“Here is a lowdown on everything we know so far about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 9”
Samsung has made it clear that it’s going to launch a new smartphone on August 9th at an event in New York City. Seeing the time of year, it isn’t tough for anyone to guess which handset we’ll be getting to see at this much-awaited gala. On the said date, we will get our first glimpse of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, but we already have a good idea about the phone and what we can expect from it. This is all thanks to the leaks that have been pouring in over the last few months. Based on them, here’s a look at what you can expect from the phone.
Table of Contents
Design and display
From a distance, the Galaxy Note 9 should look exactly like the Note 8 from what we know so far. However, that doesn’t mean that it will be devoid of any design changes. The biggest addition that is being touted is a dedicated camera shutter button. This is of course in addition to the Bixby button that will indeed make a comeback. There’s no word on how this camera button will be used though, but there is some gossip hinting towards its purpose not just being clicking photos, but also capturing videos and screenshots. The front of this Samsung handset will take the same no-notch approach of the company’s other flagships. Fans of bezel-less screens will hence appreciate this design choice a great deal. The display will apparently be a dual-curved Super AMOLED panel with Quad HD+ resolution and an aspect ratio of 18.5:9.
Coming to the back of the device, only a small change is expected here. While the Note 8 had the fingerprint scanner placed beside its dual camera module, the new device could have it below the camera. With this decision, Samsung would address a major criticism that it had received due to the awkward placement of the sensor on the previous handset. There was indeed talk about an under-display fingerprint scanner being prepped by Samsung for the Note 9, but that seemingly won’t be happening.
A patent filing for the same had brought forth the possibility of Samsung equipping its latest handset with the technology, but recent leaks have hinted otherwise. It is perhaps the Galaxy S10 which will be released early next year that will get the said technology. A recent leak had also revealed the Galaxy Note 9 will be available in black, blue, grey, lavender and brown colour options.
A big update to the S Pen
The S Pen stylus hasn’t seen any major changes over the past few years, but that’s about to change apparently. Rumours are saying that the accessory will be equipped with Bluetooth technology this time around. This will open up a number of possibilities for additional features, such as the ability to click group photos from a distance, the facility to play/pause music and more. A recent leak also revealed that the accessory will have a fine tip with support for 4,096 levels detection.
Better dual cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S9 series introduced several interesting camera features, so you can definitely expect them to be carried forward onto the Note 9. The most important one among them is, of course, the dual aperture lenses that enable better low-light photography, among other things. A recent leaked promotional material tipped that the smartphone will have variable aperture support between f/1.5 and f/2.4. Also in the mix will be support for AR Emoji. Moreover, the ability to capture super slow-motion clips at 960fps is very likely to make its way into the device. Additionally, the camera app will also warn you about blurry images or if someone blinked while taking photos. We’re not sure whether the resolution of the cameras will see a bump or not, but we can indeed expect some betterments in the processing department.
Internal specs
Models of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 that will be sold in South Korea and the US will come equipped with the Snapdragon 845 chipset, while those sold in other regions will get the in-house Exynos 9810 Octa SoC. These are the same chipsets that the Galaxy S9 range sports and no proof is needed to know whether they are capable enough to handle the heavy operations of the upcoming device. It seems Samsung has decided to go overboard with the storage options of the Note 9. There are rumours of a 512GB model being prepped for deployment, alongside 256GB and 64GB variants. While the 64GB model will come with 6GB of RAM, the other two are being touted to get 8GB modules. Samsung is also speculated to offer the Note 9 with support for up to 1TB microSD card.
A recent leak also suggested that the smartphone will come with an updated DeX mode. The upgraded DeX functionality will now require a single HDMI cable, so there’s no need for an additional accessory to use this feature.
A large battery
A number of sources have come forward in asserting that a 4,000mAh battery will be inside this device. This could mean that the Note 9 will be able to go through a couple of days without charging. Since the S Pen stylus will supposedly come with Bluetooth, it will need to be charged as well. The obvious prediction at this point is that it will keep charging when it’s inserted into the slot. This explains the need for a larger battery.
Price and availability
Like we said, August 9th is the date on which the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will be unveiled in the US. Its pricing is expected to stay similar to that of the Note 8 series. However, the UK pricing of the handset has been leaked recently. The 128GB storage variant is said to be priced at £900 (~Rs 80,000), while the top-end 512GB model could retail for £1,100 (~Rs 97,800). And as for its India launch, there are rumours that the smartphone will go up for pre-orders starting August 19th and will allegedly retail with a starting price of Rs 72,990.
