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Samsung Galaxy S7

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Samsung Electronics
IndustryConsumer electronics
FoundedJanuary 13, 1969; 57 years ago (1969-01-13) in Suwon, South Korea
Headquarters
Suwon
,
South Korea
ProductsSmartphones, tablets, consumer electronics
Websitewww.samsung.com


Not to be confused with Samsung Galaxy Tab S7.

Template:Infobox mobile phone

The Samsung Galaxy S7, along with its variants the Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy S7 Active, are Android-powered smartphones developed, launched, and sold by Samsung Electronics. These devices succeeded the previous generation's Galaxy S6 lineup—including the standard model, Edge versions, and the S6 Active—originally released in the year before.

Announced publicly during a Samsung event held at the Mobile World Congress on February 21, 2016, both the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge were subsequently made available across Europe and North America starting March 11 that same year.[1][2] The ruggedized Galaxy S7 Active was introduced later on June 4 and became available exclusively through AT&T in the United States from June 10.[3]

Building upon its predecessor's foundation, the Samsung Galaxy S7 brought enhancements in hardware performance alongside subtle design improvements while reintroducing features that had been omitted from the prior generation—most notably IP68 certification for dust and water resistance as well as support for expandable storage via microSD cards.

The lineup consisted of a base model featuring a display measuring approximately 5.1 inches (130 mm), complemented by an Edge variant distinguished by its curved screen edges measuring roughly 5.5 inches (140 mm) diagonally.

The Active edition offered a more robust chassis designed for durability paired with an enlarged battery capacity.

Notably, both the Galaxy S7 and its Edge counterpart represent the final instances within Samsung’s flagship series to incorporate a physical home button housing a front-facing fingerprint sensor.

Similarly, the S7 Active is recognized as the last device in Samsung's Active range equipped with three physical buttons including a fingerprint scanner embedded within the home button—excluding the discontinued Note 7.

This generation also marks Samsung’s final use of microUSB ports on their flagship smartphones before transitioning fully to USB-C connectors.

In April 2017, the Galaxy S8 was introduced as this series’ successor model.

Hardware

File:Samsung Galaxy S7 Gold bottom.jpg
Gold Galaxy S7 highlighting the headphone jack, micro USB 2.0 port, microphone, and speaker grille

Design

The Galaxy S7's physical construction closely resembles that of the S6. Samsung decided to eliminate the integrated Infrared blaster due to its limited popularity.[4] The device continues to feature a metal and glass build, enhanced by subtle updates such as a rectangular home button and a less prominent camera bump. Color options for both models included black and gold, while white, pink, blue, and silver variants were made available depending on the region.[5]Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name As an official Worldwide Olympic Partner, Samsung released special editions of the Galaxy S7 Edge for the 2016 Summer Olympics, featuring a dark blue exterior with hardware and software accents inspired by the Olympic rings colors. These limited-edition phones were distributed in select markets and provided to athletes participating in the 2016 Summer Games.[6][7] In October 2016, Samsung introduced a new "Blue Coral" light blue color option for the Galaxy S7 Edge, a shade previously offered on the recalled Galaxy Note 7.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name

The Galaxy S7 Edge includes software functionalities that utilize the curved screen edge as a ruler, a night clock, and for various visual alerts like the Edge notification light[8] which can be customized with preferred colors for up to five contacts' calls and messages. Additionally, users can adjust the brightness of the built-in LED lamp when used as a torch, choosing from five different intensity levels.[5][9]

Water resistance

The Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, and S7 Active carry an IP68 rating for protection against dust and water ingress. Unlike the Galaxy S5, these models feature sealed ports, eliminating the need for protective covers. Both the S7 and S7 Active are equipped with a 5.1-inch 1440p Quad HD Super AMOLED display, whereas the S7 Edge offers a larger 5.5-inch screen. Consistent with its predecessor, the S7 Edge's display curves along the side bezels of the device.

A moisture sensor is integrated within the Galaxy S7's charging port. This sensor disables wired charging upon detecting moisture inside the USB connector to safeguard the device from potential harm.

Batteries

Compared to the S6, all three variants—the S7, S7 Edge, and S7 Active—feature increased battery capacities of 3000 mAh, 3600 mAh, and 4000 mAh respectively. They support wireless charging standards including AirFuel Inductive (previously PMA) and Qi, although the S7 continues to utilize a microUSB Type-B port.

For wired charging, Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0 technology enables power delivery up to 15 watts. Wireless charging operates at an effective rate of 7.5 watts when using a Qi 1.2 compatible charging pad connected to a Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 USB charger.

Samsung states that the Galaxy S7 can achieve full battery charge in approximately 90 minutes via wired fast charging and about 140 minutes through wireless fast charging. The S7 Edge requires roughly 100 minutes for wired and 160 minutes for wireless full charges.

It is important to note that fast charging functionality is disabled while the device is actively in use.

Camera

The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are equipped with a 12-megapixel (4032×3024) rear camera that incorporates "Dual Pixel" image sensor technology, enabling quicker autofocus, along with a lens featuring an f/1.7 aperture.[10][1][2]

These models support Slow motion video capture at 720p resolution with a frame rate of 240 fps, doubling the speed available on the Galaxy S6 and Note 5. This marks the inaugural implementation of 240fps slow-motion recording on a Samsung flagship device. The footage at this frame rate is encoded live and includes audio, with built-in editing tools allowing users to modify slow-motion clips.[11] Additionally, the previous restriction of a five-minute cap on 2160p video recording has been lifted.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no name must have contentTemplate:When

The enhanced burst shot functionality now captures twenty photos per second at full resolution, allowing up to one hundred images in a single burst sequence. This is a significant increase from the Galaxy S6’s limit of around thirty photos per burst at roughly eight frames per second.[12]Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no name must have content

The camera received acclaim for its outstanding low-light capabilities at the time of release.[11][13]

While recording video at 1440p (30 fps) or 2160p (30 fps), users can snap still images simultaneously—a feature not supported beyond 1080p on the previous generation. However, capturing photos during 1080p video at 60 frames per second is not possible.[11]

The Galaxy S7’s camera software includes a manual mode that allows adjustment of settings such as exposure, ISO sensitivity, white balance, and exposure value. These options extend to video recording as well, though ISO and exposure adjustments are fixed while filming. Additionally, the LED torch cannot be activated during video capture.[14][15]

Chipsets

Galaxy S7 models feature either a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC in the US versions or Samsung's proprietary octa-core Exynos 8890 SoC in all other regions. The US editions are compatible with legacy CDMA networks commonly utilized by American carriers. To manage heat, the processor incorporates a 0.4mm thick 'liquid cooling' heat pipe system that dissipates warmth from the chipset to the phone’s chassis. This cooling method complements the graphite thermal pads previously implemented in the Galaxy S6.

Each Galaxy S7 device is equipped with 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM and offers internal storage options of 32, 64, or 128 GB—the latter capacity being exclusive to the S7 Edge variant. Users can expand storage externally via a microSD card slot integrated into the SIM tray. Dual SIM models provide flexibility by allowing either two SIM cards simultaneously or one SIM card alongside a microSD card using a shared second slot.

Included in the package is a USB OTG adapter, which serves dual purposes: connecting standard USB peripherals such as flash drives and wired accessories, and facilitating data migration through Samsung’s "Smart Switch" application. This software supports transferring content from previous Samsung Galaxy or Android devices running Android 4.3 or newer, iPhones with iOS 5 or later, as well as from older BlackBerry devices running BlackBerry OS 7 or earlier.

Software

File:Galaxy S7 Edge notification.jpg
Edge notifications feature in action

The Galaxy S7 originally launched with Android Marshmallow (6.0) paired with Samsung’s custom TouchWiz Hero UX interface, offering two years of operating system and UI updates along with four years of security patches. Hero UX introduced the option to disable the app drawer for a streamlined user experience. Additionally, an "always on" display mode shows essential information such as time, calendar events, and notifications while the device is idle. This feature automatically deactivates when the proximity sensor detects the device is enclosed, for instance inside a pocket, and reportedly consumes only about half a percent of battery per hour. The S7 Edge supports new widget panels called "Edge Single" and "Edge Single Plus," which appear along the curved screen edges.

Notably, Android Marshmallow’s "adopted storage" capability is disabled on these devices and cannot be utilized.

In September 2016, a software update introduced support for the Vulkan graphics API, enhancing low-level graphics performance. By January 2017, Samsung rolled out an update to Android 7.0 "Nougat," replacing TouchWiz with the newer Samsung Experience 8.0, first seen on the Galaxy S8. Mid-2018 saw the arrival of Android 8.0 "Oreo" paired with Samsung Experience 9.0—the final major Android version officially available for the Galaxy S7 lineup. Official support concluded in April 2020 with the last security patch release.

Despite official support ending, enthusiasts can run unofficial versions of Android 10 featuring One UI 2.5 on these devices through custom ROMs.

The multi-window functionality allows users to display multiple supported apps simultaneously either in flexible split-screen mode or as floating pop-up windows, maintaining a user interface consistent with that of the previous Galaxy S6 model.

Reception

The Galaxy S7 was met with largely favorable feedback, with reviewers commending the reinstatement of the microSD card slot and water resistance, while maintaining the high-end metal construction seen in the Galaxy S6.[16][17] The larger Galaxy S7 Edge’s design was especially lauded for its curved edges, which contribute to a slimmer profile compared to flat-screen phones of similar size. This design choice results in a more compact and user-friendly device, a distinction that becomes evident when comparing the S7 Edge to other smartphones with displays around 5.5 inches or larger, such as the iPhone 6s Plus (5.5-inch) and Google Nexus 6P (5.7-inch).[18][19] Although the camera’s megapixel count dropped from 16 MP to 12 MP, the primary rear camera saw enhancements including larger 1.4-micron pixels and quicker autofocus capabilities compared to the Galaxy S6.[20][21]

Some drawbacks were noted, including the elimination of MHL support and removal of the IR Blaster that had been present on the Galaxy S6,[22][23][24] default music and video playback applications were replaced by Google Play’s streaming-focused alternatives,[25] and a Micro USB port was used for charging instead of adopting USB Type-C.[26]

Regarding performance, the Exynos model outperforms its Qualcomm Snapdragon counterpart in multitasking scenarios. This distinction is evident as the Snapdragon variant struggles to maintain as many background applications and experiences longer delays when switching between them.[27][28] Conversely, devices equipped with Snapdragon chips deliver superior graphics performance in demanding applications and gaming.[29]

The repairability rating assigned by iFixit was a low score of three out of ten. The assessment highlighted extensive use of adhesives and glass components, alongside difficulties servicing internal parts such as the daughterboard without removing the screen—which is not intended to be detached—and noted that replacing the glass without damaging the display is likely unfeasible.[30]

Sales

Within just two days of the official release in South Korea, the combined sales of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge reached roughly 100,000 units. During its initial month on the market, the Galaxy S7 saw shipments ranging between 7 and 9 million devices. Throughout 2016, total sales for the model amounted to 48 million units.

Among South Korea's 2016 smartphone lineup, the Galaxy S7 Edge emerged as the best-selling handset. The Galaxy J3, classified as an entry-level model, ranked as the sixth most purchased phone that year. In comparison, Apple's iPhone 6s achieved approximately 60 million shipments, while Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge and other models collectively accounted for around 25 million shipments.

Known issues

At launch, both Exynos and Snapdragon variants experienced stuttering during high frame rate video recordings. A subsequent firmware update was released to address and resolve the "flickering video playback after recording" problem.

Certain Galaxy S7 Edge units have exhibited a persistent vertical pink line appearing randomly on their displays, which cannot be removed. Samsung has provided complimentary repairs or replacements under warranty for affected customers in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, provided there is no external screen damage.

Repairing a cracked screen on the Galaxy S7 is notably challenging, as it requires removal of the AMOLED panel to complete the fix.

On September 23, 2016, a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge belonging to a makeup artist began emitting smoke inside a beauty salon located in Antipolo City, Rizal, Philippines. Samsung announced that they were conducting an investigation into this incident.

Samsung Exynos 8890 variants

  • SM-G930F (International version, Single SIM)
  • SM-G930FD (International version, Dual SIM)
  • SM-G930W8 (Rogers Wireless, Canada)
  • SM-G930S (SK Telecom, South Korea)
  • SM-G930K (KT, South Korea)
  • SM-G930L (LG U+, South Korea)
China

All Chinese versions support dual SIM functionality.

  • SM-G9300 (Unlocked)
  • SM-G9308 (China Mobile)
United States

The Galaxy S7 marks the first Galaxy S series device where all US models share virtually identical hardware. Consequently, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) assigned a unified device ID (A3LSMG930US) for all US variants. Differences among these are limited to software/firmware and minor external branding elements.

  • SM-G930U (Unlocked)
  • SM-G930A (AT&T)
  • SM-G930V (Verizon Wireless)
  • SM-G930AZ (Cricket Wireless)
  • SM-G930P (Sprint)
  • SM-G930T (T-Mobile US)
  • SM-G930R4 (US Cellular)
  • SM-G930VL (TracFone)

Samsung Exynos 8890 variants

  • SM-G935F (International Single SIM)
  • SM-G935FD (International Dual SIM)
  • SM-G935W8 (Canada)
  • SM-G935S (SK Telecom, South Korea)
  • SM-G935K (KT, South Korea)
  • SM-G935L (LG U+, South Korea)
China

All Chinese editions come with dual SIM support.

  • SM-G9350 (Unlocked, Hong Kong)
  • SM-G9358 (China Mobile)
United States
  • SM-G935U (Unlocked)
  • SM-G935V (Verizon Wireless)
  • SM-G935A (AT&T)
  • SM-G935P (Sprint)
  • SM-G935T (T-Mobile US)
  • SM-G935R4 (US Cellular)
Japan
  • SC-02H (NTT DoCoMo)
  • SCV33 (KDDI au)

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 variant

  • SM-G891A (AT&T, United States)

See also

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ars-s7unveil
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named verge-s7unveil
  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named thedroidguy1
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :0
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ndtv-review
  6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named cnet-nkgalaxy
  7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named cnet-Olympic-edition
  8. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named EdgeNotification
  9. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 9to5g-edge
  10. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named IMX378-XDA
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named GSMarena-camera
  12. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named S7burst
  13. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DXO
  14. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named sammobile-video
  15. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named S7-VGJ
  16. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  17. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  18. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  19. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  20. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  21. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  22. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  23. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  24. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  25. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  26. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  27. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  28. ↑ Spesifikasi dan Harga Samsung Galaxy S7 2016 – Hpponsel.com news Archived 11 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  30. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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