Mobile World Congress is over, and now the question is which smartphone manufacturer will come out on top as the handsets go on sale. Samsung is leading with its trump cards in the form of the Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge. These two smartphones are the dual flagships of the South Korean company’s attack on the 2016 smartphone market. Given the falling revenue and profits of the mobile division (in part down to the weak sales and lukewarm critical reception of the S6 family), the Galaxy S7 family has a lot of work to do.

I’ve been cautiously optimistic about Samsung’s work around the launch of the devices at MWC last month. As more details of the handset come out and the story around the devices that Samsung wants to tell becomes clear, the bullet points the S7 will address are coming in to focus.

This is a critical year for Samsung’s mobile team. With that in mind, here are the twenty-five reasons why the Galaxy S7 family could win over the smartphone market in 2016?


A visitor takes pictures of the new Samsung Galaxy S7 at MWC (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

1. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 is more than a smartphone.

Note the MWC presentation brought in a standalone 360 degree camera and Samsung’s virtual reality headset. The two S7 models are smartphones, but they are being sold as something more than a smartphone – they are the hub of a new wave of desirable technology.

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2. Samsung is not relying on specification Top Trumps.

These two handsets may have the latest technology on board with some of the highest specifications on the market, but the reliance on ‘the biggest number in everything’ is fading away. The focus is less on raw power and more on what an S7 can do for its owner. Real world examples, not abstract numbers, are the touchstones.

3. The name recognition of SnapDragon.

The S6 family fell back on Exynos across the world, and while the numbers game suggests that a bigger SnapDragon system on chip is better there is something more powerful. ‘SnapDragon’ is one of the few terms that has made the leap into the minds of western smartphone consumers. Shipping with ‘SnapDragon On Board’ means another recognisable name and increases the comfort levels of consumers looking to buy a new device.

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4. It feels better in the hand and looks easier on the eye.

The Galaxy S6 handsets had very angular backs, with hard edges between the bezels and the rear glass. That’s no longer the case, with a touch of a curve on the back glass. Coupled with the camera lens assembly sitting almost flush to the back (it juts out by 0.45mm) the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge look much better and have a better tactile feel in the first few moments of picking one up.

5. The S7 family is for the S5 user.

Given the typical two-year product cycle of smartphones (thanks to network contracts) the real goal of the Galaxy S7 is to appeal to the users of the Galaxy S5. Going from the S4 (or the S5) to the S6 saw beloved features removed. That’s not the case with the S5 to the S7 upgrade – everything the S5 users loved about their phones can be found in the S7 family.


A Samsung Galaxy S7 is seen during its worldwide unveiling at MWC (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

6. Lots of battery power.

Stepping up with a 3000 mAh battery, the Galaxy S7 has buckets of energy storage. Couple the larger battery with the optimised code in Android and you have a package that should allow any user to last a full day while using all of the smartphone’s capabilities. And if you need more time longer, just activate the S7′s battery endurance mode to increase the standby time.

7. Wireless charging.

It’s a simple technology in practice, but the increased usability that wireless charging offers is revolutionary when you first experience it. It’s also one of the first things I check for in any new smartphone, and a high-end smartphone without it is perilously close to being rejected out of hand.

8. MicroSD support returns

MicroSD expansion has returned, but with a slight twist. Samsung has made the decision to not use the adaptive storage technique in Android which allows the card and the internal storage to be seen as a single block by the OS, instead using the microSD card for media storage – although you can install and transfer apps to run from the card. This means the card is removable and exchangeable with other devices. I can only assume Samsung’s customer data shows a lot of exchanging of cards going on, as opposed to being inserted once and then left alone.

9. Take it into the water.

Also returning from the Galaxy S5 is a waterproof (and dustproof) rating for the handsets. Something unlikely to be specifically used (except for a quick demonstration in the pub), yet utterly practical. Technology should be invisible and out of mind. Waterproofing does that.

10. The best parts of the S6 remain.

The S7 family addresses all the perceived mistakes of the Galaxy S6 range and fixes them, but crucially everything that was great about the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge remains in the new package. That means the handsets retain the curved screen of the Edge, the new design ethos, the large Super AMOLED screens, and the wide range of sensors including the accelerometer, heart rate, gyro, proximity, compass, and barometer.

11. One camera to rule them all.

The Galaxy S6 camera was seen by many (including myself) to be the best smartphone camera on the market, and it could comfortably outshoot the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. Although the megapixel count has dropped from 16  to 12 megapixels, Samsung has not held back with the imaging technology. I expect the quality of the photography to be a key selling point of the S7 family – again a feature that is practical and can be seen in the real world by anyone.