Will Samsung release a trio of new phones next year?
If indeed true, this would affirm the South Korean tech juggernaut's striving for the top spot in the mobile industry one to be outdone by the competition. Come to think of it, what can be better than releasing three, and not just two, iterations of the flagship smartphones in one go? Four is definitely pushing it, and Samsung appears to be capable of doing just that.
Recent reports hint that the company will release Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy S7 Edge+ early 2016, according to Forbes' Gordon Kelly. This bit of news is unconfirmed, though. SamMobile's own "insiders" have not revealed information that can support this tidbit.
However, Kelly thinks this is not a distant possibility.
"In some ways this makes sense: Samsung would group its consumer devices altogether giving it a sizeable lead on the launch of the iPhone 7 in Q3," he explained. "This would then allow it to focus the second half of the year on the Galaxy Note 6 as its differential business phone against the new iPhones."
It's not without its downsides, though.
"Releasing this trio of phones would mean replacing the Galaxy S6 Edge+ within six months of its launch," he went on. "That sends a worrying message to owners of existing premium Samsung handsets that there's no good time to buy a Samsung phone: it could be upgraded at any time."
Further, this may disrupt Samsung's strategy of having separate launch events for phablets and smartphones.
"Given Edge displays have proved extremely popular I'd launch the Galaxy S7 with only a curved display, call the phablet version the 'Galaxy S7+' and ditch the 'Edge' branding altogether," he suggested. "The Galaxy Note can then retain greater differentiation with its flat display, stylus and extra productivity software later in the year."
More updates about S7 may emerge in the coming months. It's been predicted that the upcoming model(s) may be announced at the 2016 MWC in February.
No specs of the said phone has been released yet, although it's speculated that the one that will be released in India will have the Exynos 7422 processor, which is the same chip in the Note 5. There have also been reports that the one heading for Korea, China, and Europe will be equipped with the Exynos 8890 chip, according to Expert Reviews.
It's also not a sure deal whether Samsung will make its next flagship handset model have a full 4K resolution next year, although some hope that the display will be an improvement over the current release.
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