Samsung Galaxy S7
Hardware
The Samsung Galaxy S7 refines its predecessor's design with a flat 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display (2560x1440 resolution, ~577 ppi), launching alongside the larger, dual-curved 5.5-inch S7 edge. The glass-and-metal sandwich utilizes Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides, introducing an ergonomic, curved-edge rear glass panel that makes the chassis much easier to grip. Crucially, the S7 restores IP68-certified dust and water resistance, achieving structural waterproofing internally without requiring the clumsy plastic port flaps of the S5. The physical home button houses an upgraded touch-based fingerprint scanner flanked by capacitive keys, while the display debuts an Always-On Display (AOD) feature to show the time and notifications while drawing minimal power. Launch colors included Black Onyx, Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium, and White Pearl (with Pink Gold and Blue Coral arriving later), alongside a rugged, shatter-resistant S7 Active variant. Under the hood, silicon configurations returned to a regional split. North American and Chinese models run on a 14nm quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with an Adreno 530 GPU, while the global variant utilizes Samsung's 14nm octa-core Exynos 8 Octa 8890 paired with a Mali-T880 MP12 GPU—with both configurations kept cool by a new internal copper heat pipe liquid-cooling system to combat thermal throttling. Rectifying the most heavily criticized aspect of the S6, the S7 reintroduces the microSD expansion slot (supporting up to 256 GB) via a hybrid SIM tray, pairing it with 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 32 GB or 64 GB of UFS 2.0 internal storage. Battery capacities saw a massive jump to a non-removable 3000 mAh for the standard S7 and 3600 mAh for the S7 edge. Wired charging and data transfer rely on a standard Micro-USB 2.0 port—deliberately retained over the emerging USB-C standard to maintain compatibility with the Samsung Gear VR headset—supporting 15W Quick Charge 2.0 alongside fast dual-standard Qi/PMA wireless charging. Imaging underwent a paradigm shift, intentionally lowering the raw megapixel count to prioritize low-light performance via a custom 12 MP rear camera module featuring a bright f/1.7 aperture, larger 1.4 µm pixels, and OIS. It debuted Dual Pixel Autofocus technology to the smartphone industry, meaning 100% of the sensor's pixels are utilized for phase detection to achieve near-instantaneous focus during 4K video capture. The front camera consists of a 5 MP f/1.7 wide-angle lens that introduces a simulated white-screen flash for selfies. Security pairs the fingerprint sensor with Samsung Knox firmware to drive Samsung Pay over both NFC and MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission). Biometrics are rounded out by a rear-mounted optical heart rate and SpO2 sensor nested next to the LED flash. Connectivity includes dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS with GLONASS, and a 3.5mm headphone jack, though the lineup officially omitted the infrared (IR) blaster found on prior models.