With Apple's 'iPhone 8' rumored to ditch home button, 'Galaxy S8' leak suggests Samsung fo...

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in iPhone
As rumors continue to suggest Apple will ditch the home button on this year's flagship "iPhone 8" redesign, a newly leaked image claims to show Samsung's next-generation "Galaxy S8" handset also deleting its own home button.




The picture suggests that the bottom bezel under the display will simply feature the Samsung logo, and will not have a physical home button like is found on the existing S7 series. The alleged "S8" was shown in a photo posted to Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, and first highlighted by Slashleaks.

Ditching the home button on an Android phone is easier than on an iPhone for a variety of reasons, including the fact that Android has default support for a virtual onscreen home button. Apple, meanwhile, has made its circular home button a central part of interacting with iOS devices by embedding the Touch ID fingerprint sensor beneath it since the iPhone 5s.

While numerous Android phones have eschewed physical buttons on the face and used the operating system's virtual button, Samsung's Galaxy series is the most popular Android handset on the market. Every model to date has featured an elongated, oval-shaped home button beneath the display.

Apple, meanwhile, is heavily rumored to ax the iconic physical home button from a high-end "iPhone 8" later this year. It has been suggested that the company could embed Touch ID within the iPhone's display, and use its proprietary "Taptic" feedback technology to simulate the feeling of pressing a home button without actually having a physical button present.

In fact, Apple may already have set the stage for this switch with its current iPhone 7, featuring a solid-state haptic home button that does not actually click. Instead, the button simulates the feeling of a click with Apple's Taptic Engine -- the same technology used to also emulate clicks on the MacBook's Force Touch trackpad.

In all, it's rumored that Apple will release three new iPhone models in late 2017 --?a single premium 10th anniversary redesign with 5.2-inch OLED display, known colloquially as an "iPhone 8," and successors to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, in screen sizes of 4.7 and 5.5 inches, dubbed an "iPhone 7s" series.




With the iPhone 7 still fresh to market, it's not expected that Apple will introduce any new iPhone hardware until later this year, likely in the usual September timeframe.

Samsung, meanwhile, is believed to be gearing up to take the wraps off of its "Galaxy S8" lineup at the annual Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona. It runs from Feb. 27 to March 2, which would put a potential "S8" unveiling less than two months away.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 27
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,035member
    Wow, this is not surprising -- Samsung copying Apple on a cell phone innovation. The predictable timeline: Samsung makes billions from it, Apple sues, Apple wins, the lawsuit gets appealed and the award decreased, Apple walks away with pennies, Samsung laughs.
    caliStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 27
    ceek74ceek74 Posts: 324member
    Geez, I wish Samsung would start copying Apple's stuff.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 27
    linkman said:
    Wow, this is not surprising -- Samsung copying Apple on a cell phone innovation. The predictable timeline: Samsung makes billions from it, Apple sues, Apple wins, the lawsuit gets appealed and the award decreased, Apple walks away with pennies, Samsung laughs.
    What are you suggesting Samsung is copying from Apple?  Apple hasn't announced or released anything yet.  If anything, Samsung is copying rumors about a design some tech bloggers dreamed up and hope Apple will create.

    AI throws juicy scraps out there and you guys eat it up like rabid dogs.
    edited January 2017
  • Reply 4 of 27
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 752member
    Samsung Mobile executives must have an Apple news feed on at all times...it's almost as if their design decisions revolve around the iPhone rumor mill.

    Also I'm certain that NONE of their decisions are based around iPhone component orders *wink wink*
    edited January 2017 calitshapiMacPropatchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 27
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Perhaps these home buttons were the cause of Samsung phones overheating and combusting.

    But seriously, all phone makers should focus on safety before UI, curved screens and slimmer form factors. 

    king editor the gratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 27
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    linkman said:
    Wow, this is not surprising -- Samsung copying Apple on a cell phone innovation. The predictable timeline: Samsung makes billions from it, Apple sues, Apple wins, the lawsuit gets appealed and the award decreased, Apple walks away with pennies, Samsung laughs.
    What are you suggesting Samsung is copying from Apple?  Apple hasn't announced or released anything yet.  If anything, Samsung is copying rumors about a design some tech bloggers dreamed up and hope Apple will create.

    AI throws juicy scraps out there and you guys eat it up like rabid dogs.
    These companies do copy rumors and it's pathetic.

    they rush a rumor to market and stumble all over themselves. Apple brings a polished product THAT WORKS, idiot fandroids claim "Apple copied the knockoff!!"

    hostory repeats. 
    MetriacanthosaurusStrangeDayslamboaudi4pscooter63redgeminipawatto_cobraapplepieguy
  • Reply 7 of 27
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    linkman said:
    Wow, this is not surprising -- Samsung copying Apple on a cell phone innovation. The predictable timeline: Samsung makes billions from it, Apple sues, Apple wins, the lawsuit gets appealed and the award decreased, Apple walks away with pennies, Samsung laughs.
    Apple probably walked away with nothing in the end because they had to be spending millions and millions on this lawsuit and I think Samsung was purposely prolonging it to waste Apple's time and money so any money awarded to them wouldn't actually be much of anything after the lawsuit was paid for. 

    I wouldn't necessarily say they're copying each other with this, but instead maybe they both had the same idea unless Samsung is somehow getting insider information from Apple somewhere. If anything, it may help Apple because people can't bitch up a storm about the home button going away since others are doing the same thing. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 27
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    While I would agree that it's likely Samsung's change was prompted at least in part by Apple's likely moves, several other Android OEM's had already ditched physical keys to allow for larger displays without making the phones themselves larger. The AI article alludes to that, explaining that's the option is already baked into Android making the move easier. 
  • Reply 9 of 27
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    macxpress said:
    linkman said:
    Wow, this is not surprising -- Samsung copying Apple on a cell phone innovation. The predictable timeline: Samsung makes billions from it, Apple sues, Apple wins, the lawsuit gets appealed and the award decreased, Apple walks away with pennies, Samsung laughs.
    I wouldn't necessarily say they're copying each other with this, but instead maybe they both had the same idea unless Samsung is somehow getting insider information from Apple somewhere. If anything, it may help Apple because people can't bitch up a storm about the home button going away since others are doing the same thing. 
    The "idea" already was and is in use by several other Android OEM's and for (relatively) quite some time, since at least 2011. It's not new. Samsung is just mimicking what's already being done on other smartphones, one of the few companies who resisted dumping a physical home button. The "bigger is better" push is still going strong so home buttons gotta go.

    edited January 2017
  • Reply 10 of 27
    tshapitshapi Posts: 369member
    How can Apple sue Samsung for them removing the home button? Apple wouldn't have a patent on that.  Especially since Samsung has been teasing it for a couple months and Apple is just releasing rumors not actual product. 
    Samsung knows what the screen for the next iPhone will look like, but not the actual
    design. 
  • Reply 11 of 27
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,462member
    The idea of a phone's entire face being a display has been making its rounds since the original iPhone, the technology is the holdup. How to incorporate a proximity sensor, Touch ID, etc.
  • Reply 12 of 27
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    I'm sure Samsung will have a dual lens camera with optical zoom as well. Following the leader as usual for Samsung. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 27
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    I'm sure Samsung will have a dual lens camera with optical zoom as well. Following the leader as usual for Samsung. 
    Maybe they should be copying Apple's battery technology...at least Apple's don't explode. 
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 27
    cali said:
    linkman said:
    Wow, this is not surprising -- Samsung copying Apple on a cell phone innovation. The predictable timeline: Samsung makes billions from it, Apple sues, Apple wins, the lawsuit gets appealed and the award decreased, Apple walks away with pennies, Samsung laughs.
    What are you suggesting Samsung is copying from Apple?  Apple hasn't announced or released anything yet.  If anything, Samsung is copying rumors about a design some tech bloggers dreamed up and hope Apple will create.

    AI throws juicy scraps out there and you guys eat it up like rabid dogs.
    These companies do copy rumors and it's pathetic.

    they rush a rumor to market and stumble all over themselves. Apple brings a polished product THAT WORKS, idiot fandroids claim "Apple copied the knockoff!!"

    hostory repeats. 
    My favorite example of this was the run up to iPhone 6 where the always-wrong rumor mill was shouting 'CURVED SCREENS' and Samsung rushed out an idiotic product with a curved screen, and then it turned out Apple was simply curving the glass at the edge of the iPhone, and now Samsung is left trying to convince people that they want curved screens, as if anyone ever wanted that.
    [Deleted User]patchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 27
    tshapitshapi Posts: 369member
    My favorite example of this was the run up to iPhone 6 where the always-wrong rumor mill was shouting 'CURVED SCREENS' and Samsung rushed out an idiotic product with a curved screen, and then it turned out Apple was simply curving the glass at the edge of the iPhone, and now Samsung is left trying to convince people that they want curved screens, as if anyone ever wanted that.
    Funny your bashing curved screens months before Apple allegedly  releases a version of there own.  

    Samsung doesn't go jusy by the "rumor mills" they also go by what parts Apple may or may not order from them. 

    So, perhaps Apple has had this oled in the works since 2015, and it's just now finally coming together. 

    One thing is for sure. Unlike Samsung, Apple won't rush an unfinished product to market until it meets apples standards. 
  • Reply 16 of 27
    linkman said:
    Wow, this is not surprising -- Samsung copying Apple on a cell phone innovation. The predictable timeline: Samsung makes billions from it, Apple sues, Apple wins, the lawsuit gets appealed and the award decreased, Apple walks away with pennies, Samsung laughs.
    Samsung already innovated by getting rid of the side bezels. Now they are taking the obvious step by reducing the bottom bezel by following the likes of Motorola and removing the home button. I'm not sure how you think any of this has something to do with Apple, they are well known for having the worst screen to body ratios in the industry
  • Reply 17 of 27
    I'm sure Samsung will have a dual lens camera with optical zoom as well. Following the leader as usual for Samsung. 
    Following the Hauwei P9 that was the first with a dual lens camera you mean. The 2X optical zoom on the iPhone is hardly something to be proud of.
  • Reply 18 of 27
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    It was right move that Apple decided to have their own processor designed/built. Same for touch sensor. If Apple somehow get screen/display part under it's wing than Samsung wouldn't know what Apple will be planning for it's next iPhone. Relying on Samsung is giving away future plan now. Samsung divisions pass Apple's design things to each other even though non-disclosure confidential contract is in place.
    edited January 2017 watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 27
    thedbathedba Posts: 762member
    cali said:
    linkman said:
    Wow, this is not surprising -- Samsung copying Apple on a cell phone innovation. The predictable timeline: Samsung makes billions from it, Apple sues, Apple wins, the lawsuit gets appealed and the award decreased, Apple walks away with pennies, Samsung laughs.
    What are you suggesting Samsung is copying from Apple?  Apple hasn't announced or released anything yet.  If anything, Samsung is copying rumors about a design some tech bloggers dreamed up and hope Apple will create.

    AI throws juicy scraps out there and you guys eat it up like rabid dogs.
    These companies do copy rumors and it's pathetic.

    they rush a rumor to market and stumble all over themselves. Apple brings a polished product THAT WORKS, idiot fandroids claim "Apple copied the knockoff!!"

    hostory repeats. 
    My favorite example of this was the run up to iPhone 6 where the always-wrong rumor mill was shouting 'CURVED SCREENS' and Samsung rushed out an idiotic product with a curved screen, and then it turned out Apple was simply curving the glass at the edge of the iPhone, and now Samsung is left trying to convince people that they want curved screens, as if anyone ever wanted that.
    The funny thing with that story is that Samsung originally wanted to put some contextual menus around those curves and to my knowledge that idea never succeeded. 
    Now all those people who bought those phones have nothing else other than a distorted image around the edges. 
    Crappy and poorly thought out design IMO but for whatever reason they sold in significant numbers. They were more popular than their flat faced counterparts from the same company. 

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 27
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    I'm sure Samsung will have a dual lens camera with optical zoom as well. Following the leader as usual for Samsung. 
    Following the Hauwei P9 that was the first with a dual lens camera you mean. The 2X optical zoom on the iPhone is hardly something to be proud of.
    Both LG and HTC put dual-lens cameras on smartphones years before Huawei. Shortly after the budget-brand Honor did so too. 
    edited January 2017
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