In an exclusive deal with retailer Best Buy, Samsung is now offering its flagship Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones in a new color in the United States–Pink Gold–but consumers here can only get them through Best Buy stores or BestBuy.com.
The two phone models have been available in black, white, silver or gold in the United States.
Samsung announced the availability of Pink Gold phones Aug. 25. Similar exclusive deals between smartphone makers and retailers or mobile carriers are fairly common, including Samsung’s recent offer for its Galaxy S7 Active rugged smartphones only through AT&T.
The latest Pink Gold Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones differ only in color from the existing devices, which debuted in March in the United States. The Galaxy S7 features a 5.1-inch quad-HD Super AMOLED display (2,560 by 1,440), while the Galaxy S7 Edge features a 5.5-inch quad-HD Super AMOLED display (2,560 by 1,440).
Both models include always-on displays for the time and other information. Both also are powered by Qualcomm quad-core 2.15GHz and 1.6GHz processors for U.S. users and include 4GB of LPDDR4 memory, 32GB of built-in storage and microSD expansion slots that support storage cards up to 200GB. The Galaxy S7 has a 3,000mAh battery, while the Galaxy S7 Edge is equipped with a 3,600mAh battery.
Both models are also water-resistant and include fast charging and wireless charging capabilities, as well as 12-megapixel rear-facing cameras that have Dual Pixel technology for great images, even in low light conditions. In addition, they include 5-megapixel front-facing cameras, a fingerprint sensor for security, the Samsung Knox defense-grade mobile security platform to protect user data and always-on displays.
Both handsets are built with metal chassis, and both run on the Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system. In addition to 4GT LTE connectivity, the new S7 handsets also can be used with WiFi 802.11, MIMO, Bluetooth 4.2 and Near Field Communications connections. Samsung Pay capabilities also are included in the devices.
The Galaxy S7 Edge phone is the world’s most popular Android smartphone today based on research for the first half of 2016 from Strategy Analytics, according to an earlier eWEEK story. More Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones shipped globally in the first half of 2016 than any other Android smartphone, while two other Samsung smartphones rounded out the top three spots in the list of top-selling Android handsets around the world. The results showed that Samsung shipped about 13.3 million Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones worldwide in the first half of 2016, as well as 13 million Galaxy J2 phones and 11.8 million Galaxy S7 handsets.
The Galaxy S7 Edge shipments represented 2 percent of all the Android smartphones shipped globally in the period, making it the world’s most popular smartphone in the first half of the year. Strategy Analytics said that all other Android smartphones shipped in the period totaled 539.2 million units.
Earlier in June, Samsung announced that its ruggedized version of its flagship Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones, the Galaxy S7 Active, launched exclusively through AT&T. The handset follows the ruggedized Galaxy S6 Active that launched in mid-2015, but gained a bevy of improvements from the latest Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phones, including a shatter-resistant and water-resistant 5.1-inch Super AMOLED Quad HD touch-screen display that meets IP68 certification to withstand water exposure of up to 5 feet for 30 minutes. Aimed at users who work and use their phones in hostile environmental and physical conditions, the S7 Active also meets MIL-STD-810G specifications for dirt, dust, temperature, shock and salt resistance. The 5.1-inch display is the same size as the one found on the Galaxy S7 handset.
Earlier in August, Samsung unveiled its latest Galaxy Note 7 phablet, featuring all-new iris scanning capabilities, a much-improved integrated S Pen stylus, a first-ever “Secure Folder” feature and other updates aimed at making users more productive and creative. The new Note 7 is slimmer and more rounded compared with the previous version, the Note 5, which debuted in August 2015. The latest device takes many of its features from the company’s latest S7 and S7 Edge smartphones.
Highlighting the Note 7 is a 5.7-inch quad HD dual-edge Super AMOLED display (2,560-by-1,440 resolution, 518 pixels per inch) that’s covered with the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 octa-core 64-bit processor, 4GB of LPDDR4 memory, 64GB of on-board storage and a microSD slot for additional storage via memory cards up to 256GB. The phone runs on the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow operating system.