Now that the word is out that Samsung might be going in a whole new direction for the Galaxy S7's camera, sources have dug up a patent filing that all but confirms the rumor. What could BRITECELL possibly mean, but a rather obvious word play on "bright" indicating a sensor with low light shooting capabilities, just like we'd expect from a 12MP type 1/2" imager.

And we know it's a sensor that the trademark defines, because Samsung's current lineup of smartphone sensors is called ISOCELL. That, and also the fact that the patent docs contain the words "image sensor for mobile phones".

Meanwhile, another source in Korea reports that the Galaxy S7 will be released in early February 2016. That rings well with previous rumors for a January launch - an announcement in late January could very well mean availability in the first weeks of February.

Additionally, the same report states that the Galaxy S7 will be the first smartphone to support Cat. 12 LTE for exorbitant 600Mbps downlink speeds (theoretical, but still). We already know that the Snapdragon 820 is one chip that will be able to achieve this feat, and it seems a proper time for it to hit the market - the Snapdragon 810 premiered on the LG G Flex2 around the same time this year.

Then again, the source states that the Exynos 8890, due to enter production next month, also integrates a Cat.12 modem. So, apparently, at least two of the rumored three chipset variants of the next-gen flagship will come with support for highest available cellular data speed transfers.

Via 1 Via 2