Despite the Note 7 fiasco, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is happening. Samsung confirmed during its latest quarterly earnings call that it was working on a safer, better, and more innovative Galaxy Note 8. The phablet has been subject to multiple leaks and rumors over the last few months. Now a Chinese tipster has leaked a video showing the Note 8’s front panel.
Check out the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Infinity display
Twitter user @mmddj_china, who has leaked images of several unannounced devices in the past, has posted a nine-second video of the Note 8 display panel. It sports an edge-to-edge Infinity display with no side bezels. Samsung currently uses the Infinity display on the current flagship Galaxy S8, which has an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is expected to have a similar aspect ratio.
Note8? pic.twitter.com/aZPsIevLbF
— 电流_Current (@MMDDJ_) May 25, 2017
The handset still has slim bezels on top and bottom, which means the front panel is not going to look like a single piece of glass. The Android Soul points out that the iris scanner is missing from the front panel, even though past leaks confirmed the feature for the Note 8. The Galaxy S8 features both the iris scanner and facial recognition for security, besides the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. However, the iris scanner can easily be hacked, as demonstrated by the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) earlier this week.
The video does not reveal the phone’s display size. The Galaxy S8 Plus has a display size of 6.2-inch with a screen-to-body ratio of 83%. The Note 8 should have a bigger screen than the S8 Plus. According to the rumor mill, the Note 8 will have a 6.3-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display with 2560 x 1440p resolution. TechRadar expects the Note 8 to feature a 4K display, which would help enhance the virtual reality experience. But a 4K display would consume a lot of battery power.
Will Galaxy Note 8 dual camera be better than iPhone 8?
Earlier this week, folks at Concept Creator posted a video showing a 3D printed mockup of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. The device appears to be slimmer than the Galaxy S8. The mockup sports a vertical dual camera system on the back, with a dual LED flash sitting below the cameras. Interestingly, the render also has a dual camera setup on the front to allow users to take better selfies. It is unclear how the front dual camera would work.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, the rear dual camera will be the Note 8’s “most important upgrade.” The analyst predicts that the Note 8 dual camera system will be superior to the iPhone 7 Plus. It could even challenge the iPhone 8’s dual camera system in terms of picture quality, said Kuo. The analyst is well-connected within the Asian smartphone industry supply chain.
KGI Securities says the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 dual camera would include a 12MP wide-angle CIS with a dual photodiode (2PD), a 13MP telephoto lens, and 3x optical zoom. Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone is also said to feature an upgraded dual camera system, closing the gap between smartphone cameras and DSLRs. The Note 8 will be Samsung’s first flagship smartphone with dual cameras. It would be interesting to see how it fares against the iPhone 8.
Fingerprint sensor to be integrated into the display
Concept Creator’s mockup does not include a fingerprint sensor on the front or back panel. It means Samsung would likely embed the fingerprint scanner under the display. The company was close to putting it under the display of Galaxy S8, but had run out of time to embed it successfully. The Note 8 is still a few months away, giving Samsung plenty of time to figure out how to integrate the fingerprint sensor into the display.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is said to be powered by Snapdragon 835 and Exynos 8895 processors depending on the region. The American market will likely get the Snapdragon version. The rumor mill suggests that the Note 8 would feature 6GB RAM and up to 256GB of built-in storage. It will also feature an S Pen stylus, a dedicated button for Bixby, a USB Type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The device is rumored to come with a 3700mAh battery pack.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 release date
The massive success of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus has given Samsung a confidence boost. The company has convinced consumers that the Note 7 battery fiasco was due to a manufacturing error, which has been fixed. With Note 8, Samsung is expected to set a new bar in terms of innovation and performance.
Samsung hasn’t revealed when it will announce the Galaxy Note 8, but the company is unlikely to rush things this time. IFA executive director Jens Heithecker recently said that the IFA trade show would be an ideal place for the Korean giant to announce its next flagship. Heithecker added that Samsung would have the largest presence at the trade show this year.
