With the Galaxy Note 9 expected to launch in August, many are eagerly anticipating what is shaping up to be an excellent Android handset. The latest rumors surrounding the upcoming flagship come from a couple of different Twitter users and describe what we might see from the size of the battery and display.
Twitter user Ice Universe, who has provided reliable information about Samsung releases in the past, has stated that the Galaxy Note 9 will ship with either a 3850 or 4000 mAh – making it larger than the power supply included in the Note 8 in either case. With phones continuing to become thinner and displays getting larger and more impressive, many are wondering how exactly Samsung plans to find space for this larger battery with space already at a major premium, and some are speculating that it may be due to the inclusion of an in-display fingerprint sensor.
Note 9:
4000mAh or 3850mAh— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) April 11, 2018
There have been conflicting rumors around the web regarding whether or not we’ll actually see an in-display fingerprint sensor with the release of the Galaxy Note 9, with some experts convinced it will be a main feature on the upcoming phone and others believing we’ll have to wait until the next generation of phones to see this unique and convenient aspect implemented. Whether or not we see this new sort of fingerprint sensor remains to be seen, but it would be a welcome alternative to Samsung’s choice to include the fingerprint scanner on the rear of the device with their recent flagships – a decision made out of necessity as bezels continue to shrink in trend with the rest of the high-end smartphone industry. Information regarding a patent filing seems to confirm that Samsung has an in-display scanner in the works for the Galaxy Note 9, but reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has stated that it isn’t ready for production just yet.
The other recent rumor comes from Twitter user @MMDDJ_ who states that the size of the phone’s screen will increase to 6.4-inches from the 6.3-inch size we saw on the Note 8. It’s not a huge size increase and will likely not be noticeable by the average user, but it may suggest some sort of design change – although, given the company’s recent track record, we shouldn’t expect anything too revolutionary.
Samsung GALAXY Note9:6.4inch
— 萌萌的电教 (@MMDDJ_) April 10, 2018
Many believe that the increase in the Galaxy Note 9 display size will be due to continually shrinking bezels. As the demand for larger phone screens continues to grow, companies are looking for any way to maximize screen real estate without making the phone so unwieldy that it’s difficult to hold, and shrinking bezels is the main way to do that (at least until we see the release of the foldable Galaxy X which Apple has hinted at several times over the last couple of years.) Another reason for the potential increase in size is the reported inclusion of an in-display fingerprint scanner, which may require a little extra space to integrate into a phone where space is at a premium.
Samsung has a lot riding on the success of this phone after lackluster sales for the Galaxy S9 – a device that, while many conceded was an improvement, didn’t offer much in terms of new features. With the S9, Samsung focused on refining the camera only to have up and comer Huawei surpass the device’s capabilities with the release of the P20 Pro. The slow sales of the S9 may have even prompted the company to push up the release of the Galaxy Note 9, and unless the company is to pull out all of the stops with their upcoming flagship it’s possible that they could lose this generation to competitors like Apple. A Galaxy Note 9 fin-display fingerprint scanner would certainly be a start that would help differentiate the phone from competitors, but that will some be standard on the majority of high-end flagships as technology continues to advance. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Samsung has anything as revolutionary as Apple’s FaceID up their sleeves – at least for their main lines of phones – and that may come back to bite them.
As mentioned above, we should see a Galaxy Note 9 release date sometime in August. This release window should put it a little bit ahead of the release of the next iPhone – perhaps leading to some more sales from the platform-agnostic crowd. However, after the disappointing sales and reviews of the Galaxy S9 many are concerned that the company may have lost its edge. Samsung has arrived at a formula that works well for them, but when companies like Apple and Huawei are pulling out all the stops and innovating in a major way, playing its safe may not be enough. We’ll have to see what the Galaxy Note 9 has in store as we get closer to that eventual release date.
