean manufacturer Samsung is one such example, and the Galaxy Note7 leaks that have flooded the interwebs, prove our point. However, the Note series usually follows the innovations led by the flagship Galaxy ‘S’ range. And, that made us wonder what the Samsung Galaxy S8 would be like.

Instead of waiting for the Chaebol to answer that question, we went to the drawing board ourselves and here’s what we envision the Galaxy S8 to be. The best part of this concept phone is that it remains true to Samsung roots, while ensuring that it’s as futuristic and practical as possible.

The Edgier Flagship

Samsung flirted with the idea of a curved display with the Galaxy Note Edge , and then made the dual-curved display a hallmark of the ‘edge’ variants of the Galaxy S6 and S7. Having nearly perfected the edge models, we posit that the Galaxy S8 would only be available in one version which will feature the edge display panel.

As per our visualisation, the Samsung Galaxy S8 concept would be built around a 5.5-inch display, same as its predecessor, the Galaxy S7 edge. Don’t worry, it’ll be ensured that the phone can be used with a single hand thanks to clever design, which brings us to the next point…

A Seamless Design

It’s a wireless world. Yet, we have to lug around bulky wall chargers and wired earphones with us all the time. The Samsung Galaxy S8 concept does away with all of those, as it brings forth a clean design language that’s completely devoid of any ports.

Yes, you don’t need to worry about carrying a micro-USB or USB Type-C cable, since the phone can be charged wirelessly with the wireless charger. The Korean giant has already innovated on fast charging capabilities in its wireless chargers, so you can be assured that the Galaxy S8 concept can be juiced up in no time.

While phone companies are taking sides between the 3.5mm audio socket vs newer interfaces, the Samsung Galaxy S8 concept takes a fresh approach – there’s no headset port at all. It recently introduced wireless earphones in the form of the Gear IconX, and those will be bundled along with the smartphone. This will ensure a superior audio experience without getting entangled in wires.

The Smartphone That Can Become Anything You Want

The port-free design isn’t the only highlight of the Samsung Galaxy S8 concept. With modularity seemingly the next big thing, the smartphone will also offer a semi-modular design language. The top edge of the Galaxy S8 concept will have magnetic pins that can latch to various modular accessories.

Samsung is already betting big on VR as it has already partnered with Facebook-owned Oculus to launch the Gear VR headset. It also announced the Gear 360 camera for capturing immersive photos. However, instead of buying a new camera altogether, the Galaxy S8 concept will let users capture by attaching the new Gear 360 accessory, pictured above. It has a dual fisheye lens that can capture 360-degree photos and videos, and lets users share them instantly on Facebook or YouTube.

For audio purists, the audio accessory could be a great option as it will turn the Samsung Galaxy S8 concept into a portable speaker. What’s more, if you don’t like the fact that there’s no standard 3.5mm audio socket to use your earphones, then don’t worry, the accessory offers a 3.5mm interface.

Multimedia enthusiast? For you, the Galaxy S8 concept is a real treat, as in combination with the projector accessory, you can enjoy your own movie theatre wherever you want. Additionally, the module has a battery of its own, which means that it won’t suck the battery from the device, and play a video for around five hours.

There’s something for fitness freaks too. Instead of relying on a heart-rate sensor at the back of the phone, it'll use the health accessory that will track your vitals such as temperature, oxygen levels, respiration rate, heart rate and even present an ECG graph. All that data is automatically recorded in the S Health app.

There are many more such accessories that can extend the capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S8 concept.

The Internals

Packing so many innovations, it’s easy to forget that the Samsung Galaxy S8 concept would also push the envelope further when it comes to hardware specs.

The 5.5-inch display would be boasting 4K resolution, but that would only come into action while using Samsung’s Gear VR headset. This will ensure the efficient utilisation of the battery as the Super AMOLED display would normally offer a 2K resolution.

Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy S8 concept will draw juice from Qualcomm’s all-powerful Snapdragon 830 processor. While the SD820 managed to bring a good name back to the leading chipmaker after the heating debacle in its predecessor, the 820 comes with four cores only. The Snapdragon 830 will feature eight cores, offering superior performance. For the multitasking chops, the phone will have 6GB of RAM.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 concept would come with 64GB of internal memory as a default option. It’ll also be available with 128GB and 256GB storage versions. Of course, you will be able to extend the storage further, with support for UFS cards, which promise faster reading and writing speeds.

The Chaebol is reigning supreme with the impressive imaging performance of the Galaxy S7 duo, and its successor is expected to take this to the next level. It’ll have a 16-meg ISOCELL sensor at the back with f/1.8 aperture and dual-pixel technology. The optically-stabilised shooter will be able to record 4K videos and slow-mo videos. For selfie addicts, the device will feature an 8MP sensor on board.

The phone will also feature an iris scanner at the front for authentication purposes.

Juicing up the Samsung Galaxy S8 concept is a 3,600mAh battery pack, which, combined with Android Nougat’s battery optimisations, should deliver a day’s worth of use with ease.

What do you think of the Samsung Galaxy S8 concept? Would you like to own this as your next phone? Share with us your comments, and tell us what you loved about it and what you didn’t.