Ahead of the release, there was a good amount of criticism regarding the launch of the Galaxy S9. As more and more specifications were leaked and revealed, it became pretty apparent that Samsung would be playing it safe with the Galaxy S9 – a decision that has seemed to result in poor sales for their brand new flagship. Due to the lack of hype surrounding their new phone, Samsung may move the Galaxy Note 9 launch date earlier in the year.
This news regarding the Galaxy Note 9 launch date comes from The Korea Herald’s Investor, which cited industry sources close to the company. While this is a rumor that hasn’t been confirmed in any way by the company themselves, it’s clear that the company is disappointed in the performance of the S9 – an occurrence which may prompt moving the Galaxy Note 9 launch date earlier in the year.
According to these sources, Samsung Display will start manufacturing OLED display modules for the Galaxy Note 9 next month, which is two months earlier than we usually see this sort of ramp up. This might mean we’ll see the release of the Galaxy Note 9 just a few months after the release of the S9 – with some expecting a Galaxy Note 9 launch date of sometime in July. Firmware development for the Note 9 had also reportedly been started roughly two weeks earlier than usual, with the process starting last week.
Apparently, the design of the Galaxy Note 9 will only be finalized at the end of the month. This is a shocking departure from the usual development process of Samsung – who usually has their designs locked down at least five months before they start mass production. This appears to be due to the company’s insistence on including an in-screen fingerprint sensor, which will mark the first time we’ve seen the tech from Samsung upon the Galaxy Note 9 launch date. Whether or not this tech makes the cut remains to be seen, but it could certainly be the draw that the phone needs to impress users where the Galaxy S9 failed
According to industry sources, the Galaxy Note 9 will feature a 6.38-inch Super AMOLED screen that is slightly larger than what we saw on its predecessor. Outside of that, we don’t have too much information regarding specifications, but it’s likely that the phone will ship with the Snapdragon 845 processor, seeing as that’s the newest model from Qualcomm and was also included in the Galaxy S9.
In addition to the pressure from failing Galaxy S9 sales, the Galaxy Note 9 launch date is likely being pushed up in order to account for Apple releasing their new flagships sometime around September. While the iPhone X only released in November due to issues sourcing certain materials needed for their 3D camera technologies, it appears as if Apple has the issues ironed out and is looking to get back to their usual September release schedule. By moving the Galaxy Note 9 launch date into July, the company will be able to capitalize on the lull in major smartphone releases and perhaps see much better sales than they saw with the Galaxy S9.
If there’s one thing that’s clear about the Galaxy Note 9 launch date, it’s that it has to bring us something special. While Samsung did innovate in some ways with the S9 – namely with improvements to their already-spectacular camera – the phone was largely iterative. It looked the same, had the same features, and had a bump in performance that, while noticeable, wasn’t significant enough to warrant the purchase of an entirely new phone if you were already happily using the Galaxy S8.
With the release of the Galaxy S9, Samsung played it safe, which is not necessarily a bad decision when they have a formula that works for them and has driven significant sales in the past. However, with how expensive phones are starting to become, there really needed to be a stronger draw than a slightly better camera in order to convince users to give the phone an honest try. With the Galaxy Note 9 launch date, Samsung has the chance to impress users once again with new features that make their phones an obvious buy. The in-display fingerprint scanner is certainly a start, but that doesn’t really come close to the type of innovation that we saw, say, from the Galaxy Note 9 for example.
As we get closer the Galaxy Note 9 launch date, we should see more leaks and reliable rumors regarding what we can expect from the phone. At the end of the day, the main takeaway from this news is that Samsung is disappointed with the Galaxy S9 sales, and a lot is riding on the Galaxy Note 9 launch date to bring their phones back into the spotlight.