Unpacking Samsung's UNPACKED Event: The Unveiling Of The New Galaxy S8

After a painful 2016, when SAMSUNG ELECTRONIC KRW5000 SSNLF had to lick its wounds inflicted by the fire hazard that forced the recall of its Galaxy 7 note, the company is on a recovery path. The South Korean electronics giant is all set to launch the next line of its flagship Galaxy smartphone. Can Samsung rise like the phoenix from the ashes?

D-day Looms

The company is expected to launch the Galaxy S8 smartphone in New York on Wednesday, having sent out a teaser in February, mentioning the launch date.

A video also accompanied the teaser.

Rumor Mills Work Overtime

Analysts, experts and news outlets are working overtime guessing the likely specifications of the newest smartphone from Samsung's stable. Among the speculated features and hardware specifications are:

• Rounded corners.
• Slim bezels.
• A feature that will give Galaxy S8 desktop PC-like functionality when plugged into an optional HDMI dock.
• A button to activate Samsung's personal assistant, reportedly names Bixby.
• Display: 5.8-inch or 6.2-inch QHD AMOLED display.
• Cameras: 12-megapixel f/1.7 rear camera, 8-megapixel f/1.7 front.
• Processor: Snapdragon 835 or Samsung Exynos (varies by market).
• Storage: 64GB with microSD expansion.
• Memory: 4GB.
• Battery: 3000mAh (5.8-inch model) or 3500mAh (6.2-inch model).
• Other: Headphone jack, USB Type-C, water resistance.

Spotlight On Battery

Given that Samsung had burnt its fingers due to the battery issue with its Note 7 and has subsequently seen customer trust erode, it is likely to exercise utmost caution with respect to the batteries for the Galaxy S8 phones. Therefore, it is widely believed that the S8 will have the most robust and durable batteries among all smartphones.

The Note 7 Fiasco

The Galaxy Note 7 was launched at an unpacked event on Aug. 2, 2016, as Samsung hurried through its design to get the first entrant advantage over Apple Inc. AAPL's iPhone 7 Plus. Since August, incidences of Note 7 explosions began to crop up. It was not until September Samsung acknowledged the issue and began recalling and replacing the product.

Once the replaced phones were also found to be vulnerable to fire hazard, the company made the hard decision to halt production and sales. In October, the company had estimated the profit impact from the recall to be $5.3 billion.

Samsung, which ceded share to rival Apple in the smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2016, might be looking to make good its losses, in terms of sales, market share, trust, brand loyalty, etc. The onus of coming out of the rut rests heavily on the S8 smartphone. Will it live up to the hype- up expectations?

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