Samsung Galaxy S8 release date, specs, rumours, and price explained

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is potentially just one month away, and so there's no shortage of rumours and leaks. Here's what we know about Samsung's next flagship, including the Galaxy S8 release date, specs, features, and price.

(Update: 26 February 2017): Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S8 will be announced in New York on March 29, announcing the news during a press conference at Mobile World Congress 2017.

It'll come as no surprise to those familiar with smartphone release cycles, but CES 2017 has been and gone with no Galaxy S8 sightings. Samsung released TVs, fridges, speakers, Chromebooks, updated versions of the Galaxy A3 (2017) and Galaxy A5 (2017), and half-hearted apologies for the exploding Note 7 fiasco but, alas, no shiny new flagship.

Unfortunately, it turns out that we won't be seeing Samsung's new phone at the next big tradeshow – MWC 2017 – either. In a surprise announcement, Samsung confirmed that the Galaxy S8 would skip the show, with analysts expecting an April debut instead.

The good news is that Samsung has already applied for the Galaxy S8 trademark, which may mean a launch is imminent. Early in January, Samsung filed for ownership of the branding, citing smartphones, tablets, cables, and phone cases as the sorts of items it could be applied too. Despite the fiery Note 7 PR debacle, it seems Galaxy isn't going away any time soon.

There's plenty of new S8 talking points, though. For instance, it's expected that we'll see two distinct variants of the Galaxy S8, one small and one big. The larger version is, according to Evan Blass, going to be called the Galaxy S8+, and both versions will reportedly have an 'Edge' style display – flat screens begone.

Better still, we’re already hearing talk of Galaxy S8 specs, with rumoured features including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip, a QHD display, and a very high screen-to-body ratio, as this leaked photo (courtesy of Sammobile) demonstrates:

image: http://static.trustedreviews.com/94/00003d0e2/a11a/gala-screen.jpg

Read on to find out more – here’s a detailed round-up of what to expect from the Galaxy S8.