After Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 fiasco last year, consumers have been longing for a new phablet model to replace the recalled units. The South Korean electronics giant has already released the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus and is expected to follow-up with a phablet variant soon.
The manufacturer has even offered the Galaxy Note 7R, which makes use of the original Note 7’s hardware and features, but comes with a smaller battery. Industry insiders have already reported that the Galaxy Note 8 is soon to follow. Furthermore, a recent leak has confirmed some of the rumored features of Samsung’s next flagship follow-up model.
Design and build quality
Prior to the most recent leaks, rumors have already suggested that the Galaxy Note 8 will follow some of the Galaxy S8’s design. The leaked image is allegedly a promotional poster for the upcoming phablet. The front area features a familiar curved design that renders the display as almost bezel-less. An earpiece, front-facing camera, iris scanner, proximity sensors, and another iris detection LED are all housed in the topmost strip. The lower strip is presumably barren just like the S8. The whole front panel is covered with a curved sheet of Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 for added protection.
Its backside also appears to be covered with a glass sheet, which protects its dual-LED flash and optical heart rate sensor.
The sensors sit above its vertically-mounted dual-cameras surrounded by a protective metallic bump. The Fingerprint Sensor is still on its rear panel but has been relocated below the camera strip. There were consumers who previously complained about the S8’s fingerprint scanner location, which was supposedly hard to reach and problematic.
The overall build quality of new smartphone is expected to be top-notch like its predecessors. The smartphone sports a metal frame the sits in-between the two sheets of Gorilla Glass 5 and houses its SIM card tray/MicroSD memory expansion slot up top. The bottom side reportedly holds a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C connector, a speaker grille, a microphone, and its stylus.
Its left flank holds its volume keys and Samsung’s dedicated Bixby button, which is apparently textured to help users identify it by touch. Its right side features a single power/sleep button just like its predecessor.
Hardware details and features
Until Samsung officially confirms the final specifications for the Galaxy Note 8, sources suspect that it will sport the same internal hardware found on the Galaxy S8. It will hold an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 CPU and Adreno 540 GPU combo but will supposedly come with a 6GB or 8GB RAM. The rechargeable battery powering the device is believed to be rated at 3,300mAh. Its imaging department will be handled by two 12-megapixel image sensors for the main camera, while its selfie-shooter will capture up to 8-megapixels.
The Note 8 will reportedly feature the same Super AMOLED Infinity display featuring a curved design the tapers towards its frames. The screen size is speculated to be 6.3-inches with a 3840 x 2160 resolution and flaunt an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. Other details like an IP68-rated protection, Android 7.0 Nougat, and Fast Charging with wireless charging support are expected to be onboard as well.
Price and release date
Traditionally, Samsung usually releases their Note flagship phones annually after the IFA tech fair held in Berlin. If it follows the trend, consumers can expect the Galaxy Note 8 to become available around September 2017. However, some reports claim that an August launch is also possible to stay ahead of Apple’s planned iPhone 8 release date. The new smartphone’s price has also been leaked and is expected to cost anywhere between $1,110 to $1,150 USD.
