Samsung is expected to release its Galaxy S8 phone sometime in early 2017. It is said to have to include a Siri-like voice assistant, and it might also ditch the physical home button and the 3.5mm headphone jack.

It is projected that Samsung will replace its S Voice with a voice assistant called Viv AI. This is after Samsung acquired Viv, the company that Apple hired to create Siri. It is also speculated that the home button will be incorporated into the display itself, eliminating the physical button on the lower portion of the phone. It is also suggested that the upcoming phone will use a proprietary connector for its headphones, eliminating the use of the traditional headphone jack.

CNET reported that the South Korean manufacturing giant has already started the development of the lower level software that will be used for the Galaxy S8. The unnamed sources said that countries initially supported are France, Poland, Germany, Italy, US, United Kingdom, South Korea, and China. Support for other countries may also arrive in the future.

WCCFTech added that there are three firmware variants already developed for the next flagship phone produced for Korea, United States, and the European region. Their firmware numbers are said to be G955FXXE0APJ3, G955FOXA0APJ2, and G955FXXE0AP.

The company will likely introduce two variants for its next phone, similar to its predecessor. It will have the standard Galaxy S8 with a 5.1-inch screen and 2K resolution, as well as the Galaxy S8 Edge with a 5.5-inch screen and 4K resolution. Rumors suggest that it will have a dual camera system, equipped with a 12MP and 13 MP. It could also have an iris scanner and most probably a USB-Type C port that will handle both battery charging and wired headphone connection.

It is also rumored to be powered by brand new chips, the Exynos 8895 and the Snapdragon 830. Both chips will be manufactured by Samsung and will use the 10 nm FinFET process.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is speculated to be unveiled at the upcoming IFA 2017 event in Berlin.