Bloomberg: Galaxy S8 to feature ‘all-screen front’, virtual home button, single rear camera

The Galaxy S8 looks set to make quite a few big changes that may or may not go down well with consumers. We exclusively reported that Samsung will be ditching the home button with the Galaxy S8 in order to put in a larger screen with very little bezel, and Bloomberg is reporting on similar lines today that the Galaxy S8 will feature an “all-screen front” and a virtual home button. The report also reiterates that the Korean giant will only use a single rear camera because of higher manufacturing costs.

Rumors have said that the Galaxy S8’s displays will be sized at 5.7 inches and 6.2 inches, and a virtually bezel-less design would certainly allow Samsung to fit in such large displays without increasing the device’s dimensions by a large margin. Bloomberg also says that Samsung, instead of using its traditional button, is building a virtual home button “in the glass in the the lower section”. It’s not very clear what that means, but we’re guessing Samsung will be using a capacitive key for the home button or moving to on-screen navigation buttons (the latter is more plausible if an “all-screen front” is what Samsung is aiming for).

It is rather hard to believe all the rumors, but perhaps such major disruption is the only way Samsung would be able to make the Galaxy S8 stand out. As we had reported earlier this week, the Galaxy S8 will also come without a 3.5 mm headphone jack, similar to the iPhone 7, so if you thought the removal of the microSD card or the IR blaster was frustrating, you might want to brace yourself for the changes next year’s Galaxy S flagship could bring.