Two Korean sources say August is when the Note 8 will launch, with a 6.32-inch screen, twin cameras and stylus ensuring Samsung’s premium flagship launches with the lot.
Although Samsung launched the Note 7 earlier than expected, which was part of the reason why the faulty battery wasn’t found before retail availability, no-one expects the Note 8 to suffer the same notable fate.
This time, rumours are rife that Apple’s iPhone 8 or Pro model could be delayed, due to any number of reasons, be it memory or display shortages, or issues with the Touch ID sensor, or whatever else the rumour sites throw up - while at the same time promising the most exciting iPhone lineup ever, in its 10th anniversary year - putting pressure on Samsung to hit a Note 8 home run.
August 23 is the date the Note 8 is expected to launch, a date confirmed by Korean site “The Bell (page Google translated to English)”, another Korean site called The Investor quotes an unnamed Samsung executive refusing to specifically confirm August 23 while nevertheless stating the Note 8 would be “unveiled later next month in New York.”
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However, Note 8 sales aren’t expected to start until early September - which is the IFA 2017 timeframe (first week of September) that Samsung reportedly originally wanted to hold the Note 8 launch.
So, whether actual retail Note 8 units will be in customer hands before the 2017 iPhone 7s, 7s Plus and 8/Pro models are also launched with a presumed delayed before retail availability is yet to be seen, but Samsung does like to launch before any new iPhone so as to maximise pre-orders.
If the Note 8 has a 6.32-inch Infinity Display screen, that will be larger than the 6.2-inch screen of the S8+, which is that little bit extra for Samsung’s Note stylus to write upon.
The Bell says that the Note 8 style “appears to be equipped with a sophisticated, soft writing feel and various functions,” while “translation services and image related functions seem to have become more diversified.”
Samsung’s artificially intelligent assistant, Bixby, will obviously be available for Korean speakers, but whether an English or Chinese version of Bixby will be ready in time is not yet known.
That said, The Bell quotes consumers wanting Bixby to work with more apps, and notes the release of an SDK at a Samsung Developer Forum to be held in San Francisco in October.
If true, that will certainly help Bixby better interact with more third party apps as developers integrate its capabilities, but whether that will be of much use to Bixby users during the rest of 2017 is unknown.
There’s also the potentially disappointing news that an under-screen fingerprint scanner will not make it into the Note 8, with imagery suggesting it will still be on the back of the Note 8. However, until the launch goes live, we don’t know for sure.
The Bell makes note of the Note 8 being used as a “tablet PC”, so whether this is simply because of its larger size, or perhaps because it will work in a better way with a Note 8 compatible DeX unit is something we’ll find out, presumably on the August 23 date.
Another reason for wanting to accelerate Note 8 sales is to make up for reports of S8 sales being “about 20% lower than the S7,” at least at this moment in time, according to 9to5Google, with excitement over the Note 8 expected to put a rocket up Samsung's smartphone sales.
We can only hope that the Note 8 is much more than simply an S8+ with stylus, and hope that Samsung has managed to keep some great features and benefits under wraps as surprises, while ensuring no repeat of the battery issues of its predecessor.
Until then, there are six or so weeks to go before the Note 8 is unveiled, in what will be the most powerful stylus-equipped handset yet - unless Apple decides to allow its Pencil to work with 2017 iPhone models, in which case the battle of the stylish smartphone stylii will commence!