Samsung Galaxy S8 Rumored To Gain Stereo Speakers And Ditch 3.5mm Headphone Jack

A new report confidently claims that the upcoming Galaxy S8 will become the latest flagship to get rid of its headphone jack (and of course, the now antiquated microUSB port that graces the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge) in favor of a solitary USB-C port. Samsung first introduced its customer base to USB-C with the Galaxy Note 7, but we all know what happened with that fiery launch.

All of the same downsides that apply to the Moto Z lineup and iPhone 7/iPhone 7 Plus will apply to the Galaxy S8. That means you won’t be able to listen to your headphones and charge at the same time (unless you take advantage of wireless charging or Bluetooth headphones) and you’ll need a USB-C adapter in order to plug in your “legacy” 3.5mm headphones. Removing the headphone jack frees up a little additional room to either add in a larger battery or make the device thinner — we’d hope that Samsung would go with greater battery capacity.

While it doesn’t make up for the loss of the headphone jack, Samsung will reportedly add stereo speakers (with Harman branding) to the Galaxy S8, putting it on equal footing with the iPhone 7 family.

An additional report suggests that the Galaxy S8 will retain its 2560x1440 display resolution, but will have plenty of enhancements to further increase its class-leading image quality. “The Super AMOLED panel will be made out of a new material, it’s going to be all about quality over quantity with the next flagship,” writes SamMobile. “The new Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy S8 is going to have the standard RGB arrangement, it will consume less power and will have a longer service life.”

Other rumors on tap for the Galaxy S8 indicate that the smartphone will retain 6GB of RAM, but will include a 256GB memory option for those crave internal storage. It’s also said that the flagship will gain dual rear cameras and could possibly ditch its home button.