The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are arguably two of the best handsets of this year so far, selling in droves, and the company has just unveiled the Samsung Note 8: an absolute beast of a smartphone. While Apple is expected to bring some major changes to its upcoming iPhone 8 with rumors suggesting an edge-to-edge display is coming to the iPhone for the first time.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Galaxy Note 8 comes with a 6.3-inch, Quad-HD+ Super AMOLED screen Infinity Display. Powered by the same Samsung Exynos 8895 processor as the Galaxy S8, coupled with 6 of RAM and 64 gig of built-in storage. As reported, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is the first Samsung smartphone to come with a dual-camera set-up. Packs a 12MP wide-angle and 12MP telephoto lens.
Both of these comes with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) to reduce blur when capturing video and photographs in low light and an 8MP Smart Auto camera for superb selfies and video chats. Supports Fast charging and wireless charging. Under the hood is a 3300mAh battery and runs Android Nougat. The Galaxy Note 8 price in the U.S. costs around $929. The release date is set for Sept. 15.
Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus
The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus sports a 6.2-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED display. Similar to the basic model, the Galaxy S8 Plus also offers a 12-megapixel "Dual Pixel" rear camera with optical image stabilization and 8-megapixel front camera with autofocus. The Galaxy S8+ is powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 835 SoC in the U.S., and Exynos 8895 SoC for international. Both come with 4GB of RAM and with 64GB of inbuilt storage. Moreover, the devices support expandable storage via microSD card up to 256GB. The price is around $750-$850 depending on the variant.
Apple iPhone 8
The iPhone 8 is widely rumored to be adopting a similar approach to its screen, with an edge-to-edge, all glass design with tiny bezels. Apple is said to include a new facial recognition scanner with 3D sensors. As far as the specs go, Apple will use A11 chipset and confirmed recently that a 512GB native storage version, followed by the 256GB and 64GB will be offered with 2 Gigs of RAM. As for the camera, KGI Securities suggest that Apple will carry over the dual-lens camera. The iPhone 8 will debut on Sept. 12 or 13, while the release date is more likely to arrive on Sept. 22 or 23 and is said to cost close to (or even beyond) $1000 for the top-end model.
The Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus is one of the most impressive and powerful handsets plus it won't make such a huge dent in the wallet. Though, the Apple iPhone 8's camera clearly has the upper hand over Galaxy S8 and Note 8 when it comes to 3D capabilities that can enable augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) features in apps while also offering better security. Just make sure to handle it well, as no one wants to drop a $1,000 phone made mostly from glass. On the flip side, the Note 8 carries on the phablet series' premium experience and might prove to be one that caters to some unique market niche. And the addition of the ever-slightly improved S Pen makes the Galaxy Note 8 the most productive of the three. Albeit, subjectively.