Samsung has done it again as the fourth generation of the Samsung Galaxy Note series and its brother with curved display both top the phablet market. However, the reign of Samsung's line may not be for long since more smartphone-tablet hybrids have already entered the arena and even more are expected to come out soon.
Both Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Edge pack significant improvements compared to their predecessors. The two phablets share almost the same specs and features, including a 5.6-inch quad HD Super AMOLED screen display with 571 ppi, although Samsung Galaxy Note Edge comes with a unique curved screen display. For power, the smartphones rely on 2.7 GHz octa-core Snapdragon 805 processor paired with 3 GB of RAM.
As for storage, both smartphones have 32 GB and 64 GB storage variants and microSD slot of up to 64 GB. At the back, the Note 4 and Edge come with 16-megapixel rear-facing camera with optical image stabilization and 3.7-megapixel front-facing camera. Other features of the phablets are 3220 mAh battery, Android 4.4 KitKat, heart rate monitor and a fingerprint sensor embedded into the Home button, S-Pen stylus, and TouchWiz user interface.
The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge costs $399 under a 2-year contract, which is $100 more than the $299 upfront price of the Galaxy Note 4 with a new 2-year contract.
Samsung pioneered the release of phablets and has been the best choice in the category, but new phablets have since been introduced in the market that contends with Note's popularity and dominance. Thus, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 may be dethroned by its new competitors in the phablet category.
Samsung already suffered a dent on its profits due to the low sales of its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5. A big threat to Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge is Apple's iPhone 6 Plus that boasts specs and features that are at par with Samsung's phablet. Furthermore, other phablets are set to be introduced at the different tech events slated in early 2015. Competitors Sony and HTC are rumored to announce their own flagship handsets next year.
