Samsung Galaxy S8 release date, specs: new flagship to feature Force Touch technology?

The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge smartphones are displayed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 21, 2016.REUTERS/Albert Gea

Samsung is moving on after the disaster that was the Galaxy Note 7 and is now focusing on its 2017 smartphone lineup. With tech fans leery of the South Korean company's Galaxy Note series, all eyes are on the upcoming flagship, the Galaxy S8, and the features that will be included in the next-generation device.

It is expected that the Galaxy S8 will be competing directly with the new iPhone next year, and sources told Phone Arena that Samsung may be introducing a Force Touch display technology with the new smartphone. Insiders claim that the tech giant is already testing the technology for the devices. As of the moment, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 have the Force Touch feature, and Huawei also included the technology in its latest handsets.

"Samsung is mulling to adopt the force touch technology partially from the S8 but the full adoption will come in one or two year," said an anonymous Samsung supplier to the media outlet. "It is a matter of time before other major Android smartphone makers deploy the technology that will help enhance user interface."

The Force Touch or 3D Touch technology was announced back in September 2014 at the Apple Watch conference. With this feature, users can launch apps, preview messages, switch keyboards and more through different levels of force applied to the phone's display. As Samsung has been a constant trendsetter in the smartphone market, it's likely that the Galaxy S8 having this feature will encourage other Android phone manufacturers to up their game and follow suit starting next year.

Earlier this month, it was said that the Galaxy S8 will have an intelligent virtual assistant similar to Siri. Reuters reported that the Galaxy S8 will ship with the new technology following Samsung's acquisition of Viv Labs, a company run by one of the co-creators of Siri. The handset is also tipped to have a dual lens camera at the back, an improved selfie camera plus iris scanner at the front, and wireless charging capabilities.

Stay tuned for more news about the Samsung Galaxy S8.