Samsung Galaxy S8
Hardware
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ radically overhaul the lineup's design language by introducing curved 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED "Infinity Displays" (2960x1440 resolution) in a tall 18.5:9 aspect ratio. The panels deliver high peak brightness, advanced ambient light contrast, and a wide DCI-P3 color gamut, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides. This generation officially removes the iconic physical home button, replacing it with a pressure-sensitive virtual home button embedded beneath the lower screen area that features automatic pixel-shifting to prevent burn-in damage. The sleek glass-and-metal unibody retains IP68 dust and water resistance but moves the touch-based fingerprint scanner to an awkward position on the rear, directly next to the camera lens. Launch colors included Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, and Arctic Silver, with Maple Gold and Coral Blue available internationally, alongside a ruggedized flat-screen S8 Active variant. Under the hood, the devices run on early 10nm FinFET processors, split by regional connectivity: North American and East Asian models utilize the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with an Adreno 540 GPU, while global variants deploy Samsung’s own Exynos 9 Octa 8895 paired with a Mali-G71 MP20 GPU. The standard configuration pairs 4 GB of LPDDR4X RAM with 64 GB of UFS 2.1 internal storage, expandable up to 256 GB via a hybrid microSD slot. However, a premium market-exclusive version with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage was released for China, South Korea, and India. Power is delivered by non-removable Lithium-Ion batteries—3000 mAh for the S8 and 3500 mAh for the S8+—which transitioned the flagship line to a USB-C port. They support 15W Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 alongside Qi and AirFuel inductive wireless charging, though wired speeds are notably throttled by half if the screen is actively illuminated. This port also powers Samsung DeX, allowing the phone to drive a full desktop experience when connected to a monitor. Imaging is driven by a custom 12 MP rear camera module with an f/1.7 aperture, Dual Pixel Autofocus, and OIS, utilizing enhanced multi-frame software processing to stitch multiple shots together for superior low-light clarity while supporting RAW format and a manual DSLR-like Pro Mode. The front camera receives a major upgrade to an 8 MP f/1.7 wide-angle lens with smart autofocus, a massive improvement over the fixed-focus front cameras of previous models. Security configurations combine face recognition, an upgraded iris scanner on the top bezel, and the rear fingerprint sensor. The internal sensor arrangement drops the ambient temperature and humidity sensors but adds a dedicated hardware button on the left rail for Samsung's virtual assistant, Bixby. For connectivity and audio, the lineup introduces Bluetooth 5.0 with dual-headphone wireless streaming, bundled Harman AKG earbuds, integrated Galileo satellite navigation, and a 600 MHz LTE antenna specifically built into T-Mobile's S8 Active variant.