The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 may have only launched last September, but if you thought that would stop rumours circulating for the Galaxy Note 9, you were
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 may have only launched last September, but if you thought that would stop rumours circulating for the Galaxy Note 9, you were wrong.
This feature rounds up all the speculation surrounding the 2018 Galaxy Note 9, rumoured to be codenamed “Crown” .
The Samsung Galaxy Note series launches in the latter half of the year by tradition. The Galaxy Note 9 is therefore not expected to arrive until late summer 2018.
Its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 8, was revealed on 23 August 2017 and hit shelves on 15 September.
We’d therefore expect the Note 9 to be available around the middle of September 2018, though no specific dates have been rumoured as yet and nor are they likely to be for a few months, even though Samsung has confirmed planning for the device has started.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 features a metal and glass build with a dual-edge design, a dual-rear camera and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. It takes on a similar look to the Galaxy S8 and S8+ but it has a wider stance and as Note users will expect, it has a built-in S Pen. We know that the soon-to-be-announced Galaxy S9 will look very much like the S8, so don’t expect anything drastically different in the Galaxy Note 9.
If this is the case, expect very slim bezels at the top and bottom of the display for an almost all-screen front, along with a premium build. Whether this build will continue with a combination of glass and metal is currently not yet known, though it has worked well for Samsung over the last few years so it would seem like an odd move to change.
Some reports have suggested the Note 9 will feature a fingerprint sensor embedded within the display rather than continue with the slightly awkward rear-mounted positioning found on the S8, S8+ and Note 8. We really want this!
It’s been claimed the South Korean company is already looking at samples from various suppliers, which if true could lead to a more seamless finish on the rear of the Note 9. A fingerprint sensor mounted beneath the screen was also something rumoured for the iPhone X and it never appeared so take this rumour with a pinch of salt for now. Likewise one was supposed to arrive with the S9, but this doesn’t appear to be the case.
One thing we can be certain of is the Galaxy Note 9 will come with a built-in S Pen and it will be an improved version too, if an interview with Samsung execs is to be believed. It is also likely the Note 9 will be IP68 water and dust resistant as its predecessor is, and as is expected of flagship devices now.
The Galaxy Note series is Samsung’s big-screened device and it always has been so this isn’t likely to change anytime soon. It was the series that made phablets fashionable after all, so fashionable that no one even bothers to call them phablets anymore, with them sliding into the “norm” for phones these days.
Traditionally, the Note series came with a 5.7-inch display, but that all changed with the Note 8, which pushed a new size of 6.3-inches, fractionally larger than the Galaxy S8+. It was only the screen size that saw the jump though, with the Note 8 offering a very similar footprint to the previous 5.7-inch devices thanks to the new 18.5:9 aspect ratio compared to the standard 16:9.
We’d expect the Note 9 to stick to a similar size and ratio, probably the same given the S9 and S9+ are both rumoured to stick with the new 5.8-inches and 6.2-inches of the S8 and S8+. We’d also expect Mobile HDR to be on board the Note 9, as it is on the S8, S8+ and Note 8, as well as a Super AMOLED panel for rich and vibrant colours.
In terms of resolution, there is always the possibility of an increase and no doubt we will see rumours suggesting a 4K resolution for the Note 9 at some point over the few months. For now, there are no reports speculating what the Note 9’s resolution will be but expect it to be at least the same as the Note 8, which is 2960 x 1440 pixels for a pixel density of 522ppi.
The Galaxy Note 8 was the first Samsung device to offer a dual-rear camera setup, despite competitors jumping on the bandwagon a long time beforehand, including Huawei, LG and Apple. It is therefore likely the Galaxy Note 9 will continue to offer this feature, especially as other flagships are only embracing the trend further.
The Note 8 brought dual optical image stabilisation to the party, which was a first for dual-cameras on smartphones until Apple did it too so no doubt that will be on board the Note 9 as well, likely with some improvements. We’d also expect the dual-camera setup on the Note 9 to be the same format as the Note 8 with one telephoto lens and one wide-angle rather than Samsung switching to Huawei’s format which includes an RGB sensor and a monochrome sensor instead.
It is not yet clear whether Samsung will increase the resolution of its rear cameras or the front-facing camera, but no doubt there will be some processing enhancements for the new device even if the megapixels don’t see a jump. An interview published by Samsung Newsroom said the camera was one of the main features people buy a Note for and therefore it is likely the company will continue to place close attention to it. Samsung’s Note 8 delivers fantastic results so we’d expect the Note 9 to do the same, even if it is too early to predict any new features.
We’d also expect to see iris scanning on board the Note 9 given both the Note 7, Note 8 and Galaxy S8 and S8+ all offer this technology. Whether Samsung will take things one step further and offer facial recognition like Apple does on its iPhone X is not yet known, though if it does offer an embedded fingerprint sensor within the screen, it wouldn’t really be necessary.
The Samsung Galaxy Note is a flagship device and therefore flagship specs are pretty much a given, even if we don’t yet know what these might be. There has been talk of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor in the Galaxy S9 and S9+ so no doubt this platform will also appear within the Note 9 too, with some models likely opting for the latest Exynos instead, depending on the region.
The Note 8 has 6GB of RAM under its hood so we’d expect the Note 9 to have at least this, along with at least 64GB of storage and microSD support for storage expansion.
