Samsung Galaxy S7 Release Date Confirmed By China Mobile

It is expected that Samsung will unveil its 2016 flagship smartphone — likely to be called the Galaxy S7 — on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress in the last week of February. And, following a report last week that claimed the phone would be launched just weeks later, there is now confirmation from the world's biggest mobile network that the premium smartphone will be available in March.

During an end-of-year event that looked forward to the new smartphones launching in 2016, China Mobile revealed that the Samsung Galaxy S7 would be launched in the third month of the year and would be priced in the 3,000+ yuan ($465+) category. Samsung has been rumored to be cutting the price of the Galaxy S7 compared to the Galaxy S6 by as much as 10 percent, but this slide doesn't give us any further indication of what exactly the price will be.

Samsung is seeking to turn around a slide in its smartphone fortunes over the last couple of years, which has seen their market share drop to under 20 percent according to figures from research company Gartner. Samsung is struggling to compete at the premium end of the market against the dominance of the iPhone and has seen a huge increase in competition from Chinese manufacturers in all other segments of the market.

The Galaxy S7, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal last week -- which also mooted the March launch date -- said the new smartphone would be similar to the Galaxy S6 in terms of design, but would feature a pressure-sensitive screen similar to the iPhone 6S' 3D Touch feature. The phone is also said to feature a microSD card slot, USB-C charging and data transfer port and possibly a retina scanner for better security.