Samsung Galaxy S8 rumour roundup: Face recognition, 1000 fps camera and more

Expectations around the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are reaching stratospheric levels ahead of Samsung's March 29 Unpacked event.

Samsung needs the upcoming Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones to be embraced warmly by customers after its reputation took a big dent due to the Galaxy Note 7 debacle and the recent arrest of their CEO on bribery and embezzlement charges.

Super slow motion 1000fps video recording

A strong rumour doing the rounds is the fact that the Galaxy S8's rear camera will come with the ability to shoot super slow motion video.

A few weeks ago, Sony introduced an entirely new camera system called 'Motion Eye'. The company has embedded fast memory right into the camera stack which allows the camera to capture super slow motion video. The technology will be seen in the upcoming Xperia XZs and XZ Premium smartphones.

"The smartphone will use a combination of the fingerprint scanner, Iris scanner as well as facial detection for user verification in services like Samsung Pay"

While Sony's 'MotionEye' camera can record video at 960fps, the Galaxy S8's 12MP rear camera is expected to up the ante with support for 1000fps video recording.

The iPhone 7 in comparison can record slow motion video at 120fps (1080p) or 240 fps (720p) making Samsung's slow motion technology up to 8 times faster than the iPhone's.

A report on Naver claims that just like Sony, Samsung has also added DRAM as a storage device between the pixel element of the image sensor and the circuit part. This allows the camera to not only shoot super slow motion video but also transmit and store images at a much faster rate than usual.

Samsung galaxy S8 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 vs Samsung galaxy S8 Plus

Exynos 8895 benchmarks leaked

The Galaxy S8  is set to be powered by Qualcomm's latest flagship processor - the Snapdragon 835 in the U.S and some European regions and the 3GHz Exynos 8895 processor in other regions including India.

While most rumours recently have been about the Snapdragon 835 version of the Galaxy S8, benchmark results of the Exynos 8895 variant of the Galaxy S8 have now leaked courtesy of a Geekbench listing from a handset identified as SM-G955F.

The numbers are pretty impressive, with a 1978 single-core score and a 6375 multi-core score. This compares favourably to the leaked benchmarks of the Snapdragon 835 version of the Galaxy S8 which got a 1929 single core and 6084 multi core score.

The 10nm Exynos 8895 not only outscores the Snapdragon 835 but also pulls ahead of the Huawei Kirin 960, which got a 1898 single core 6084 multi core score in Geekbench.

The Exynos 8895 is rumoured to feature an octa-core CPU with four high-performance custom Samsung cores and four Cortex-A53 cores for less intensive tasks.

6GB RAM variant to be China exclusive

Rumours pointing to a 6GB RAM + 128GB internal storage variant of the Samsung Galaxy S8 have been doing the rounds of the internet for quite some time now and a now a new rumor claims that the 6GB model will only be available in China.

The leak comes from a Weibo post by user Kevin Wong, who is the research director of IHS for China.

Bezel less design

The upcoming Galaxy S8 will sport a radical near bezel-less design with dual curved edges. Samsung is also ditching its iconic home button in the upcoming smartphone.

Facial recognition technology

Earlier, a report on The Investor had claimed that due to limitations with the Iris scanning technology, the company has also added facial recognition to the smartphone to aid in faster and more accurate biometric authentication.

Now, a new reports claims that the facial recognition technology will be used for mobile payments as well. The leak claims that the smartphone will use a combination of the fingerprint scanner, Iris scanner as well as facial detection for user verification in services like Samsung Pay.

The Galaxy S8 will sport a radical near bezel-less design with dual curved edges.

According to the report, the company is "already working with banks to help them embrace facial recognition systems in coming months."

This facial recognition technology will work in tandem with the 3.7MP Iris camera sensor which will be placed right next to the S8's front facing camera.

Galaxy S8 specifications

The Galaxy S8 is set to come with a 5.8' Quad HD Super AMOLED display along with IP68 dust and water resistance, Samsung Knox, Samsung Pay, Wireless Charging, 4G LTE support and earphones tuned by AKG.

Additionally, the device is rumoured to be powered by Qualcomm's latest flagship processor - the Snapdragon 835 in the U.S and some European regions and the 3GHz Exynos 8895 processor in other regions including India alongside 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage expandable via a microSD card.

On the imaging front, the S8 is said to come with a 12MP 'Dual Pixel' camera at the rear alongside an 8MP front facing camera.

The Galaxy S8+ is set to come with the exact same specifications as the S8 but with a much bigger 6.2 screen.