We’re just two days away from the Samsung Unpacked event where the company is expected to release the Galaxy Note 9, and the leaks just keep coming. Given that we’ve seen detailed images of the phone, specs, the box, and even hands-on videos, you’d think that there’s nothing left to leak.
We’re just two days away from the Samsung Unpacked event where the company is expected to release the Galaxy Note 9, and the leaks just keep coming. Given that we’ve seen detailed images of the phone, specs, the box, and even hands-on videos, you’d think that there’s nothing left to leak. But never underestimate Samsung’s ability to leak things that you didn’t even know could leak, like a bunch of promo materials that look like they belong on Samsung’s official website.
A series of images have been posted by SamMobile claiming to show the marketing assets for the Galaxy Note 9. They look exactly like the images that Samsung puts up on its website to show off the features of a new device, but honestly, we know so much about this phone by now that they could be mock-ups put together using Photoshop and a spare 20 minutes of time.
Assuming that the images are real, they confirm some of the most interesting features that we’re expecting to see on the Galaxy Note 9. There’s a whole slide dedicated to the “all new Bluetooth enabled S Pen, now with intelligence for ultimate control,” as well as details on an AI-powered camera feature, Samsung DeX, and the dual-aperture camera with a “T” design, fingerprint situated just below.
At this point, there’s really nothing left to know about the phone that will surprise us. By all accounts, the hardware is broadly similar to the Galaxy Note 8, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It seems like the S Pen and camera are likely to be the biggest hardware upgrades — something that this latest batch of leaks supports — and the rest of the compelling features are going to be software-powered or add-ons.
It seems as if Samsung’s strategy for selling the Galaxy Note 9 is going to revolve around the add-on extras, like the S Pen. We’ve also heard that hit game Fortnite is going to be an exclusive to Samsung on Android devices, which will help sell it. Samsung may also give extra perks like in-game currency and free headphones to anyone who pre-orders the Note 9, which would line up with Samsung’s previous pre-order strategy.
At this point, the biggest questions are still the price and the release date. We know with almost perfect certainty that Samsung is going to unveil the Galaxy Note 9 on stage on August 9th, and pre-orders are likely to open on the 9th, or possibly the first Friday afterwards. The real question is how much it will cost; it’ll be expensive, without a doubt, but Samsung may choose to undercut the $999 iPhone X by a symbolic amount, or just blow through the $1,000 barrier and really go for broke.
