The Galaxy Note 9 will likely land in 2018 and we’ve collected all the information about it, along with a wish list.
Updated: A new rumor suggests the Samsung Galaxy Note 9’s fingerprint scanner will probably be on the back, rather than built into the screen.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is one of the biggest phones Samsung’s ever made, not to mention one of the best, and there’s no doubt that the company will follow it up later in 2018 with the Samsung Galaxy Note 9.
In fact, we’re already hearing the first rumors about that phone, and they suggest it could be even more futuristic than the iPhone X .
You’ll find everything we’ve heard about the Note 9 below, along with our own analysis and a selection of the features and improvements we most want to see. Cut to the chase What is it? Samsung’s next flagship phablet When is it out? Possibly August 2018 What will it cost? Probably at least $929 / £869 / AU$1,499 Samsung Galaxy Note 9 release date and price
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 was announced on August 23 and released in September, while the short-lived Samsung Galaxy Note 7 followed a similar schedule the previous year.
So there’s a good chance that the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will be announced in late August 2018, before hitting stores possibly in mid to late September.
However, according to The Investor, some market watchers believe it could be unveiled in early to mid August instead. And the same site claims that Samsung has codenamed the phone ‘Crown’ and plans to have a prototype of it ready during the first quarter of 2018.
Whenever it does arrive it’s sure to be expensive. The Galaxy Note 8 retails for $929 / £869 / AU$1,499 and we can’t see Samsung lowering the price for the Note 9, especially now Apple has pushed smartphone prices even higher with its iPhone X.
For now, you’ll have to be satisfied with the Note 9’s predecessor. Check out today’s best Galaxy Note 8 deals. Samsung Galaxy Note 9 news and rumors
The biggest Samsung Galaxy Note 9 rumor relates to its fingerprint scanner, which could be built into the screen.
Both Samsung and Apple have been rumored to be working on this but failed to achieve it in time for their most recent handsets, pushing Samsung to move the scanner to a sub-optimal position on the back of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Note 8, while Apple ditched it altogether from the iPhone X.
Recent news on the subject comes in the form of a Samsung patent, showing a handset with a scanner built into the screen. Supposedly it would digitally show where users need to place their finger, and could potentially provide vibrations as feedback.
This could be the form the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will take. Credit: WIPO
Another rumor comes from analysts at KGI Securities, who reckon the in-screen scanner won’t be ready in time for the Samsung Galaxy S9, but will be done for the Note 9. If it is, Samsung could retain the all-screen front of its phone while still having a conveniently positioned scanner.
There’s reason to believe it will be ready too, especially now that Vivo has demonstrated exactly this tech.
However, before you get too excited it’s worth noting that sources in the supply chain claim Samsung has settled on placing the scanner on the back, just like the Note 8.
But this is also just a rumor for now, and the same sources say Samsung is still working on in-screen scanning tech and may be ready to use it by 2019.
On the other hand, there’s a chance that Samsung will go even further with the Note 9, as it’s patented a smartphone concept that has not just the fingerprint scanner but also the front-facing camera and sensors embedded in the display, for a truly bezel-free design. This might be too ambitious for a 2018 launch though.
This could be an idea used by the Galaxy Note 9. Credit: WIPO/LetsGoDigital
That said, an even more ambitious goal for the Galaxy Note 9 could be for it to have a bendable display. This is something Samsung’s been working on for even longer, and there’s suggestion that the tech could land in a phone late this year.
However, it might still arrive too late for it to be used in the Note 9, and Samsung might not want to debut such an experimental tech on a major flagship.
Elsewhere, another patent may have given us a glimpse at what the Note 9 will look like, as Samsung has published a phone design with a screen that curves at the right edge, but oddly not at the left.
It’s an unusual look for a phone, and quite different to the Note 8, so we’re skeptical that it will be used for the Note 9, but you never know.
Could this be an early look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 9’s design?
However the Note 9 looks, there’s a chance that it will be made from a new material, as Samsung has trademarked ‘ Metal 12 ‘ – a material that’s both strong and light.
And moving from the outside to in, The Korea Herald reports that Samsung might equip the Galaxy Note 9 with an NPU (neural processing unit). That’s essentially an AI chip like Apple and Huawei have begun using in their flagships.
It’s unclear what Samsung would use the chip for, but it could potentially speed up certain functions of the phone.
There’s also a good chance the Note 9’s iris scanner will get an upgrade, with Samsung reportedly upping the lens from 2MP to 3MP for the Galaxy S9, in which case we’d expect at least that for the Note 9. Apparently this will help it identify users in poor lighting, and it’s also said to be faster than before.
And it could also have a new camera. It’s likely to retain the Note 8’s dual-lens camera, but there’s some evidence that the Galaxy S9 could get a variable aperture snapper, meaning it can switch between two different apertures using a single lens, so this feature could also make it to the Note 9.
That’s all we’ve heard so far, but there are some things we’re fairly confident the Galaxy Note 9 will have. For one thing, it’s almost certainly going to have a large curved Super AMOLED display, an S Pen stylus and at least 6GB of RAM, since the Note 8 does.
Based on past models the Note 9 is also likely to sport whatever the top-end Snapdragon or Exynos chipset is at the time of its launch. What we want to see
There are only a few Samsung Galaxy Note 9 rumors so far, but we have a good idea of the sorts of things we want to see from it, such as the following. 1. An in-screen scanner
This has been rumored and it would be a great headline feature for the phone. Having the scanner on the back is awkward, but building it into the screen would both be convenient and the sort of high-tech, futuristic thing that could see the Galaxy Note 9 stand out among other handsets.
We’re pretty sure Samsung is working on it, it’s just a question of whether it’s ready in time for the Note 9’s 2018 launch. 2. Room-filling sound
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8’s single speaker fails to impress
There are plenty of great things about the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, but its speakers aren’t among them.
It has just a single bottom-firing speaker, so for the Note 9 we want at least two speakers, and ideally for them to be positioned on the front of the phone, for sound that travels towards you when you’re looking at the screen.
