Sep 21, 2016 09:49 AM EDT By Vinay Patel, UniversityHerald Reporter

Samsung is gearing up to launch its long rumored Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 EDGE in 2017. While still dealing with their Note 7 battery issue, the South Korean tech firm is prepping to oust the headphone jack in the upcoming flagships.

The Cupertino based tech firm, Apple recently came under fire from avid iPhone fanatics for its decision to do away with the headphone jack in the recently launched iPhone 7, and now rumors are rife about Samsung gearing up to bid farewell to tradition as well.

Samsung might also get rid of the 3.5mm port in favor of a proprietary solution that it could position itself as an apt challenger to Apple Lightning connector.

That being said, Samsung is not likely to go wireless as latest reports claim that the still-popular audio jack might be replaced instead with a USB Type-C hub, which has already been adopted by leading handset manufacturers including HTC, LG, Sony, Huawei and Samsung, according to reports on DigitalMusicNews.

Meanwhile, rumor mills have not ceased churning speculations around the hyped device indicating that the Galaxy S8 is slated to hit the store shelves next year and is currently in development. Moreover, Samsung's 2017 flagship handset bearing the product IDs SM-G950 and SM-G955 and the codenames "Dream" and "Dream 2," will be up for grabs in two iterations.

If rumors doing rounds proved to be true, the Galaxy S8 will be powered by either Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipset or Samsung's Exynos processor, both timed with remarkable speeds. Nevertheless, fans are advised to take this with a grain of salt as there's still no word about the smartphone's release date.

Meanwhile, tech gurus have pointed out that Samsung should up the ante in bid to re-establish its reputation now that the controversy-plagued Note 7's faulty battery has fouled up the Galaxy brand, Forbes reported.

Industry watchers also explained that Samsung should be kicking it up a notch in improving the Galaxy S8 in bid to have an earlier than planned reveal, and at the same time throw cold water on the worsening Galaxy Note 7 woes.

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