Samsung usually unveils new Galaxy S phones in March and Galaxy Note phablets in August. But the Korean company will be changing the launch schedule with the Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy S10 for a couple of reasons. We have heard earlier that the Note 9 could be unveiled in late July or early August. Reiterating previous rumors, The Korea Herald reports that Samsung is going to speed up the release schedule with its upcoming flagship phones.
Citing industry sources, The Korea Herald says the Galaxy Note 9 could be unveiled in July and hit the store shelves in August. Samsung will reportedly unveil the Galaxy S10 (or whatever it’s called at launch) at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early January next year. The Korean company is apparently speeding up its release schedule to make room for the much-awaited foldable smartphone Galaxy X, which is coming out next year.
Sources told The Korea Herald that Samsung is planning to bring the Galaxy Note 9 earlier than usual because of less-than-stellar consumer response to the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus. The early Note 9 release would also give the phablet a few weeks of additional time on the store shelves before the iPhone X successors arrive.
Sources at component suppliers told the publication that Samsung Display started mass producing the 6.38-inch Super AMOLED displays for the Galaxy Note 9 in April, a couple of months earlier than the Galaxy Note 8 display entered production last year. The Note 8 went on sale on September 15th last year. Some industry sources believe the Note 9’s early launch is part of Samsung’s strategy to ensure that its product is unaffected by Apple’s new iPhones.
The Galaxy S10 will be unveiled at the CES in early January because Samsung wants to introduce the foldable Galaxy X at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in late February. Samsung is developing the Galaxy S10 under the code-name ‘Beyond.’ The phone is rumored to look similar to the Galaxy S9 with a Super AMOLED Infinity display, but it will bring useful new technologies.
Recent reports suggest that the Galaxy S10 would feature an in-display fingerprint sensor and 5G support. It will likely be powered by Qualcomm’s next-gen Snapdragon 855 processor. Twitter tipster Ice Universe has learned from supply chain sources that the S10 would have a ridiculously high screen-to-body ratio of 93%, up from nearly 84% on the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus. It is also said to have a display resolution of higher than 600ppi.
Samsung Display is said to start supplying foldable OLED panels for the Galaxy X in November. Previous reports have claimed that the Galaxy X would launch in limited quantities (500,000 to 2 million units) in Samsung’s home country. Depending on the consumer response, Samsung could launch it in other markets towards the end of 2019. DJ Koh, the head of Samsung’s mobile business, has assured fans that the Galaxy X will not be a mere gimmick. It will be a fully-functioning and useful device.
The Galaxy Note 9, on the other hand, is going to be a boring upgrade. Its design and form factor will be similar to the Note 8 with a few “small adjustment,” says Ice Universe. The phablet will likely have a vertically aligned dual camera system on the back. It is said to launch without the in-display fingerprint sensor, which means the fingerprint scanner will remain on the back panel.
The Note 9 is going to have a 6.38-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED Infinity display with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. It would run the Exynos 9810 or Snapdragon 845 processor depending on the market. Other features include a 3.5mm headphone jack, an IP68 rating for water-resistance, wireless charging, a microSD card slot, and dual-SIM functionality. It would have at least 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. It would borrow the super slo-mo and variable apertures from the Galaxy S9 Plus camera.
The phone will bring a few exciting upgrades, though. For instance, it is rumored to pack a massive 3,850mAh battery, which should easily last more than a day of normal usage. Inside sources told Ice Universe that Samsung would introduce a new Crown UX interface with the Galaxy Note 9. The Crown UX is said to be a major improvement over the current Experience UX skin.
Samsung has said in the past that the Galaxy Note 9 would come with an improved Bixby 2.0 AI assistant, which would be a “bold reinvention” of the Bixby platform. Now the head of Samsung Research’s AI Center, Gray Lee has confirmed that Bixby 2.0 would debut with the Note 9. During a press conference, Lee said the Bixby 2.0 would offer quicker response times, enhanced natural language processing, and improved noise resistance.
Samsung is said to be testing Bixby 2.0 with more than 800 partners around the world. Lee said the company will expand its AI-related workforce to about 1,000 and set up AI centers in different parts of the world.
