The release of the Galaxy S8 will help Samsung to maintain its lead in the high-end Android smartphone market, while ramping up shipments of the vendor's complete line of smartphone products and profits, according to sources from Taiwan's handset supply chain.

Samsung's latest high-end flagship model, the Galaxy S8, is expected to be available globally starting April 21 following its debut in New York on March 29.

The device comes in two models with different screen sizes, the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus. The new phones feature an almost completely bezel-free 3D display, running the full width of the device. Additionally, the display area of the two devices is 18% larger than of their predecessors thanks to the removal of the Home button, Samsung said.

The display used by the both models comes with a resolution of 2960 by 1440 pixels and is the first on a mobile phone to be rated as Mobile HDR Premium, the company claimed.

The devices will feature an either Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 or Samsung Exynos octa-core 10nm CPUs, along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of ROM. The models also support IP68 waterproof and dustproof protection, and iris identification technologies.

The two devices also sport a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera and 8-megapixel selfie camera, both with an F1.7 aperture.

The S8 devices also come with Bixby, a smart voice assistant to rival Apple's Siri. Bixby can identify photos and maps, and serve as a translator.

Along with the Galaxy S8 series, Samsung also launched an accessory, dubbed the DeX, short for desktop experience, which allows users of the S8s to dock their phone and use it as a desktop computing system, with keyboard and mouse control, for access to Office and Autodesk.

Samsung also unveiled its second-generation Gear 360 camera and third-generation Gear VR headset. Samsung shipped 4.5 million Gear VR headsets in 2016, accounting for a 71% share globally, according to SuperData Research.

The new Gear VR headset comes with a controller supporting more AR applications and functions, which in turn will help Samsung to continue to spearhead the VR headset market, commented market sources.