The release of Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 has been anticipated since the company announced in January that they will continue with the Note series even after the battery failures of the Note 7. Recently, Dongjin Koh, president of Samsung's mobile division revealed to members of the media that the Note 8 will be launched in late August. Meanwhile a new leak shows the design of the flagship phone has been changed from an earlier leak, and now features narrower borders.
According to a report from SamMobile, the executive, while speaking at a meet and greet event with local media in Taiwan, said that after the launch in late August, the Note 8 will begin shipping to the first batch of consumer markets beginning September. Other markets not included in the first batch would have to wait for the second wave of release in October. Koh did not reveal the exact date, nor the location of the launch. The company has also yet to confirm the specifications of the upcoming phone.
In the meantime, a new leak posted by Ice Universe reveals that there may have been changes in the design of the Galaxy Note 8's screen. It posted via Twitter a photo of the Galaxy Note8 "v2.0," which sports curved edges that are sharper compared to the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus' softer curved screens. One reason for this change may be to reduce the distortion caused by the curved display.
The upcoming phablet (combination of phone and tablet) will feature a large 6.3-inch screen. The physical home button has been taken out in favor of more screen space. It will also be the first Samsung flagship phone to feature dual cameras, a trend among high end smartphones that the company decided against with the S8 and S8 Plus.
The Galaxy Note 8 will determine if Samsung successfully bounces back following two reported battery fires from the Note 7, which forced them to issue a recall for the said device. The company has since employed new safety testing procedures that they implemented with the S8 and S8 Plus, and so far, both devices have been incident-free.
