Samsung Galaxy S8 Launch Might Not Be Late After All

If you’re desperate to get your hands on the Samsung Galaxy S8, we’ve got some good news.

Samsung is going to start testing its next flagship smartphone as soon as January, according to a new report. Speaking to The Investor, “multiple” unnamed sources within Samsung’s supply chain confirmed that the company is still settling on a launch date, but wants suppliers to be ready to cough up parts within the first four weeks of 2017.

“Key suppliers are required to provide an initial batch of their parts for the Galaxy S8 from January,” said one supplier. “Full volume supplies will start in February.”

Samsung typically launches its Galaxy S- series phones around the time of Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress tradeshow. In 2017, MWC will take place between February 27 and March 2, so we’d expect to see the phone launching on February 26.

But after the Galaxy Note 7 debacle, there’s been no shortage of rumours that suggest Samsung is hoping to bring the release date of the Galaxy S8 forward, in a bid to mitigate turnover woes caused by the recall. However, we’ve also seen rumours to the contrary too – including one suggestion of an April launch.

In any case, we know that the Galaxy S8 is definitely coming, because Samsung confirmed as much last month. In a press release about phone exchanges during the recall announcement in South Korea, Samsung revealed that there would be both a Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 arriving in 2017.

We’re still not entirely sure what the Galaxy S8 will look like, but rumours suggest we’ll see the home button disappear completely, instead replaced with a digital alternative. There’s also talk of an impressive 90% screen-to-body ratio, and a dedicated AI button that will summon Samsung’s mysterious ‘Bixby’ digital assistant.