Apple’s iPhone 8 launch is now just 12 days away, and no surprise that its fanboys are going crazy for it. That’s a tradition in Apple’s cult to go gaga for company’s latest products, and since this year’s iPhone is going to be bigger than anything else launched by the company till date, the euphoria is on an entirely different level.

This is 10^th anniversary of iPhone, and Apple wants to make it special in every possible way. Some of company’s grand plans include launching not one or two but 3 new iPhone models this year, two of which will be “S” upgrades to last year’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus while the 3^rd one will be a significant departure from every iPhone launched till date.

That 3^rd iPhone, popularly being known as iPhone 8, is the device which has been stealing the most amount of press attention for quite some time now. Its biggest highlight is going to be its entirely bezel-less display, which will make it one of the most gorgeous smartphones ever launched by any company.

Therefore, no surprise that we’ve heard a number of rumors about this phone’s display. Now since launch of the device is near, we’d like to take a look on all those iPhone 8 display rumors once again. Let’s begin:

#1. Edge-to-Edge

The very first rumor about iPhone 8 – which has also become the most popular rumor associated with it – is that the device will come with an edge-to-edge display and the entire front of it will be made of display alone. It’s likely to have a very high screen to body ratio, and in that regard it may give Samsung Galaxy S8 a run for its money.

#2. OLED With New Material

The display technology and material used to make it are also the subjects of speculation. By now it has become nearly evident that company is going to install an OLED display in the device, which will not only help in making the device thinner but also more efficient and brighter at the same time. The material that’ll be used to make the display panel is also likely to change – it’s rumored that instead of glass this time Apple will use Flexible plastic panel for the display, which will make the device more durable than ever.

#3. Larger With Higher Resolution

Finally, it’s rumored that Apple iPhone 8 will have a 5.7-inches large display with 2,800 x 1,242 px resolution. And thanks to its bezel-less design, this screen size will be achieved without increasing the physical size of iPhone itself. It’s expected that physically the device will be as large as iPhone 7, but it’ll accommodate a much bigger display.

However, this change in the design of display will also bring some user interface changes with it. The usable area of display will be only 5.15-inches out of this 5.7 – the remaining part will consist of virtual buttons and other controls that’ll replace the Home button. The buttons of this area are likely to change as per the requirement of various apps, much like the Touch Bar included in latest Macbooks.

Besides that some other changes are also expected, like a display embedded fingerprint sensor, but there’re clouds of doubt over that feature as company has not yet been able to finalize its implementation. But based on these rumors we can say that even without that sensor iPhone 8 display is going to be huge – and for that reason iPhone 8 itself is going to be huge!

With 8GB of RAM and possibility of modular design, Samsung Galaxy S9 now seems to be something from another world!

It seems like smartphones are going to continue embarrassing PCs for the entire foreseeable future now. After stealing the user base and use cases of PCs now they’ve started leaving computers behind in the terms of RAM capacity as we saw launches of multiple smartphones with 6GB RAMs this year.

However, based on what we’ve learned it seems that even 6GB is about to be challenged very soon, and that too by none other than the industry leader Samsung.

That’s right – some of our highly trusted sources have told us on the condition of anonymity that Samsung is planning to launch Galaxy S9 with 8GB RAM next year. The device, which will be first 2018 flagship from Samsung, is likely to come with this powerful RAM capacity as Sammy doesn’t want to leave any stones unturned to make it special.

It’s also worth pointing out that Samsung has been consistently increasing the RAM capacity in the recent days after keeping it unchanged for quite some time. Samsung Galaxy Note 5, S7, Note 7 and S8 all came with 4GB of RAM. That’s a long time period of 1 and a half year with no change to the RAM capacity.

So recently we saw Samsung going to the next level with launch of Galaxy Note 8, as the device was launched with 6GB of RAM. Similarly, it had also launched a 6GB RAM version of its Galaxy S8+ smartphone after its launch due to consumer demand. Needless to say that if company has to stay relevant, besides Infinity displays RAMs are another area where it needs to do the hard work. Therefore, it doesn’t come as a surprise that company is considering 8GB RAM for Galaxy S9.

Samsung Galaxy S9 is also rumored to be a modular smartphone, and probably the first device to launch with Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 845 processor. We’ll keep you updated as more details emerge about it.

 

So China’s Apple seems to be in the mood of going toe to toe with America’s Apple. If Chinese rumors are true, Xiaomi seems all set to launch its Mi Mix 2 smartphone alongside Apple’s iPhone 8 on September 12. And just like its predecessor, Mix 2 is also likely to be China-exclusive.

While that sort of clash with Apple may undermine company’s media outreach to a certain extent, that’s unlikely to have any major impact on its PR efforts as the company is launching a device for local market and not for the global market. Besides that, the company is also well-positioned and respected in its home country, so Apple’s iPhone 8 launch may not necessarily leave a major impact on its publicity, especially if company plays its cards right.

Mi Mix 2 is likely to take the war on bezels to an entirely new level by coming with highest screen-to-body ratio of any device launched till date. Last year when its predecessor was launched it had already left everyone stunned by its narrowest bezels. Now this year it’s successor of that stunningly gorgeous device, so hopes are already quite high for it.

Besides that, well known product designer Phillipe Starck (who is responsible for designing both Mi Mix and Mi Mix 2) had also teased our curiosity by posting a video of device on his Facebook page with the tagline “Even Less”, thus hinting towards even narrower bezels. Therefore, no surprise that now when the launch date is so near we’re eagerly waiting for it.

Five days ago some images of the device had also leaked showing its all-glass back. The image also showed two cutouts on the back of device, thus sparking the debate of a dual-camera in Mi Mix 2, but there’s also possibility that the other cutout may be there for the fingerprint sensor. Mi Mix 2 is also expected to come with facial recognition, USB Type-C port and the headphone jack is also not going anywhere, based on the images leaked so far.

So what we should do is wait and watch… hopefully company will also tease us with more details about the device as its launch comes closer, so we can get a better idea of what they’ve been up to.

Okay, so you loved Samsung Galaxy Note 8 for its dual-camera but not for its big size. You want the same camera, from same company but in a device slightly smaller than that. Well, you may be in luck. However, you will have to wait for it until February next year.

That’s right – if usually accurate Samsung analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is right once again then Galaxy S9 may come with a dual-camera configuration same as that of Galaxy Note 8. The claim also seems pretty reasonable, as now there’s no meaningful benefit in going back to the single-lens cameras.

Samsung has already been pretty late in providing this feature, so now when it has provided, it just can’t make the mistake of maintaining the single-lens standard in GS9. Plus, Apple iPhone 8 is also going to launch with a dual-camera setup, so single-lens doesn’t make sense from the perspective of competition as well.

However, despite being late in launching a smartphone with dual-lens camera the thing that separates Samsung from the rest of the market is its implementation. The camera made of a telephoto lens and a wide angle lens not only comes with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) in both lenses but also with a number of other interesting camera features (i.e. dual capture, portrait mode etc.) as well.

These features collectively make it one of the best dual-camera smartphones ever introduced in the market. If Galaxy S9 also comes with same camera, it can turn out to be the device that you want (smaller form factor with powerful camera).

However, Ming-Chi Kuo doesn’t provide any other details about the device as of now. So while it’s almost confirmed that Galaxy S9 will come with a dual-camera, we can’t be sure that it’ll be the same camera that’s installed in Galaxy Note 8. After all, with its ISOCELL camera manufacturing unit now Samsung is capable of formulating almost any possible camera configuration for its flagship smartphones. As a result we may also see a camera that’s a step ahead of Note 8’s camera setup in Galaxy S9.

So now when dual-camera for Galaxy S9 is already confirmed, perhaps we should focus on another aspect of it: Will it be aligned horizontally or vertically? Hopefully in next few months we’ll get the answer to this question as well.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6 are two of the best smartphones launched this year. As of now they’re more powerful than any other thing offered till date in the smartphone market, and as a result their clash in the market was obvious.

While Samsung piped LG in terms of specs sheet, it turns out that thanks to some of its own problems (i.e. location of fingerprint sensor, fragile design) and lack of major differences in many departments it hasn’t been able to win over LG G6 as decisively as it could.

In such a scenario it becomes even more difficult to choose a device – both are great, none of them is clear winner over the other and both are expensive. Which one should you choose? We’ll try to help you decide through our comparison given below:

Galaxy S8 vs LG G6 : Specs

As far as specs sheet of both devices is concerned, Samsung has the upper hand in some major areas. But that doesn’t matter much – because LG also has its own advantages in equally important areas. The specs sheets of both G6 and Galaxy S8 look something like this when put against each other:

Device	Samsung Galaxy S8	LG G6
Processor	2.3 GHz Octa-core Snapdragon 835	2.3 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 821
RAM	4GB	4GB
Display	5.8-inch AMOLED with 2k resolution (1,440 x 2,960 px)	5.7-inch IPS LCD with 2k resolution (1,440 x 2,560 px)
Primary Camera	12mp	13mp dual-lens
Secondary Camera	8MP	5MP
Internal Storage	64GB	64GB
External Storage	256GB	2TB
Android version	Android 7.0 Nougat	Android 7.0 Nougat

As you can see, Samsung Galaxy S8 is better than LG G6 in processor and display departments. However, LG looks better when we look at primary camera and external storage capabilities. While that makes Galaxy S8 look better than LG G6, the devil, as always, is in the details. Take a closer look on comparison of each of these things given below and you’ll come to know.

Galaxy S8 vs LG G6 : Display and Design

The first thing that you should know about the design of these devices it that they’re radically different. While Galaxy S8 tries to look as shiny, cool and futuristic as possible with its Infinity display running around the edges, LG G6 keeps the affair relatively simple and more practical.

It’s more practical because it provides better grip on the device, and makes the device less prone to breaking down when it falls. Galaxy S8 may look cool in your hands, but it’s a fragile piece of tech that you should handle with utmost care even in your day to day usage.

Coming to the display, both devices are packed with HDR ready displays and both companies have tried to install their best possible displays in these devices. However, the problem (for LG) is that Samsung makes the best smartphone displays in the world. When it decides to install its best AMOLED display in something, it can be incredibly difficult to win over that device.

LG G6 has got an incredible LCD display that’s super smooth on eyes and something worth looking at, but unfortunately, it doesn’t stick in front of AMOLED display loaded in Galaxy S8. Put both devices next to each other and you’ll come to know. The colors in Galaxy s8 appear more vibrant than the ones in G6.

Performance and Configuration

Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6 are interesting examples of what a difference just one month can bring in the world of technology. LG had launched G6 in February, while Samsung launched Galaxy S8 a month later. LG had to ship G6 with Snapdragon 821 because it had learned that SD 835 manufacturing had delayed and no devices will be able to get it before May. However, much to LG’s surprise, Samsung got its hands on SD 835 and shipped GS8 with it in March itself to spoil LG’s party.

But does that make a significant difference? Perhaps not. The benchmark scores of both devices seem to say so. While there’s a good enough difference in the benchmarks of both Galaxy S8 Plus and LG G6 with scores of 136,814 vs. 164,626, the difference is also not as large as that of sky and ground. Yes, SD 821 is a generation behind SD 835, but for most day-to-day use it really doesn’t matter at all.

However, gaming and heavy media streaming are areas where you may feel the power of Galaxy S8. Battery life is another area where the difference becomes clearly visible, as you’ll see in battery life section given below. Plus, you may also not like the idea of getting a smartphone with outdated specs at premium price.

Galaxy S8 vs LG G6 : Camera Quality

Just like two different approaches to design, LG G6 and Galaxy S8 take two very different approaches to camera as well. Different approaches mean different capabilities, and since camera acts as a major deciding factor for many smartphone buyers, understanding the different capabilities of both devices in detail is very important.

First of all let’s talk about Galaxy S8. It comes with a single lens 12mp camera with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), phase detection autofocus (PDAF), f/1.7 aperture and pixel size of f/1.4µm. These things and Samsung’s powerful Camera app developed with years of R&D collectively produce images extremely pleasing to the eyes.

You’ll find a lot of detail, vibrant colors and enough light in all images captured with this device – including those captured under poor lighting condition. Most of the time it captures images in a way that’s pleasing to the eye rather than the way that thing looks in real life.

LG G6, on the other hand, takes more lifelike pictures. It captures objects the way they’re, and with a dedicated wide angle lens it’s capable of taking images with very wide angle views without requiring any extra effort on your part. With G6 you can capture a wide angle view of anything while remaining in the exact same position from where you took the normal shot, and the image will come in such a way that no one will be able to tell that it was taken with a smartphone. Transitioning between normal and wide angle view is also a breeze, thanks to the dedicated lenses for both purposes.

So which one produces better images? To the average eye, Galaxy S8 provides more pleasing images. However, if you love wide angle views, LG G6 is also not a bad choice.

Operating System and UI

Two different devices, two different companies and therefore two completely different user interfaces. While both interfaces are lighter, faster and less bloated than they’ve ever been, that’s the only similarity between them.

The UI of LG G6 is what you’d expect in an LG phone, and that of Galaxy S8 is what you’d expect from Samsung. While former largely follows the line of stock android with some minor adjustments here  and there, Galaxy S8 does what it has always been known to do – customizing as much as possible and making things the Samsung way.

LG’s skin atop Android is close to the stock Android experience. Yes, some differences exist – like the frames around icons to make them more symmetric, but largely the overall experience remains close to what you get on stock Android. There’re also some choice additions by LG to make things look and work the way it wants them to work. It’s also the lightest ROM that LG has loaded into any of its devices till date.

Samsung Experience, on the other hand, is also lighter than any other variant of custom ROMs made by the company till date. It’s very refreshing with its white-blue looks and popping icons, but Samsung has once again tried to provide its own alternatives to all major Google apps. Fortunately, many of them now look and work better than the options offered by Google itself. This is especially true for Contacts, Dialer and Calendar apps.

Overall, LG G6 is a simple handset with (sort of) minimalist UI, while Galaxy S8 is completely packed with customization options. You can alter virtually every aspect of its UI without having to download any customization app from Play Store.

Conclusion: Which One Should You Get?

Well, that’s a tough question to answer. As you can see yourself, except for performance and display there’re not too many differences in both smartphones. And even in those two departments the differences aren’t as huge as they could have been. In such a case, which one is right for you depends a lot on your own personal preferences.

• LG G6 is right for those who like the appeal of stock android, love taking wide angle photos or those who want a phone more practical for day to day use than a cool piece of eye candy;
• On the other hand, Galaxy S8 is for all those smartphone buyers to whom every small difference in any department matters a lot and who are in love with the cool design approach that Samsung has followed to craft this piece of marvel. It’s also a phone for those who’re not that much into wide angle photography and just want pictures that look good to the eyes.

So there you’ve it – both are better than each other in certain ways, and with the info provided in our comparison given above now you can choose the one that suits your needs. So make your choice, go ahead with either of these flagship products and do let us know your thoughts about these devices in the comments section below.

As you may already know, the launch of this year’s iPhone(s) is approaching. Apple may send out press invites for an event any day within next few days. By now we also know plenty about the devices that will be released, thanks to Apple’s ever loyal rumor mill.

The word is that Cupertino based tech behemoth will release 3 iPhones this year breaking the tradition of two. One of those 3 iPhones will be a high-end flagship model, while 2 others will be company’s traditional “S”upgrades to last year’s iPhone 7. We already know what those two minor upgrades will be called – iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus. Plain and simple.

However, the name of high-end model isn’t an easy thing to guess. There’re more versions of its name doing the rounds of rumor mill than there’re colors in the rainbow.

So the question of the moment is – what will Apple call its new iPhone? Let’s examine the two most possible naming candidates.

Apple iPhone 8

This is the default name being used for the device as of now. After all, it’s the next number in sequence. So for now the world is calling it iPhone 8. This name has become so popular that Apple may want to consider it seriously, because the term can help company utilize the power of curiosity which has been building up till now.

Apple iPhone X (or iPhone 10)

However, another name which has also been doing the rounds of rumor mill is iPhone X, or may be iPhone 10. This name also matters because this is 10^th anniversary of iPhone. So in order to make it different and special the “8” and “9” may be skipped to jump to 10 directly.

Something similar was done by Microsoft as well, when company launched its Windows 10 after Win 8. However, the only reason why Apple would not want to do this is because iPhone X may not be read as “iPhone 10” but as iPhone Ex by many people, as it happened with company’s another product called Mac OS X.

So What to Expect From Apple in 2017 ? iPhone 8 or iPhone X

Besides these two names a number of other possible phrases are also doing the rounds of rumor mill, like iPhone Pro, iPhone Anniversary Edition and Apple Phone.

So the answer to this question is probably the hardest piece in entire iPhone 8 (let’s call it that for now) puzzle. It seems that we’ll get the answer only in September. But regardless of name, one thing is certain – this iPhone will be HUGE!

Samsung Galaxy Note 8’s launch may be around the corner, but we’ve just stumbled upon something that can make us forget that upcoming beast. GalaxyS9blog.com has just posted a video of Samsung Galaxy S9, which shows a stunning and powerful smartphone that may be released in 2018.

And while there have not been any major leaks about the device until now, the concept is based upon information that we already know and on some well-known assumptions about the device. Since GS9 is still too far, let’s see what imagination of this concept designer has created for now:

The device is already expected to come with Infinity display, which has now become the hallmarks of Samsung smartphones. However, the designer of this concept has taken things a bit too far by making the front entirely of display.

The iris scanner, speaker and front camera all have been hidden behind the display, which gives a gorgeous look to the device.

The concept also assumes that Samsung Galaxy S9 will come with in-display fingerprint sensor, so there’s no such thing included in it on the back of device. The charging port has also not been included as concept designer feels that wireless charging will be the new charging standard for devices in future.

Finally, the concept designer has imagined octa-core processor with 6GB and 8GB RAM choices to be packed inside the device. Display size has been kept at 5.7-inches, memory choices 64GB and 128GB, a 4,200 mAh battery, dual 16 mp cameras on back and 8 mp camera on front. Latest version of Android, wireless charging and a price tag of more than $900 are other imaginations.

We’ll know how many of these imaginations become a part of real Galaxy S9 in March 2018. Until then keep yourself happy with Galaxy Note 8, which is about to be launched on August 23 in NYC. 

The world of smartphones changes at a very rapid pace – the smartphones released last year look outdated today when compared with latest offerings available in the market. So how can we stay ahead of the curve? By knowing which major smartphone features are under development and about to be launched in 2018-19.

If we are aware of these technologies, we can delay our purchases at the time of new flagship smartphone launches to ensure that the money we spend is spent well and we get a device with features as latest as possible. So let’s take a look on 7 new smartphone features that are likely to shape the future of smartphone industry in 2018-2019:

Smartphones Future in 2018 & 2019

#1. VR and AR

While both virtual reality and augmented reality are still in their infancy and far from going mainstream, things may change with Apple iPhone 8 and upcoming Android smartphones that are betting big on both these technologies. Apple just released the Developer tools to help developer community come out with powerful VR and AR apps, and the company is also expected to include lasers and other VR/AR focused hardware in iPhone 8.

If company’s hardware-software experiment in these new technologies goes well, we may see more smartphones coming with such hardware and software in 2018, and both technologies getting matured enough in 2019.

#2. Bezel-less Displays

The current war on bezels is only going to be intensified in next two years. The speed with which smartphone makers are getting rid of bezels it seems that the day is not too far when we’ll be blessed with truly bezel-less smartphones.

And by the time it happens, the bezels of mid-range smartphones may also get narrower, making the narrow-bezel design mainstream and truly bezel-less design available in high-end flagships.

#3. Optical Fingerprint Sensors

Touch-screen embedded fingerprint sensors are awaited from quite some time now, but no one has been able to crack the tough nut. However, hopes are high for Apple’s iPhone 8 – despite all the problems in implementing this technology there’s still the possibility that Apple may somehow figure out how to implement this thing in its iPhone.

Samsung Galaxy S9 is another smartphone which can come with this great feature. After recent demonstration of Qualcomm’s new optical fingerprint sensors that can be embedded in displays the possibility of this technology becoming mainstream has increased significantly.

#4. Iris Scanners

Okay, this is no new technology that will be unveiled in 2018 or 2019, but it’s likely to become far more accurate and usable in next two years. Samsung might’ve become the first smartphone maker by including iris scanners in Galaxy S8, but its sensors were far from accurate.

Apple is also expected to include iris scanner in iPhone 8, so it’s expected that it can learn from Samsung’s mistakes and implement the sensors in a way that’s more accurate and reliable. In next two years the technology should be developed and matured enough to be applied in real life security applications.

#5. Bendable Smartphones

Coming to some technologies that’re more likely to be revealed in 2019, the bendable smartphones are a possibility. With development of bendable-screen technologies (i.e. Samsung’s YOUM flexible OLED), folding printed circuit boards (FPCBs) and flexible batteries it’s quite possible that we may get a foldable (or at least twistable/bendable) smartphone in 2019.

In fact, one such device has already been developed by Lenovo called Lenovo Folio, which is a smartphone-tablet hybrid that can be folded to convert it into a smartphone and unfolded to convert it into a tablet. Besides that some companies are also planning features that can be activated by twisting/folding these bendable smartphones in a certain way. For example, Apple’s iDevice Flex patents show a smartphone device that can be turned on or off by twisting it in certain ways.

Plus, your smartphone won’t break easily if it becomes flexible.

#6. Much Longer Battery Life

Many high-end smartphones still offer great battery life, but with development of hydrogen cells and lithium-ion microbatteries in 2018 and 2019 we may get smartphones that’ll be capable of offering “true all day battery life” – that means batteries which will last for entire day, no matter how much we use them.

The standby time of such batteries will be in several weeks. These facts are especially true for lithium-ion microbatteries, whose developers at University of Illinois claim that their batteries will be 2,000 times more powerful than current lithium ion batteries. Not only that – these batteries will also take much less time to charge. So by the end of 2019 you won’t be complaining about a dying smartphone battery unless you get trapped on an island with no electricity.

#7. 5G Support

While we’re still living in the 4G era, the work for 5G has already begun. Though the 5G standard is still to be defined properly, the companies have started focusing their R&D efforts in its direction, which means that all pending work will be completed at much faster pace from now.

Some of the biggest companies in mobile telephony are betting big on 5G, including Nokia, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Verizon. So we can safely expect the smartphone makers to also take this thing in consideration and launch some smartphones with 5G support in 2019.

So this was our list of 7 upcoming smartphones features that will shape the future of industry in 2018-2019. Do you also know about any such features? Share your thoughts in the comments and let us know.