Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones have been launched in India at an event in New Delhi. The latest flagship Samsung smartphones will be available in the country from May 5, while pre-bookings begin from Wednesday itself. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be available from select offline retailers, and, will also be available via Flipkart and the Samsung India E-Store.
The India variants of Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are powered by the Exynos 9985 chipset and feature dual-SIM functionality. The price in India of Galaxy S8 is Rs. 57,900 (MOP), while the Samsung Galaxy S8+ price in India is Rs. 64,900 (MOP). Samsung has brought the dual-SIM variants of the smartphones to India. The latter will be available in Midnight Black, Coral Blue, and Maple Gold colour variants, while the former will come in Midnight Black and Maple Gold colour options.
The India price tags evidently bear a significant premium over the US pricing. In the US, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is priced as low as $720 (roughly Rs. 46,700) and the Galaxy S8+ at $840 (roughly Rs. 54,500).
As for pre-booking offers, Samsung will be bundling a wireless charger free (Rs. 4,499) with the handset, and you can read the full terms and conditions on the Samsung site. The company has also detailed a launch offer for Reliance Jio users. Called the Reliance Jio Double Data offer that provides 28GB+28GB data a month at Rs. 309, for 8 months.
Finally, as seen in other countries, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones come bundled with AKG earphones in the box. The Samsung DeX mobile-to-PC transition tool on the other hand needs to be bought separately, and has been priced at Rs. 8,999. There's no word about the India pricing of the new Gear VR headset (with controller) or the new Gear 360 camera for now.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ India variants are powered by the Samsung Exynos 8895 SoC - sorry folks, if you were expecting the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC variants, you're out of luck. However, this isn't actually bad news, as the Samsung Exynos 8895 SoC was recently spotted to beat the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC in some benchmarks.
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are mostly identical smartphones. The primary differences are battery capacity, dimensions, and screen size of the Infinity Display, which is a dual-edge curved display with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio, complete with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The Galaxy S8 sports a 5.8-inch QHD+ (1440x2960 pixels) Super AMOLED display, while the Galaxy S8+ sports a 6.2-inch display with the same resolution and display technology. The displays are certified by the UHD Alliance as Mobile HDR Premium.
The octa-core Samsung Exynos 8895 SoC sports a quad-core module clocked at 2.35GHz, and another quad-core module clocked at 1.9GHz. The Exynos 8895 SoC on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ is coupled with 4GB of RAM.
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones feature 12-megapixel 'Dual Pixel' rear cameras with optical image stabilisation and an f/1.7 aperture. On the front, the smartphones bear 8-megapixel front cameras with autofocus, and also bear an f/1.7 aperture. Both smartphones feature 64GB of inbuilt storage that's expandable via microSD card (up to 256GB) in a hybrid dual-SIM configuration.
Connectivity options on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ include 4G LTE (Cat. 16), Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4GHz, 5GHz), Bluetooth v5.0, USB Type-C, NFC, and GPS. Sensors on board include an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, barometer, gyroscope, heart rate sensor, magnetometer, and proximity sensor. They both support Samsung Pay, with NFC and MST connectivity. The two smartphones come with iris scanner, fingerprint scanner, and facial recognition.
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ support wireless charging as well as fast charging. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ pack 3000mAh and 3500mAh batteries respectively. The Galaxy S8 measures 148.9x68.1x8mm and weighs 155 grams. The Galaxy S8+ measures 159.5x73.4x8.1mm and weighs 173 grams.
Of course, one of the biggest highlight features of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ is the Bixby virtual assistant. At launch, the virtual assistant will not feature Bixby Voice functionality, but, will offer Bixby Vision, Home, and Reminder features. Another highlight feature is IP68 certification for dust and water resistance.
We also discussed whether the Galaxy S8's pricing gives it an edge over iPhone 7 and Google Pixel in India on our podcast, so be sure to check that out as well in this week's episode of Orbital, our technology podcast. You can subscribe to it via iTunes or RSS, or just hit the play button below.
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