Samsung’s next big Galaxy phone is all but certain to launch next month

pulse

February 10, 2017 3:52 PM

According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S8 phone will launch in late March and feature a new virtual assistant.

A leaked photo of the Galaxy S8, according to a previous VentureBeat report.

Samsung will launch its next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8, at an event in New York late next month, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

The report lines up with past leaks from The Guardian and VentureBeat. The latter previously wrote that the device would launch at Samsung’s next “Unpacked” event on March 29, while the latter said that it would actually go on sale “on or around” April 21.

Samsung did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

In any case, it appears all but certain that Samsung will not unveil the phone at this month’s Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, which it has traditionally used to showcase the latest in its Galaxy S line.

VentureBeat previously wrote that the change was due to the company wanting to take “extra time” to ensure the Galaxy S8 didn't suffer the same fate as the Galaxy Note 7, which forced the Korean firm to recall that phone due to severe battery flaws. Despite that, the WSJ says that Samsung “might” continue to use batteries from one of suppliers it blamed for the recall with its follow-up.

Beyond that, other details from the report largely line up with past rumors. Expect two different versions of the device that will both have curved displays, rear-mounted fingerprint scanners, thin bezels, 3.5mm headphone jacks, and a new virtual assistant named Bixby.

Notably, the report says that AI assistant will be a relaunched version of Samsung’s existing S Voice service — which has generally been seen as lacking in the past — instead of using the technology it acquired when it bought Viv Labs, a startup that was founded by co-creators of Apple’s Siri tech.

Samsung's mobile division posted huge declines in profits shortly after the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, though those have picked up since.

Check out the full Wall Street Journal report here >>

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