Samsung Galaxy S8 could unleash new levels of power with a 'beast mode'

If there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that the Samsung Galaxy S8 is going to be a very powerful phone, and now there’s evidence that it could go beyond other flagships with a "beast mode", potentially letting you kick its performance into overdrive.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. So far all we know is that, as spotted by GalaxyClub, Samsung has applied to trademark the term "beast mode", and that the term could be used in smartphones, apps, tablets or computers.

There’s no explanation for what beast mode is, but it certainly sounds like a high-performance setting – perhaps one that could dial up the chipset speed, likely at the expense of battery life.

Bringing VR to life

Why would you need all that power? Well, VR could benefit for a start, and with support for Gear VR plus rumors of a 4K screen on the S8, Samsung’s next flagship is positioned to be a top mobile VR performer.

There’s already a ‘high performance’ option in the latest Android Nougat beta software for the Samsung Galaxy S7, so beast mode could be a similar idea, though given the name it likely goes even further.

Samsung seems to be giving users a lot more control over the performance of their Galaxy S7 handsets on Nougat, with the option to lower the screen resolution also making its way into the beta.

So it would make sense that with the Galaxy S8 there would be even more options, and especially some that could make the most of all its power – which is rumored to include 6GB of RAM and a top-end Snapdragon 830 or Exynos 8895 chip.

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.