Samsung Galaxy S7 Images Leak New Details

The S7 Edge also displays AnTuTu benchmark results for the Chinese, Qualcomm-powered, version of the phone, which carries the SM-G9350 model number. The leaks come via nowhereelse.fr but originate from Chinese social network Weibo originally.

The images themselves detail what we already knew about these phones – they aren’t exactly groundbreaking in design. That’s fine though, as with Apple, Samsung can’t be expected to produce stunning new designs every year. In fact the company is quite likely to be looking for cost savings this time around, and keeping the designs similar might well help them achieve that.

Some work seems to have gone into reducing the S7′s camera bulge, which looks – in the image at least – like it’s smaller than the one on the S6 and S6 Edge. The bulge has never bothered me much on the S6, but any size reduction is no-doubt welcome with ever-fussy customers. Of course we’d all rather see a larger battery – which the S7 and S7 Edge do promise, if rumours are to be believed.

Only the rear of the S7 is shown, and it’s the black model which makes picking out detail somewhat hard. The design looks incredibly similar to what we’ve already got with the S6, but perhaps worse the image makes it looks somewhat cheap. Of course these aren’t exactly professional photos, and so discerning the fine detail is somewhat hard.

What is clear though is that the S7 Edge pictured has achieved some truly staggering speeds. The benchmark seems to suggest that the phone will be the fastest AnTuTu has tested, beating the absolutely stunning performance of the iPhone 6S Plus. The on-screen information, and the link to the AnTuTu results page – if genuine – are impressive. This does, however, appear to be the Snapdragon variant which will be sold in some regions only. Even so, Samsung’s Exynos processors are usually capable of the same results as the Qualcomm-designed SoC, so there is little to worry about if you end up with a handset powered by one of those processors.

As the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge launch at Mobile World Congress gets closer it’s clear that there won’t be much of a surprise as the handset is unveiled. That depends of course on the part which VR plays in the whole affair. There’s a good chance that Samsung will make an announcement about it’s Gear VR range at the time the phone launches, which could be significant.

Gear VR has done – I’m told – quite well for Samsung. It’s interesting to see Google and Apple both increasing VR efforts, which does suggest there’s a public apetite for virtual reality. Anecdotally I can tell you that everyone I have demoed VR to has been blown away by it. And 2016 is supposed to be the “year of VR” from what the mass-market product launches are telling us.

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