If you follow annual patterns in the tech industry, it was already a no-brainer that Samsung would reveal the Galaxy S7 at Mobile World Congress later in February. Today the company made it a bit more official, teasing "the next Galaxy" launch on February 21.
Samsung announced the Unpacked event in an email shot out to members of the press today, in advance of the annual mobile show in Barcelona. As is usually the case, Samsung's announcements will likely headline the show. This year that should be the Galaxy S7 and a curved variant (which, according to Venturebeat's sources, may be larger than the GS7).
In case there was any doubt that the Galaxy S7 is what we'll see, both the teaser image above and a separate event video highlight two sides of a box that, lo and behold, form a glowing "7."
That video starts with an actor strapping on a Gear VR, so perhaps we'll hear about something new on the virtual reality front as well. The first consumer version of the Samsung/Oculus mobile headset just went on sale this past November, but if the new flagships have significantly different dimensions from Samsung's 2015 flagships, then we should see a new model designed for the new phone(s).
The teaser video also shows the actor reaching his hands out to touch the box while using the Gear VR, something that would have no effect inside virtual worlds when using the Gear VR today. It's most likely a theatrical liberty taken for the sake of the video, but some kind of hand-like motion control (and an external sensor?) would be a very welcome addition to the VR headset. Samsung did tease a pair of Gear VR motion controller prototypes at CES.
You can check out Samsung's tease below. And tune into Gizmag on February 21 for complete Samsung at MWC coverage.
