Samsung Galaxy S8, S8 Plus Specs Reportedly Leaked, Bixby Not Mentioned

The Samsung Galaxy S8, one of the most anticipated devices of 2017, created a buzz that's getting louder as we inch closer to its expected launch in April. The most recent leaks regarding the device are a screenshot of its specs and one of its sign-up pages. On Thursday, TechnoBuffalo claimed it had a leaked screenshot listing specs of both the devices, while on Friday blogger Evan Blass posted a screenshot of a sign-up program for “the Next Galaxy.”

Blass’ tweet showed a device having top and bottom bezels, but none on the side, which concurs with earlier reports of the device having an edge-to-edge display. Apart from this, the tweet did not reveal much.

According to the screenshots by TechnoBuffalo, both devices are expected to come with Quad HD+ displays. Quad HD+ is a technology being employed by LG in its upcoming G6 smartphone. It provides a screen ratio of 18:9, which creates more screen space for the user by shrinking all the bezels. Both devices also share some other specifications such as a 12-megapixel dual pixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front camera, IP68 dust- and water-resistance, 4GB RAM, Samsung Pay and wireless charging support.

What stands out for both devices, according to the screenshots, is an iris scanner, which is expected to be used for the devices’ facial recognition feature. Another thing to note is that both devices seem to have minimal 64GB memory, which replaces the 32GB base version of S7 and S7 plus.

But, one thing lacking from the specifications listed in the screenshot is the Bixby artificial intelligence-based voice assistant. It is actually expected to replace Samsung’s outdated S voice functionality and put Samsung at par with Amazon and Google, which already have their own AI-based voice assistants, Alexa and Google Assistant, respectively. In fact, the Galaxy S8 was earlier rumored to have a special Bixby button next to the camera.

The voice assistant is expected to be a big leap from S voice, which has been redundant ever since the Google Now functionality was rolled out to Android devices. A B-shaped logo even appeared in Samsung’s trademark filing spotted on the European Trade Mark and Design Network’s website.

If the voice assistant does not make an appearance on the Samsung Galaxy S8 when it's launched, it might come as a surprise to many smartphone enthusiasts.