The past 12 months have been a tumultuous time for Samsung, what with court cases, political upheavals and the Galaxy Note 7 debacle. You would be forgiven for thinking that the last Note was indeed the last of its line, but the company has said that is not the case. The successor, a much safer and probably much more advanced phablet will launch later this year. However, there’s a bit of confusion surrounding the Galaxy Note 8 launch date; no one knows for sure when that will be.
Galaxy Note 8 launch date confusion
If you have been following the Note 8 story, you will be just as confused as we are. The problem is there’s no definitive answer on the Galaxy Note 8 launch date coming via the South Korean conglomerate. Instead, all we have is information from industry insiders, analysts, and of course, the rumor mill. So how can we determine the truth from the downright inaccurate?
There’s no real way to do so; furthermore, with new information being published almost daily, there’s not even a current consensus. So we’re going to take a look at two of the most recent Galaxy Note 8 launch date stories and try to determine which is the more believable.
IFA Trade Show in September
Just last week, rumors and some industry insiders continued to push the idea that the Galaxy Note 8 launch date could be in September. That’s an important month because the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) Berlin trade show opens its doors on September 1. As Samsung has shown off previous Galaxy Note models at the event previously, the event’s organizers have called upon it to do so again.
The source of this rumor has decided to remain anonymous, but he/she seemed confident that the launch would happen at IFA. However, they added that Samsung may still decide to release some details about the device before September.
If you’re not familiar with the IFA trade show, it runs from September 1 to September 6. If Samsung, like the rumor suggests, is planning on giving us the Galaxy Note 8 launch date at the event, it will probably be at a press conference before the main show, which will give people a chance to get to know it.
How likely is this September launch date? You only have to look to the past to see that Samsung has used the event before. The only time it has ever broken with this tradition was last year when it announced the Note 7 on August 19.
August in New York
Another rumor which is adding to the Galaxy Note 8 launch date confusion is the one that has it occurring in late August. We’ve chosen to forgo the mid-August rumor because there was absolutely no argument for its validity, whereas late August has some meaning and history for the company.
This rumor, published by the South Korean site Naver, has apparently given the Note 8 a solid release date of August 26 in New York City. It goes on to say that Samsung will not repeat last year’s early August launch, although we don’t know why. However, maybe it has something to do with that being when the terrible experience with the Note 7 began. We’ll leave the why to you; however, there’s one good reason why August 26 is also unlikely, and that’s because it falls on a Saturday.
The South Korean tech giant is known for unveiling its handsets at events called Unpacked, which are midweek shows. And that’s what makes a Galaxy Note 8 launch date on the weekend especially unlikely, as it would be standalone. Usually, the company unveils handsets at conferences, but these are multi-product launch shows. The last one was the Mobile Word Congress, so in fact, it could be that Naver is a few days off, meaning that the September launch at IFA is more likely.
To back this theory up, the Naver story/leak suggests that the New York launch information comes via an unnamed Samsung exec. And he/she did give Naver some room for maneuver, indicating that IFA is the place where the Galaxy Note 8 launch date will fall.
So when do you think Samsung is likely to launch the next Note: August or September? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
