Samsung Executive Says The Galaxy S8 Will Feature Slick Design, Improved Camera And Better AI

Samsung has its hands full with the Galaxy Note 7 debacle but it isn’t stopping the South Korean company from making its new flagship phone. Lee Jae-yong, Samsung’s vice chairman, recently revealed some details on what to expect from the Galaxy S8.

The Galaxy S8, which is expected to launch in spring 2017, will feature a “slick design and an improved camera,” Lee recently told the Wall Street Journal (via The Verge). The vice chairman and future heir to Samsung also said that the Galaxy S8 will come with enhanced artificial intelligence.

Earlier this year, Samsung acquired Viv Labs, an AI startup which was co-founded by the creators of Apple’s Siri. It’s possible that Samsung is trying to put its own AI into its next flagship considering that Apple and Google are making huge progress with their own voice assistants. However, Lee declined to comment whether Viv's tech will be included in the Galaxy S8.

By giving the Galaxy S8 a new design, improved camera and a better AI voice assistant, it does seem like Samsung is pulling out all the stops to win back consumers’ trust. The Galaxy Note 7 fiasco could still possibly affect Galaxy S8 sales especially if it’s still fresh on people’s minds.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Samsung still has no idea why the Note 7 kept on catching fire, a problem that must not happen with the Galaxy S8. Samsung co-executive J.K. Shin recently informed shareholders that the company is now working with regulators and independent experts to oversee the S8’s hardware, software and manufacturing to ensure that the problem with the Note 7 won’t happen again, according to Phone Arena.

There have been several rumors floating around regarding the Galaxy S8. The most recent one is that the upcoming handset will be the first smartphone to come with an optical fingerprint scanner integrated within the device’s display, according to SamMobile. This will eliminate the need for a physical home button in front of the device, and achieve a true “full-screen” bezel-less experience.

Other rumored specs for the Galaxy S8 include a 5.5-inch 4K AMOLED display, an Exynoss 8895 processor, 6GB of RAM with 16-megapixel and 8-megapixel cameras. Samsung’s flagship is expected to make its first official appearance on February 26, just a day before the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.