Ahead of its anticipated unveiling at Mobile World Congress, the rumour mill for Samsung’s Galaxy S7 picked up pace.

It seems likely the company will offer at least two devices – Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge – with the possibility they will be joined by a phablet version of the latter. While a large-screen Galaxy S6 smartphone was available last year, the unveiling came later.

Purportedly leaked images show a rear camera that sits flush with the device body, although no specifications of this were given. As smartphones have got slimmer, there has been a trend for the rear lens to protrude somewhat.

Previous reports suggested that the company may sacrifice megapixels in favour of an improved sensor, shifting to 12MP from 16MP.

From a design viewpoint, the device certainly continues the form of Galaxy S6, with some minor changes – a longer home button and repositioned volume control, for example, alongside a shift for the proximity and light sensor.

It was also reported that the device will see the return of waterproofing, at least to some degree. While it is unlikely the smartphone will be fully waterproof, it is likely to be water resistant – a feature many high-end devices have, including Sony’s Xperia Z5.

As with some previous Galaxy S-series devices, it also seems likely that Samsung will offer versions of devices powered by its own silicon alongside Qualcomm-powered products. It is not clear how this will be split, although in the past there have been regional variations.

The devices will also feature 4GB of RAM, which is set to become the benchmark for high-end Android terminals.

And there is speculation that the device will see an improvement in battery life, although it is not clear how this has been achieved.

It has previously been suggested that Samsung will introduce a new financing plan to support the devices, along the lines that Apple introduced alongside iPhone 6s.

Gear 360 VR camera
Website SamMobile said that the South Korean vendor is working on a 360 degree camera, called Gear 360.

According to the report, it will feature two 180-degree fisheye lenses to capture imagery, and can pair with a smartphone via Bluetooth through a Gear 360 Connect application. It will also have its own battery, and feature an as-yet unknown amount of onboard storage.