Samsung Galaxy S8 Snapchat-like filters caught everyone by surprise

The Samsung Galaxy S8 unveiled in New York yesterday was exactly what everyone expected following the leaked reports, except for one little feature that caught everyone by surprise: Snapchat-like filters built into the camera. Samsung Galaxy S8 Snapchat-like filters can be seen in the company's camera demo video below. One can simply tap the filter icon on the right and access a collection of fun lenses:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTWLXF5t7vY

Let the face-off begin

Samsung Galaxy S8 Snapchat-like filters are an interpretation of Snapchat lenses that were famously copied by Facebook and a South Korean app called Snow. Snow, developed by Naver company that, among other things, is a developer of LINE messenger, has been successfully implementing the lenses in LINE and rejected Mark Zuckerberg's offer to buy the company in 2016. LINE messenger has a huge success in Asia, with a $1.1 billion IPO and boasts 218 million monthly active users.  Funny enough, Naver was launched in June 1999 by ex-Samsung employees.

While Snow is not a social media network (that many consider Snapchat to be, despite Snapchat calling themselves "a camera company"), the app's users create video in Snow and then save it to their phone and upload it to Snapchat. Samsung Galaxy S8 Snapchat-like camera feature follows the flow, offering fun layers to photos and videos that users can then share across other social networks including Snapchat. If this sounds familiar, check out the Clips app that Apple has recently announced.

Let's face it: how Samsung Galaxy S8 Snapchat-like filters work

A YouTuber BTekt shows the lenses in the video below, and it's as simple as it goes, if you are a Snapchat or now a Facebook Stories user.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcH16l_rQA8

Whether you are a fan of not taking yourself seriously or not, Samsung is serious about getting you onboard with the "Snapafication" of your photos and videos.