Samsung Galaxy S8 release date, specs, rumors: almost bezel-less design a feature in upcoming device?

A promotional image for the Samsung Galaxy S7Samsung

It is already expected that Samsung will release its next flagship early next year. Meanwhile, although confirmed details have yet to come out for the Galaxy S8, supposed specs and features for the flagship have already made their way online.

Reportedly, one of the improvements for the Samsung Galaxy S8 is a redesign for its display. Supposedly, aside from the screen having an edge-to-edge feature, the top and bottom bezels for the flagship are also likely to be thinned out considerably, giving the iteration as much as 90 percent screen-to-body ratio. A news outlet out of South Korea quoted Park Won-sang, a principal engineer for Samsung's display production arm, as saying, "Samsung Display would roll out a full-screen display whose display area ratio (a scale that measures space taken up by a display on the front part of a handset) reaches more than 90 percent next year."

Although Samsung itself has yet to confirm the rumor, a near bezel-less display is highly possible for the Galaxy S8. However, it will not be a novel idea for Samsung, as one China-based tech maker, Xiaomi, has already beaten the South Korean tech giant to it. Xiaomi has just recently released the Mi MIX, with a near bezel-less display with at least 91 percent of the front panel covered by the screen.

Meanwhile, an all-display panel for the Samsung Galaxy S8 also dovetails with recent speculations on another new feature for the flagship. Reportedly, Samsung will be switching from an ultrasonic to an optical fingerprint scanner and will incorporate the new feature underneath the display glass. This will enable Samsung to ditch the physical home button for the Galaxy S8 and will likely expand the display area as a result.

The rest of the supposed specs and features for the Samsung Galaxy S8 include an Exynos 8895 or a Snapdragon 830 chipset, at least 6 GB of RAM, and the Android Nougat 7.0 platform.