It's being reported today that Samsung Electronics is rumored to be ditching flat screens for its Galaxy S8 smartphones, and going solely with their dual-edge panel designs. The rumor states that the upcoming Galaxy S8 may come in 5.7-inch and 6.2-inch variants, with both adopting dual edge screens. This would be a new sales strategy for Samsung, which currently offers both flat and dual-edge screens.

Despite the seemingly radical design changes, industry watchers expressed doubts about whether customers would be happy to wave flat screens goodbye. There's a fear that users would mistakenly touch the sides of the smartphones and unwantingly alter the content on the display.

Yet with that said, the trend to dual-edge panel designs will expand this year, not detract, thanks to their own Samsung Display division who will be providing the curved edged displays to Chinese smartphone makers Huawei and Vivo. It's also being reported that LG Display will supply Xiaomi with curved edged display for an upcoming smartphone design. It's also be rumored that Apple may be following this trend as well to some degree.

Peter Lee, NH Investment & Securities is on record saying that "Samsung appears to be pushing dual-edge screens to distinguish its design rather than from an efficiency perspective.

In order to boost efficiency, Samsung needs to unveil foldable devices, which can be used as both smartphones and tablets," added Lee.

Lastly, the report noted that Samsung Electronics is currently developing two types of foldable devices -- whose panels face inward and outward -- to unveil them as early as late 2017, according to news reports. The smartphone can be used as a tablet when it is unfolded. Patently Apple covered this topic last week in a report titled "It's Crunch Time: Will Samsung Pull the Trigger and Launch a Foldable Smartphone in 2017 or Chicken Out?"

The pressure is on Samsung to enlarge their phablet displays to better compete with Apple's 2017 anniversary iPhone Plus model which is likely to offer a display in the 5.7" to 5.8" range. It's also a known fact that Chinese OEM's will be aiming to deliver larger size displays in the 6.2" to 6.4" range, if not higher. So a Samsung S8 with a larger 6.2" display isn't out of the question.

It appears that Samsung Galaxy S8 feature rumors are leaking out in a steady stream to get their fans excited. Below are a few other S8 rumor reports that we've published since October.

Samsung's 2017 Galaxy S8 will substantially Advance its Selfie Front-Side Camera with a Next-Gen Actuator

Samsung Confirms AI is coming to the Galaxy S8 in Late February Courtesy of Viv

Copycat Samsung to Introduce Galaxy S8 in Q1 2017 with Dual Cameras and No Home Button

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