The Wall Street Journal has posted some tantalizing new details about Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7. The report paints a picture of the S7 as being a minor upgrade to the major revamp that was the Galaxy S6 but with a few new features to entice upgraders.
The biggest news, according to the Journal, is that the S7 and S7 Edge will feature a “pressure-sensitive display” which the report notes “will be similar to that offered by rival Apple Inc. on the iPhone 6s earlier this year.” Apple’s 3D Touch hardware launched with the iPhone 6S, Apple rolled out support to the core OS interface and packed-in apps, and tons of third-party apps (even Google) added support for it. Samsung lacks the sway over an app ecosystem that Apple has, so while it can update the core OS interface, we doubt many other apps will support the pressure-sensitive display, as was the case with Samsung’s early foray into fingerprint readers.
In the “not surprising” category, the Journal said that Samsung will again be releasing two versions of the phone—the flat-screened Galaxy S7 and the curved-screened Galaxy S7 Edge—and that both devices will look “will look largely similar” to their predecessors. The report said the phone is slated to launch in March with an unveiling at Mobile World Congress, which is similar to the Galaxy S6 timeframe, and it will come with a USB Type C-port, which is quickly becoming a standard for new devices.
The Galaxy S6 was the first Samsung flagship to scrap the microSD card slot, but data hoarders will be glad to hear that the microSD card is reportedly returning. It’s apparently only coming to the flat device, though—the report says that the microSD slot will not appear in the Galaxy S7 Edge.
2015 was the year Samsung removed the MicroSD slot from its entire flagship lineup, but it was also the year Google made an SD slot more useful than ever by adding an “adoptable storage” feature toAndroid 6.0 Marshmallow. The feature allows a user to declare an SD card “permanent” and format it just like internal memory. The internal and external memory pools are then merged together and managed by the OS, giving users more storage without making them worry about file management.
In the “very surprising” category, the report says Samsung is “considering adding a retina scanner” to the Galaxy S7. For now the report seems unsure about if the feature will actually make it into a retail product, noting that with three months to go until release, “features could change.”
Apple executives will take the stage in San Francisco on Wednesday for a special media briefing, during which we expect them to announce next-generation iPhones, a refreshed Apple TV, and provide updates on iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 El Capitan. Here’s a breakdown of everything you need to know.
The camera systems are also likely to get a makeover, bumping the shooters to 12 megapixels around back and 5 megapixels up front. That larger rear component might add a new white subpixel — helping with low-light performance — while some rumors have suggested that the selfie cam could gain its own flash and the ability to capture slow-motion video at 60 frames per second.
In terms of media content, Apple is unlikely to showcase its long-rumored web television service on Wednesday as numerous reports have painted talks with networks and content owners as ongoing and somewhat contentious. The company may introduce a revamped content discovery interface, however — one based on Siri which allows users to search for titles across every service available on the Apple TV.
OS X El Capitan is somewhat more restrained, focusing on refinements to OS X’s user experience and improving performance across Apple’s range of desktop and notebook computers. Front and center is a change from Helvetica to Apple’s in-house San Francisco typeface for the user interface, while several built-in apps have been upgraded.
Elie Chahine 