Galaxy S7 specs and Galaxy S7 edge specs

Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge were officially announced on February 21 during MWC2016. Both phones will be available on brick and mortar shops from March 11 in many regions as expected. If you want to get it a few days earlier, you can pre-order it in most regions. Traditionally, the carriers and distributors may ship the order a few days earlier.

Before we examine the top features of Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, let’s check Galaxy S7 specs and Galaxy S7 edge specs.

This post tries to summarize the hardware and software specifications of Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge to help you decide whether you should get Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge, or other Android phones.

Please don’t solely rely on Galaxy S7 specs or Galaxy S7 edge specs to make decisions. You should try them physically in the shop to help you make a better decision.

Galaxy S7 specs vs Galaxy S7 edge specs: what are the differences?

As in Galaxy S6, Samsung introduced two variants of Galaxy S7:  Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. But very likely there will be no Galaxy S7 edge+ model.

The differences between Galaxy S7 specs and Galaxy S7 edge specs include:

• Bigger screen size for Galaxy S7 edge, but identical screen resolution. Galaxy S7 has a  5.1″ screen with QHD super AMOLED display. This is identical to Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. Galaxy S7 edge has a larger screen of 5.5″. But the resolution is identical to Galaxy S7.  The 5.5″ screen of Galaxy S7 edge lies somewhere between Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S6 edge+ (or Galaxy Note 5, both have a 5.7″ QHD screen).
• Bigger battery for Galaxy S7 edge. Galaxy S7 edge has a 3600mAh battery, which is 20% larger than Galaxy S7’s battey (3000mAh). Due to bigger screen size of Galaxy S7 edge, the battery life of S7 and S7 edge should be similar.
• Galaxy S7 edge is slightly heavier. Galaxy S7 edge is 157g (5.54oz), which is only 5g heavier than Galaxy S7.
• Curved edge screen for Galaxy S7 edge. Of course, only Galaxy S7 edge has edge screen features. The edge screen in Galaxy S7 edge is significantly improved compared to edge screen on Galaxy S6 edge and S6 edge+.
• Galaxy S7 edge will be $50-$100 more expensive in most regions for the same storage (32GB or 64GB) configuration.

So, if you compare Galaxy S7 specs and Galaxy S7 edge specs, you will find the specs difference actually is quite small, except the screen size.

Galaxy S7 specs vs Galaxy S7 edge specs: what are common?

1. CPU

Hardware racing never ends. From Galaxy S7 specs and Galaxy S7 edge specs, you can feel the competition.

Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge will use two CPUs depending on your region (not S7 or S7 edge):

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. In US and a few other regions, you will very likely get Qualcomm chip inside.
• Samsung Exynos 8890 Octa. In other regions, you will get Exynos chips inside.

Both chips are the latest flagship products in the category you can get in the market in 2016. Arguably, Snapdragon chips perform better in real-life, and Exynos chips are more energy efficient.

FYI, all Samsung’s 2015 flagship phones, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5, used own Exynos 7 Octa 7420 chips.  But this year, it seems Samsung changed mind or made a better deal with Qualcomm.

2. RAM

As in Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, both Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge come with LPDDR4 RAM.

But compared to Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge have 1GB more RAM with 4GB RAM installed.

This RAM configuration is identical to that in Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5.

3. Display

Galaxy S7 and S7 edge use Super AMOLED display, just as in previous generation phones.

The QHD resolution (2560*1440)  is identical to 2015 flagship phones and Galaxy Note 4.

As mentioned in “Galaxy S7 specs vs Galaxy S7 edge specs: what are the differences?”, the screen size of Galaxy S7 is 5.1″ (identical to S6 and S6 edge). Screen size of Galaxy S7 edge is 5.5″. This means Samsung will unlikely  release Galaxy S7 edge+ this year.

4. Storage

As in Galaxy S6, Galaxy S7 and S7 edge use UFS 2.0 storage, which is faster than any other eMMC storage in other smartphones.

The storage capacity is 32GB or 64GB.  Most carriers will stock 32GB because micro SD card support is back in Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.

5. SD card support

As discussed in this post, micro SD card support is still important.

One of the defects of Galaxy S6

(and S6 edge and other Samsung’s 2015 flagship phones) is lack of micro SD card support.

Obviously, Samsung corrected their stupid decision.

Now, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge will have a dedicated SD card slot next to SIM card. You can use up to 200GB micro SD card.

Please note, SD card and dual SIM are mutually exclusive in Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge: if you get dual SIM model, you will NOT have slot for SD card. If you get SD card model, you can only use one SIM card.

6. SIM card size and mobile network

Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge will work in almost all regions globally.

The SIM card size is nano SIM. This means the SIM card is interchangeable with Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 (and iPhone 5, 6 and 6s).

SIM card slot design is almost identical to that Galaxy S6.  The major difference is a micro SD card slot next to SIM card slot.

There is also a dual SIM version of Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. For this model, there is no SD card slot. So be careful about Galaxy S7 specs and Galaxy S7 edge specs when ordering the phone.

7.  IP68 certified  dust and water resistant

Galaxy S5 is dust and water resistant with IP67 rating.  But Samsung stopped to add  dust and water resistant feature in other phones. Instead, they produce”Active” versions of these phones.

Now, Galaxy S7 and S7 edge bring this feature back with IP68 rating.  This means the phone can immersed in water up to at least 1 meter for  at least 3o mins.

Please note, water damage may be not covered by standard warranty in most regions.

8. Rear camera

The pixels of rear camera were reduced from 16MP in S6  to 12 MP in S7.

But this comes with a few goodies, for example, dual pixel auto focus, larger aperture (f/1.7, compared to f/1.9 in S6), wider angle.

There are also a few other improvements as well. We will discuss these new camera features and improvements in a separate post.

9. Front camera

Galaxy S7  and S7 edge front camera has a 5MP sensor as in Galaxy S6.  But the aperture is also f/1.7, instead of f/1.9 in Galaxy S6.

10. WiFi, NFC and Bluetooth

Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge have the latest dual band 802.11 ac, WiFi direct and hotspot support as in Galaxy S6.

NFC and Bluetooth (4.2)  in Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge are also similar to those in Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.

11. USB

Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge use micro USB connector, just like Galaxy S6. This means you can use all existing cables for Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.

Some owners may be disappointed for the lack of USB type-C.

Galaxy S7 and S7 edge also support USB host. This means you can continue to use your existing USB OTG devices: e.g., mouse, keyboard, thumb drive.

12. Sensors

Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge are packed with sensors you can find in most other flagship devices:

• fingerprint
• accelerometer
• gyro
• proximity
• compass
• barometer
• heart rate
• SpO2

13. OS and software

Galaxy S7 and galaxy S7 edge are shipped with latest Android Marshmallow 6.

The Android skin in Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge  is an updated  version of TouchWiz with more Material design elements,  which is similar to that in Galaxy S6 Marshmallow update.

14. Edge screen (for S7 edge only)

Galaxy S7 edge uses curved screen on both sides.  Part of the screen can be used as edge screen, which can be used for selected apps when other parts of the screen is off.

The edge screen in Galaxy S7 edge is larger than that in Galaxy S6 edge and Galaxy S6 edge+, and has more functions.

15. Dimensions

Galaxy S7:   142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9 mm (5.61 x 2.74 x 0.31 in).

Galaxy S7 edge: 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7 mm (5.94 x 2.86 x 0.30 in).

16. Weight

Galaxy S7: 152 g (5.36 oz).

Galaxy S7 edge:  157 g (5.54 oz).

17. Battery

Galaxy S7: 3000mAh with wireless charging, fast charging and fast wireless charging.

Galaxy S7 edge: 3600mAh with wireless charging, fast charging and fast wireless charging.

What do you think about Galaxy S7 specs and Galaxy S7 edge specs?

Are you disappointed or excited on Galaxy S7 specs and Galaxy S7 edge specs?

Please share you thoughts and comment on Galaxy S7 specs and Galaxy S7 edge specs in comment box below.