After the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, the Very Future of Samsung May Hinge on Samsung Galaxy S8

By now everyone has heard about the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. The product is now more famous, or infamous, than some of Samsung’s best selling products ever. Even American prime time shows are mocking the Galaxy Note 7. Legendary talk show host and comedian Bill Maher has already cracked at least half a dozen jokes on the Note 7. There is no respite for Samsung in sight and several analysts suggest that it will only get worse.

How did we get here?

The epic failure of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is due entirely to the smartphone industry’s fixation on improving the efficiency of Lithium Ion batteries. Consumer demand for higher battery capacity is always on the rise. At the moment Lithium Ion batteries are our best bet and they are actually pretty good at powering billions of our devices. However, this demand has meant that smartphone brands have started pushing the limits of what a Lithium Ion battery can take.

Many, including yours truly, have suggested that the need of the hour is an improvement in battery tech itself. Simply pushing the limits of what the current tech can offer will only get you so far. And Samsung found this out the hard way.

After deciding to recall all shipped units of the Galaxy Note 7 the South Korean tech behemoth was forced to shut the door on the product altogether. Some reports suggest this may have cost Samsung somewhere to the tune of USD 17 billion. The Galaxy Note 7 was supposed to be Samsung’s flagship product. Never had anyone in their wildest dreams imagined that the flagship product of the world’s numero uno smartphone brand, by some distance, could turn into its biggest failure ever.

What does the future hold?

Despite the Note 7’s disaster, Samsung is still well and truly the leading smartphone brand in the world in terms of market share. The next big product from Samsung will be its next flagship – Samsung Galaxy S8. The very future of Samsung’s mobile division may hinge on it. The phone is expected to launch in early 2017.

Let’s take a quick glance at the speculated specifications on the Samsung Galaxy S8.

Specifications – Samsung Galaxy S8

The phone is rumored to be coming in two variants. The first could be a 5.1 inch display and the second a 5.5 inch display. Both displays will almost certainly be Super AMOLED and will come with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. The 5.5 inch variant will likely be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 830 processor while the other variant might come with an Exynos 8895 SoC.

The phone will likely sport a 6 GB RAM, which I expect will become a norm by mid-2017 because of the virtual reality and augmented reality focus that smartphones are about to embrace. Most brands will have to adopt quickly and produce products with better memories to allow VR and AR rendering possible at decent speeds. Lenovo is already doing that with the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. I believe ideally an 8 GB RAM should be the bare minimum spec for an immersive VR/AR experience on mobile.

More from iSpyPrice: Check out more expected specs on the Samsung Galaxy S8 mobile

The Galaxy S8 could come in 64 GB and 128 GB internal storage variants but there will be an expandable storage option via a microSD card slot as is often the case with Samsung products. The 5.5 inch variant may come with a dual 12 megapixel primary camera with support for dual-tone LED flash. The secondary camera will be an 8 megapixel unit. The camera configuration will also include Phase detection auto focus, simultaneous 4K video, and touch focus among other things.

The Galaxy S8 will almost certainly be a dual-SIM 4G phone with VoLTE support. The phone will be powered by Android 7.0 Nougat OS.

A critical year ahead for Samsung

The Galaxy Note 7’s disaster now means that Samsung cannot afford another failure. The Galaxy S8 not only needs to be a great phone but it also needs to be a safe phone. While most people are smart enough to understand that not all Samsung phones will start exploding overnight, a seed of doubt has been planted in the consumer psyche. The single most important thing that a brand has going for it any point during its existence is consumer trust. Samsung has certainly lost a bit of that and cannot, for the life of it, afford another debacle.

To say that the Galaxy S8 and 2017 will determine the fate of one of the world’s most powerful consumer electronics brands will be an understatement. Carrying the Galaxy Note 7 on an airplane is now a federal crime in the United States. Yes, carrying this one particular smartphone on an airplane is now a federal crime. That’s how charred (pun intended) Samsung’s image is at the moment. Let’s hope the Galaxy S8 changes things for the better.