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After numerous leaks, Samsung has officially revealed the successors to its popular Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones: the new 5.1-inch Galaxy S7 and 5.5-inch S7 Edge. Headline features include a water-resistant chassis, the return of the microSD card slot, and a whopping 4GB of RAM. Both are due for release on March 11 in Europe and the US, with preorders beginning on February 23 (Tuesday morning). In a surprise move, those that pre-order in the UK and US will receive a free Galaxy Gear VR headset to go along with their shiny new phone.

At first glance– besides their larger screen sizes– both phones look largely identical to their predecessors, the S7 sporting a flat glass front, and the S7 Edge sporting a curved display that gently folds in at the edges to the meet the aluminium body. For fans of 4K, both the S7 and S7 Edge are rocking 2560 × 1440 pixel displays. Surprisingly, this hasn't affected the thickness of the phones, which remain fairly svelte at 7.9 mm for the S7 and 7.7 mm for the S7 Edge.

Perhaps more exciting is that the S7 and S7 Edge both feature a microSD card slot, a much requested feature that was removed from the S6. The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are both rated IP68, which equates to “totally dust tight” and prolonged submersion in water (the S5 was IP67, which is only “temporary immersion”).

The international version using Samsung's own octa-core Exynos 8890 SoC, which it claims its 30 percent more powerful than that in the Galaxy S6. Samsung claims the S7 and S7 Edge are the first phones to feature support for Vulkan, a new low-level API that hit version 1.0 earlier this week. The company even wheeled out Epic's Tim Sweeny to show a range of physics based graphics effects running in real-time on the S7.

Camera-wise, both the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have moved to a “Dual Pixel” 12-megapixel rear shooter with optical image stabilisation (OIS), paired with a 5MP front camera and fast f/1.7 aperture lens. Samsung claims the pixels are 30 percent larger those on the iPhone 6S Plus, which results in better low light pictures. “The dual pixel” sensor is said to make for faster autofocusing, and again Samsung compared its camera to the iPhone 6S Plus, showing a video with the S7 focusing far quicker than its rival. There's also a neat motion panorama mode that lets you scrub through wide panoramas.

After numerous leaks, Samsung has officially revealed the successors to its popular Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones: the new 5.1-inch Galaxy S7 and 5.5-inch S7 Edge. At first glance– besides their larger screen sizes– both phones look largely identical to their predecessors, the S7 sporting a flat glass front, and the S7 Edge sporting a curved display that gently folds in at the edges to the meet the aluminium body. The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are both rated IP68, which equates to “totally dust tight” and prolonged submersion in water (the S5 was IP67, which is only “temporary immersion”).