Leaked Samsung Galaxy S8 Image Suggests the Home Button Will Be Left Behind

A new leaked image has lent more credence to the rumors that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 series will do away with a physical home button in favor of on-screen virtual controls.

The photo, which surfaced on Twitter and other sources, has yet to be verified as legitimate. It features a tall, slim, and near bezel-less smartphone in a glossy black frame with a dedicated strip at the bottom screen for navigation buttons. The back button, for example, is located on the bottom-right corner of the screen.

As it states in the upper-left corner of the screen, the phone appears to be displaying a version of the Apps Edge panel, which is currently used in the Samsung Edge device line. The three dots in the bottom-left corner suggest that you can swipe right to navigate to other screens.

The leaked image also indicates that, along with an 8-megapixel selfie-cam, the S8 will also sport a series of sensors on the top bezel, one of which will likely serve as an iris scanner. A fingerprint scanner will be mounted on the back panel of the S8, right next to the 12-megapixel rear camera lens. Other reported features include curved, edge-to-edge displays, a USB-C charging port, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processors, as well as Bixby, Samsung’s version of Apple’s Siri. Force touch, which has been prominently featured in iPhones since 2015, is also finally debuting on Galaxy series.

Samsung is said to be unveiling the S8 and larger S8 Plus on March 29, as successors to its ill-fated S7 flagship line, at an event in New York City. Venture Beat reports that they will go on sale on April 21.