Chaitanya Gudipaty Moneycontrol News
The next couple of days and weeks will be a test of Samsung’s resilience as it launches Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones on Wednesday. The Galaxy S8 will be the South Korean company’s first flagship product after the “exploding” Galaxy Note 7 fiasco last year.
Specifications
Barring the display size and battery capacity, not much separates the two models. The Samsung Galaxy S8 boxes in a 5.8-inch QHD+ super AMOLED display ((1440x2960p) and its variant Galaxy S8+ offers the same display at 6.2-inches. Besides Corning Gorilla Glass 5, the devices house 4GB RAM and offer 64GB inbuilt storage which can be expanded up to 256GB with a microSD card.
Both models come with a 12-megapixel rear camera with OIS and an 8-megapixel snapper on the front. Other connectivity options includes 4G LTE support, WiFi, Bluetooth v5.0, USB Type-C, NFC and GPS. Also, among a host of sensors, S8 and S8+ offer heart rate sensor for the health conscious. The variants support wireless and quick charging as well.
The devices also come with Samsung’s smart assistant Bixby, much like Google Assistant or Apple Siri. Bixby can talk, see, read and recommend suggestions to the user.
The Galaxy S8 sports a 3,000 mAh battery and weighs 155 grams, while the Galaxy S8+ comes with a 3,500 mAh battery and weighs 173 grams.
Flipkart has already put up banners on its e-commerce portal announcing that it will sell the two smartphones, which will be available in Midnight Black, Coral Blue and Maple Gold colours.
Stakes high for Samsung
In, perhaps, one of biggest recalls in the history of smartphones, Samsung had asked about 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 users to return their devices last September, hinting at a possible battery problem, following numerous reports that the phones caught fire. Subsequently, the move to provide customers with replacement devices too failed as Note 7 explosions continued prompting Samsung to call off the production and it was curtains for the Note 7.
The episode drained nearly USD 17 billion from Samsung’s value at a time when it was undergoing a corruption scandal. The embarrassment prompted to postpone the launch of S8 and S8+ as well.
As a result, during the October-December period it had no flagship to enter the market with. No doubt, Samsung will want to win back customers, gain their confidence and regain the credibility it lost due to Note 7.
All is not lost for Samsung as Apple and Google couldn’t make a heavy dent in the premium smartphones segment with iPhone 7 Pixel devices. It will be interesting to see how Samsung positions and prices the Galaxy S8 and S8+ models on Wednesday.
It has to bear in mind that losses from Note 7 fiasco have to be covered up without making Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ super expensive.
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