Find out the latest news and rumours about the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, which is expected to launch in August 2018
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 may well be one of the best phones of 2017, building on the explosive success of the recalled Note 7, but we’ve got our sights set on what the South Korean manufacturer has in store for us next. You may think it’s early days, but it’s never too early to jump aboard that non-stop train of consumerism.
With Apple’s iPhone X gaining a cool reception on store shelves, what can we expect from the Samsung Galaxy Note 9?
Do you hear that familiar sound outside your window? Why it’s the train already making its merry way down the tracks towards you, you might as well jump aboard now! Toot, toot.
Here is what we know or rather, stuff we think we know, so far about the Note 9.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Everything you need to know
Samsung Galaxy Note 9: UK release date and price
History has taught us that the Samsung Galaxy S flagship series debuts early in the year – with the Galaxy S9 presumably launching at this year’s MWC conference – while its larger Galaxy Note phablet counterpart tends to emerge towards the tail end of the year. Given that track record, it’s safe to assume that the Galaxy Note 9 will launch in August 2018.
Again, and I really can’t stress this enough, we don’t have any official word from Samsung about the Galaxy Note 9 just yet. Samsung’s inevitable golden child is the Galaxy S9, so they’ll be concentrating on that launch in the next month or so. As such, we don’t know how much the – currently hypothetical – Note 9 will cost, or even when it will release. But, of course, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t hazard a guess though, eh?
As I mentioned before, it’s a good chance that the Note 9 will launch in the UK towards the tail end of the year, sometime around August 2018. That’ll give the Galaxy S9 a bit of breathing room, and allow the Note 9 to be the hot flagship come Christmas, just like it the Note 8 was last year.
And as for price, well, we were all taken aback by how much the Note 8 cost last year. £869 was quite a gut-wrenching shock, but it’s safe to assume that the Note 9 will fetch roughly the same price – or perhaps slightly higher – in 2018. Best start saving up I guess.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Specs and features
Mobile reporter Benjamin Geskin has mocked up a set of renders for the Galaxy Note 9, based on a handful of early rumours about what specs the handset may include.
The results look a lot like both the Note 8 and the iPhone X, with a 4K 6.4in display, a fingerprint sensor embedded into the screen, and an even fuller “infinity display”.
If you look at pictures of the Galaxy Note 8, you’ll see that Geskin has stretched the display on that device to totally eliminate the top and bottom bezels. There have indeed been reports that Samsung may be working on a new form of screen, although the patents unearthed about that particular direction hint at something slightly different to the “notched” display on the iPhone X.
A recent patent filed at the WIPO points at a phone with an all display front, bar tiny holes for the front-facing camera and IR sensors. If this is the case, and it certainly looks exciting, the Note 9 will be the first all-screened phone, without any bezels. Imagine that.
But back to Geskin’s render, which also shows an under-display fingerprint sensor. This is slightly confirmed by what was show off at this year’s CES tech conference. A firm called Synaptics showed off what they called a “Clear ID FS9500 optical sensor”, which can supposedly read your fingerprint under the display. While we’re unlikely to see this tech in the Galaxy S9 – I may end up eating those words – I’d say it’s a high possibility a fingerprint sensor will be embedded under the Note 9’s screen.
But what about Apple effectively dumping its fingerprint sensor in favour of a new Face ID system? Which brings us to…
Facial recognition. There’s currently no evidence to suggest whether Samsung will or won’t push facial recognition as a stable of the Note 9. Seeing as the company already has a form of the tech-enabled in its handsets, it seems like likely that it will try to out-face Apple with its future handsets.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Design
A patent from Samsung at the World Intellectual Property Organisation indicates that we might be looking at more screen than ever before. The whole of the front of the handset could be a screen, while still maintaining a fingerprint scanner and front-facing camera on the front hand side.
That would give it an advantage over Apple’s iPhone X, which needed a ‘notch’ at the top to house the camera, and had to remove the fingerprint scanner entirely to accomplish the all-screen front side. Of course, we don’t know if this patent will be in the Note 9, or for a later model, but it’s an interesting insight into where the device is going.
Could the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 be something completely different?
Based on this year’s releases, it would be easy to predict that all smartphones will look largely identical come 2020. That pattern may be bucked, however, with a whole new concept based on foldable technology.
A foldable phone from Samsung has been long-rumoured, with reports centred on a device dubbed the Samsung Galaxy X. A new handset line makes a lot of sense, but could Samsung instead decide to premier its new foldable approach with the Note 9?
The president of Samsung’s mobile division, Koh Dong-jin, has said the company is aiming to release a bendable flagship in 2018. Given the benefits this could bring to a phone with a large form factor, it may very well be the case that the Korean company wants the Note 9 to be a phablet that can be folded into your pocket.
Of course, all of this is guesswork. We’ll be updating this page with more concrete news as it surfaces over the coming months.
Source: expertreviews.co.uk
