If you have a habit of reading tech blogs you might have read about analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities. He's famous for covering Apple and making predictions about the company's future products which often turn out to be true. However, his latest note to investors is about Samsung and its upcoming flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8. He reiterates predictions about the Galaxy S8's specs as well as its April 21 release date.
Kuo suggests that Samsung will unveil the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus on March 29. Both handsets are said to have 2960×2400 WQHD+ OLED displays. He also adds that the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus will feature a 3,000mAh and 3,500mAh battery which is what we've already told you in our what to expect from the Galaxy S8 article.
The analyst is of the view that the Galaxy S8 variants sold in the United States, Japan and China will be powered by the Snapdragon 835 while the variants meant for Europe and the rest of Asia will tout Samsung's new Exynos 8895 processor. In most markets, the Galaxy S8 is said to feature 4GB RAM but since the Koreans and Chinese are sensitive to DRAM specs, it's likely that the Galaxy S8 variants meant for those two countries may have 6GB of RAM.
It was first reported that the Galaxy S8 would be released on April 21 after it's unveiled on March 29 but a report later contradicted that by claiming that the release had been pushed back by one week to April 28. Kuo predicts that the Galaxy S8 is going to be released on April 21.
He also suggests that the shipments will be split 6:4 between the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus. Total shipments for the Galaxy S8 during 2017 are predicted to be 40-45 million units which if true will be slower than the 52 million Galaxy S7 units that were shipped last year.
However, Kuo does point out that due to the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco last year the Galaxy S7 was essentially Samsung's only flagship smartphone in 2016 which is why the bar is set so high for the incoming flagship.
