Android 7.0 Nougat brought many new features to the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, and we discovered a slew of minor changes the new version of the OS made across the board. One important change post Nougat was the lowered screen resolution, as the S7 and S7 edge default to Full HD after being upgraded from Marshmallow. Recent leaks are now suggesting that Samsung will be making Full HD the default resolution on the Galaxy S8 as well, and it makes me wonder if the company is doing this to make up for smaller batteries.
With a 3,000 mAh battery, I'm not expecting the Galaxy S8 to offer great battery life with that 5.8-inch display up front. The Galaxy S7 barely managed to get through the day with the same battery capacity, and it had a display that's considerably smaller than its upcoming successor. Use the S7 with two SIMs inside, and it further reduces its overall endurance, so I'm very worried the Galaxy S8 will be a repeat of the Galaxy S6. Yes, Super AMOLED displays are rather efficient and there's also the promise of the new 10 nm processors inside the S8, but the small battery is still likely to be an issue.
Many will argue that Full HD is enough for displays up to 6 inches in size, and I would agree. Quad HD display resolution doesn't serve any notable purpose in everyday usage, so it wouldn't be odd if Samsung decided that the Galaxy S8 will only run at Quad HD (or WQHD+, as its new resolution will be called) when it is hooked up to the company's Gear VR handset. Again, I wouldn't normally have a problem with this, but it looks like defaulting to Full HD could be an excuse for what seems like insufficient battery capacity, at least for the regular Galaxy S8.
Or it may not be so, as reducing screen resolution doesn't have any noticeable effect on battery life on the Galaxy S7. Maybe Samsung has improved the feature for the Galaxy S8, but in any case, it would be disappointing if Samsung takes this route for its flagships this year rather than attempting to put in larger batteries by making its phones a tad thicker. As usual, there is no telling what Samsung is up to, and we will only get details when the phone is made official on March 29th.
What do you think? Could Samsung be using a lower screen resolution on the Galaxy S8 to make up for the small battery inside the device?
