First Live Photo of Samsung Galaxy S8 Confirms No Home Button Michael Kwan January 6, 2017 News There are plenty of rumors surrounding the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8, but most of them are exactly that: rumors. They’re mostly just hearsay on the Internet, filtered through an unnamed source from someone “close” to the project. But now, now we have photographic evidence that the physical home button is indeed being removed from the chin of the upcoming flagship. And it’s gorgeous. The photo here comes by way of Chinese networking site Weibo where a user has posted what looks to be a very early production model of the Galaxy S8 from Samsung. This has subsequently been shared by the eagle eyed folks at Slashgear, among others, further legitimizing earlier rumors that pointed toward the removal of the home button. Instead of a physical, pill-shaped home button, the Galaxy S8 will integrate that functionality into the display itself. A home button on the actual screen? Big deal, right? Plenty of phones have gotten rid of their physical and capacitive buttons already. What makes this much more exciting, though, is that the fingerprint reader will also be integrated into the screen. By getting rid of the home button (and the two capacitive buttons that would flank it), Samsung can make for a much smaller chin. Coupled with the barely-there side bezels (with a curved screen a la the Galaxy edge series) and the shrinking top portion, the Galaxy S8 is getting closer and closer to our ultimate dream of a phone that’s practically all screen. The version shown here is gold, but we can likely expect at least a couple of other colors for the S8 too. Earlier rumors have also pointed toward a pressure-sensitive screen like the iPhone’s 3D touch, S Pen support like the Galaxy Note series, and dual cameras on the back. If everything goes the way we expect, the Galaxy S8 should be formally revealed to the world around April. Share This With The World!
