Glowing reviews are in: Samsung sets sights on businesses with new S8

Dive Brief:

Early reviews of Samsung’s new Galaxy 8 smartphone indicate it could be a game changer as far as smartphones go and potentially the first smartphone to become a true enterprise tool as well. The phone debuts April 21.
The S8 is the company’s first flagship phone since the Galaxy Note 7 debacle that damaged the company's reputation and slashed its revenues last year.
The new smartphone boasts a number of breakthrough capabilities, such as a native dialer app designed to reduce the number of times users need to switch apps, GeekWire reports. The phone also includes a new innovative design with a larger, curved screen and a slim, light package. "The iPhone looks chunky by comparison," Business Insider said in its review.

Dive Insight:

Samsung has its eyes on the enterprise market, and the new S8 may be the tool that can take it there. A larger screen and several new capabilities designed to make workers more productive means the S8 could be the first smartphone to truly rival the office PC.

Not to be undone, on Tuesday Apple quickly released some details about its 10th anniversary iPhone, which reportedly includes several redesigns that are similar to the new S8. Apple says its preparing three iPhones for launch as soon as this fall.

Once viewed as the smartphone innovator, Apple has been criticized for a lack of new innovations with its latest releases. Meanwhile, many think the S8 includes several user-focused advances that may help actually move the smartphone market forward.

Of course buying the S8 will require both consumers and businesses to trust that Samsung has fixed it’s battery issues and any other lurking infrastructure issues. The company says it’s invested in several new quality assurance and testing protocols since the S7 debacle.

Though Apple tends to get more of the spotlight, Samsung has actually led the smartphone market lately. Prior to the Galaxy Note 7 disaster, Samsung was the top smartphone vendor, with 20% market share as of the third quarter of 2016, followed by Apple, with 12.5% market share.