Samsung Galaxy S8 release date, specs news & update: Will Samsung remove the headphone jack?

Samsung may soon follow in Apple's footsteps and release its next flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S8, without the traditional 3.5-millimeter headphone jack.

Various tech blogs have previously reported that the South Korean tech company is looking into creating an audio port akin to Apple's lightning headphones so that it could do away with the headphone jack in its next products.

But the USB Implementers Forum recently published a press release detailing the Audio Device Class 3.0 specification for the USB Type-C port, which will make it possible for Samsung and other tech companies to replace the 3.5-mm headphone jack with the USB-C for audio.

"Device manufacturers can eliminate the need for multiple ports and efficiently deliver data, power and video over a single connector with USB Type-C," an excerpt from the organization's statement read. "USB Audio over USB Type-C allows [original equipment manufacturers] to remove the 3.5-mm analog audio jack, shaving up to a millimeter off product designs and reducing the number of connectors on a device," it continued.

The press release also noted that the USB Audio Device Class 3.0 specification "makes it easier to support digital audio over USB" while adding "capabilities to reduce power consumption."

This means that upcoming devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S8 (not yet its official name) can ditch the traditional headphone jack without having to somehow add audio support into USB-C. In addition, a source suggested that the removal of the headphone jack will allow Samsung to make the Galaxy S8 thinner without sacrificing its water resistance.

As for the other possible changes and features coming with the rumored Samsung Galaxy S8, it reportedly could be powered by a Snapdragon 830 processor and that its graphics chip could be almost twice as powerful as the one in the Galaxy S7. The smartphone could also come with more RAM and a higher resolution screen.

Meanwhile, Korea Herald suggested that Samsung will not release a flat screen variant of the Galaxy S8.

Mashable noted that the potential lost sales from the recalled Note 7 phones could mean that the company will move the Galaxy S8 release to an earlier release date.