New Galaxy S8 leak shows high-quality render of Samsung's iPhone competitor

The image, seemingly an official product render, was shared by well-known leak source Evan Blass. Front-facing cameras and sensors are pushed to the very top of the phone, though there are still physical buttons on the sides for volume and sleep/wake functions.

The render is consistent with leaks of alleged real-world hardware, down to the presence of a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack. Apple and some other smartphone makers have been removing such jacks in favor of Bluetooth as well as data port audio connections, namely Lightning and USB-C.

Samsung is due to announce the S8 at a March 29 event in New York City — that date can be seen in the Blass image.

The phone is rumored to use a 5.8-inch AMOLED screen, and should be joined by an even bigger S8+ model with a 6.2-inch, Quad HD+ (3200-by-1800 pixel) display. The iPhone 7 Plus, in contrast, uses a 5.5-inch 1080p panel.

Other S8/S8+ technologies may include USB-C, iris scanning, 4 gigabytes of RAM, and 64 gigabytes of internal storage, as well as a 12-megapixel rear camera paired with an 8-megapixel unit on the front.

The "iPhone 8" due later this year is expected to share some of these qualities, like wireless charging, the 64-gigabyte baseline, and possibly the iris scanner. Even its display should measure 5.8 inches, with 0.7 of that being dedicated to virtual buttons.

One recent report claimed that the "iPhone 8" will switch from Lightning to USB-C, despite a growing number of Lightning-equipped accessories.