In the years since Gizmodo leaked the iPhone 4, smartphone leaks have become commonplace, but it’s still rare to see the direction a device like the iPhone 4 could have taken. So it’s something of a treat to see leak below, courtesy of Weibo user KK, which shows a Galaxy S8 prototype that features a vertical dual-camera setup.
In the early lead up to the S8’s reveal, several rumours suggested Samsung was contemplating adding a dual-camera array to its latest smartphone, nor was Samsung coy about the possibility.
In an interview with The Verge, a company executive said Samsung had yet to find “real value” in the technology, noting that it had tested at least one prototype that featured a dual camera setup. Presumably, the device pictured below is one of those prototypes.
Таким был S8+, таким стал Note 8 pic.twitter.com/Q1Fk8tfMpt
— Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) April 16, 2017
Based on the provided pictures, it’s impossible to tell how well the S8’s dual camera array would have worked, but then that’s not even the most interesting thing about this prototyping. Missing from the device pictured above is the rear-facing fingerprint sensor that features so awkwardly on the S8 that’s currently making its way to Canadian consumers, suggesting the phone pictured below might be one of the prototypes Samsung attempted to integrate a fingerprint sensor beneath the screen.
According to one pre-release rumour, Samsung abandoned the concept, at least for the time being, after it saw “frustrating results.”
