Fresh renders to suggest what what the Samsung Galaxy S8 could look like have appeared online, in the form of cases, and a look at the phone based on those case designs.

Pocket Now has obtained the case renders, one unnamed protective cover and a Ghostek Atomic 3 waterproof case. Unfortunately, while they both claim to be for the same phone, they have several differences. The unnamed protective cover shows cut-outs for a square camera module on the back, and a smaller module above it, which going by alleged images of the phone itself, is for a flash/heart rate sensor.

The case also shows three physical buttons on the left side, two for volume and one which could be a dedicated button for Samsung's own personal assistant Bixby - originally Viv. There's a separate cut-out for a button on the top of the case which will likely be for power.

The most interesting thing to take away from the unnamed case though is the cut-out for a 3.5mm headphone jack alongside one for a USB Type-C port. There have been several rumours already to suggest Samsung would ditch the headphone jack in favour of USB-C audio, so we're taking this one with a pinch of salt.

The Ghostek case, which shows a mock-up of a Galaxy S8 inside however, doesn't have the second cut-out for the flash/heart rate sensor. It does show the same three physical buttons on the side as the unnamed case, so at least there's something they can agree on. The other thing the cases appear to agree on is the lack of physical front-mounted home button. It suggests Samsung will embed a fingerprint scanner in the screen, with all controls being on screen too.

There are only two shots of the Ghostek case, and neither of them show the bottom edge, so we're not sure whether it also has the cut-out for a 3.5mm headphone jack. Considering the wealth of rumours to suggest there won't be one, and that many other manufacturers are going the way of USB Type-C for audio, we expect Samsung to follow suit.

these renders give us the best look of the samsung galaxy s8 yet image 2
Sammobile

A reader of Sammobile has put together a render of what the Samsung Galaxy S8 would look like based on the case renders and it matches up with a leaked photo purporting to be the S8 that appeared on Weibo at the beginning of January. There's no home button and a screen that takes up the majority of the front of the device with curved edges like the Galaxy S7 Edge.

Of course, these are all just renders for now, so everything should be taken with a pinch of salt, but with some features appearing more often, we're starting to get a good idea of what to expect come launch day.