14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung announced the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ last week, wrapping up the first quarter of this year with a new product that’s already available for pre-order. The Galaxy S8 marks a major design change in the Galaxy S series, but it seems that Samsung was planning an even bigger surprise on the new phone.
Pictures of several Galaxy S8+ prototypes leaked recently, revealing an interesting detail on the back panel. One of the images clearly shows the SM-G955F code number on the back of the phone, thus hinting towards the Galaxy S8 model.
The back panel corresponds to the Midnight Black color variant, and shows a dual-camera setup on the rear. The camera setup is positioned vertically, with a heart rate monitor and LED flash below the sensors.
12MP single-lens sensor on the Galaxy S8
Presumably, the dual-camera setup would have had sensors of 12MP, similar to the ones that Samsung ended up using in the final version. Smartphone makers are known to test multiple variants of their upcoming models, and Samsung may have tested a dual-camera setup on the Galaxy S8+, but decided in favor of a single-lens Sony IMX333 or S5K2L1 Isocell sensor from Samsung’s System LSI.
It’s unclear if the dual-camera setup was intended only for the Galaxy S8+ or if both models would have been equipped with two sensors. It would have surely made a difference for customers, since the main advantage of the S8+ is the larger display and a bigger battery to compensate for more power consumption.
Samsung didn’t bring major changes to the rear camera on the Galaxy S8, the 12MP sensor comes with the capacity to record 4k videos, while also featuring dual pixel phase-detection autofocus. The selfie camera now has 8MP, with autofocus and QHD video recording. The iris scanner is a new addition, but a recent report shows that it can be bypassed by using a picture.
