Photoshopped Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
It seemed too good to be true, because it was Veniamin Geskin/Twitter

Samsung fans who thought they were being treated to a sneak peek at the highly-anticipated Galaxy S8 may have been duped by a convincing Photoshop job. The supposed "leaked" images of Samsung's next flagship handset that surfaced online this week has been called out as a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge that has simply been put through some basic image-editing software.

The suspect image first appeared on Chinese microblogging website Weibo on Thursday (5 January) and was quickly picked up by news outlets and social media. The photo showed a gold-coloured Samsung handset with a curved display, narrow bezels and no physical buttons, much in line with the rumours regarding the design of the Samsung Galaxy S8.

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The image was followed shortly by a series of computer renders again purporting to show the Samsung Galaxy S8. The images were posted by Twitter user Veniamin Geskin, who revealed that they were simply concept designed he mocked up and posted online.

In a later Tweet, which has since been removed, Geskin posted a picture of the "leaked" Galaxy S8 image side-by-side with one showing the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. It demonstrated how cutting down the bezels on the S7 Edge to remove the home button results in something that could at first glance appear to show an entirely different Samsung smartphone.

Could Geskin have been given access to an advance look at the Samsung Galaxy S8? It seems unlikely. A quick look at his Twitter page reveals him to be an experienced graphic designer who has mocked up a number of smartphone concept renders. Of course, there's no way to tell for sure whether the leaked photo does indeed show the Galaxy S8 or is just a hoax, but after seeing Geskin's comparison, we're sceptical.

Sorry Samsung fans – it looks as if you'll have to wait a little while longer to get you peepers on the Galaxy S8. Fortunately, that might not be too far off, with the handset now expected to debut in April.

In the meantime, here's everything we think we know so far about the Samsung Galaxy S8.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Samsung