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Does Samsung's New Galaxy Phones Have the Best Battery?

Samsung Electronics’ SSNLF latest edition smartphones, Galaxy S8 and S8+, have generated a tremendous buzz ever since the Korean giant unveiled them at the “Unpacked” event in New York. The phones will be available from Apr 21, 2017. Pre-orders began on Mar 30, 2017.

So far, Samsung’s S8 has received positive reviews. Per media reports, the phones have very large edge-to-edge curved display with large screens (S8 has a 5.8 inch while S8+ has a 6.2 inch display). This is because the borders are considerably reduced due to the absence of the home button. Samsung phones have a Siri-like voice assistant called Bixby, which debuts with the S8 phones and will gradually be available on other Samsung devices in the near future. The new Galaxy phones have a fingerprint reader located at the back along with a new facial recognition/iris screening feature for unlocking. Moreover, it has a PC dock named Dex.

Samsung S8 and S8+ has a much higher battery capacity (3,000mAh and 3,500mAh) compared with iPhone 7 (1,960mAh). As multitasking phones become an indispensable part of our lives, a rapidly draining battery life poses the biggest problem. Hence battery life has become the most important determining factor for good phones.

Reportedly, as per test conducted by Phone Arena, S8+ provides eight hours of battery life after a single charge. This catapults S8+ to the top of the league of phones with worthy battery lives. Samsung also has the new and efficient Snapdragon Qualcomm octa-core processor that is likely to enhance its battery life. Per reports, QUALCOMM (QCOM) has claimed that “its chip will use up to 25 percent less power than last gen, which may offset the battery life impact of Samsung's screens.”

CNET quotes Samsung R&D boss Oh Boo-keun saying that Galaxy S8 “should hold 95% of its charge even after two years of usage” which is much better than S7.

Samsung Electronics Co. Price

Samsung Electronics Co. Price | Samsung Electronics Co. Quote

Many analysts point out that it is too early to comment on S8’s battery life as it is determined by various real life factors. In addition, Samsung has apparently requested users to run their phones on lower brightness as well as lower resolution. These have turned analysts skeptical as it is unusual for companies to pose such unreasonable requests to users.

The company needs these new phones to be a hit in order to reverse its misfortunes. Last year, Samsung found itself in troubled waters after the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.  The company had to make an embarrassing recall of its highly anticipated product following a battery issue that caused phones to explode while charging. Moreover, the arrest of the company chief, Jay Y. Lee, also created more wariness toward the brand.

Per recent media reports, Samsung has once again toppled Apple AAPL as the leader in the smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2017. According to TrendForce’s latest data, Samsung market share was 26.1% of the worldwide market, way ahead of Apple’s 16.9% share.

Apple and Samsung are the biggest players in the smart phone space.  This year is equally important for Apple as it gears up to launch iPhone 8. The phone is specially being launched to mark the tenth anniversary of the first iPhone, and is rumored to have features like a glass body, a dual curved edge-to-edge OLED display with a built-in Touch ID sensor, wireless charging and higher storage options. In short, Apple is expected to make a huge technological advancement with this new edition.

Key Picks

Stocks worth considering in the wider technology space include Tech Data Corp TECD and Leaf Group Ltd LFGR. While Tech Data sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Leaf Group carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

In the trailing four quarters, Tech Data and Leaf Group have yielded positive average earnings surprises of 8.73% and 27.94%, respectively.

Want to hear more about Samsung's latest addition to the Galaxy family? Check out this episode of our exclusive tech-focused podcast, the Zacks Tech Talk Tuesday:

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