After the disaster of the Galaxy Note 7, there was speculation over whether or not Samsung would produce a sequel to the phablet. But Samsung mobile chief DJ Koh has publicly confirmed that the Note series will indeed return with the Galaxy Note 8 later this year, with Koh suggesting that this device will be “better, better, safer and very innovative”.

Galaxy Note 8 Schematic leaked

It is some time until we can expect the Galaxy Note 8 to appear, with the device expected to be released in August. But leaks this week have provided the first solid information on this forthcoming device. A Chinese website has published a schematic drawing of the Galaxy Note 8, while specs of the device are also included. Of course, this must be taken with a pinch of salt, but the consensus of the Android-following community is that the leak seems fairly authentic.

The story has been picked up by Slashleaks, with the publication suggesting that the Galaxy Note 8 will be a 6.4-inch phablet. It is also believed that Samsung will finally bow to popular pressure and imbue the smartphone with 4K resolution. A dual-edged curved display is also predicted for this next generation mobile; a design feature which had previously been prominent in the Galaxy S7 Edge.

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Among the reported specs is also the suggestion that the Galaxy Note 8 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, at least in the Western marketplace. Samsung will be, once again, relying on its own proprietary hardware in East Asia, with an Exynos 8895 processor fitted in Galaxy Note 8 units intended for this region.

RAM increase

Slashleaks also suggests that the Galaxy Note 8 will feature 6GB of RAM memory. This is a quantity that has been linked with the Galaxy S8, but it is now believed that Samsung will instead opt for merely 4GB. This would enable the corporation to distinguish between the two devices, with the Galaxy Note 8 once again being provided with superior specs, as well as the inclusion of the popular S Pen stylus.

One spec linked with the Galaxy Note 8 from this particular leak that may not come to fruition is the suggestion that there will be 256GB of expandable internal storage. More likely is that the Galaxy Note 8 will feature 64GB of storage, with the usual micro SD provision available.

Home button gone

More interesting to note is the design of the Galaxy Note 8 in the schematic drawing, with the Home button conspicuous by its absence. It has long been anticipated that both Samsung and Apple will remove this familiar feature from releases in 2017, and this latest leak certainly seems to confirm this likelihood with the Galaxy Note 8.

Other physical reorganisation is also visible in the schematic, with the front camera sensor along with an iris sensor seemingly present on top of the device. The bottom of the unit will house the speaker system included, with anlaysts generally expecting a stereo sound setup to make the most of Samsung having purchased the Harman Kardon brand.

Bixby button

An interesting inclusion is a dedicated button to launch the debuting Bixby personal assistant. It will be interesting to see precisely what functionality this new software innovation delivers when the Galaxy S8 is launched in the coming weeks. Perhaps by the time of the Galaxy Note 8, this feature will have been significantly refined, but we will still get an indication of the capabilities of the AI in the Galaxy Note 8 from its S8 cousin.

Meanwhile, the schematic also predicts that Samsung will include a slot in this device to house the stylus, while a USB type-C port is also noticeable. It is intriguing to note that that the 3.5mm headphone jack that Apple was willing to jettison in the iPhone 7 is still part of the Galaxy Note 8 design, at least in this schematic. Whether this will actually come to fruition remains to be seen, but it could be that Samsung has been paying particular heed to the vocal opposition among some Apple users to the abandonment of this traditional feature.

Two models

Another report this week has suggested that Samsung will release two models of the Galaxy Note 8 when the phablet hits the stores. This would seem to be a very credible suggestion, as the smartphone marketplace is becoming increasingly fragmented, forcing even the major players to cover as many bases as possible. Apple is widely expected to release three iPhone models simultaneously for the first time in its history this year, and Samsung will quite possibly follow suit in diversifying the Galaxy Note 8 range.

Nonetheless, analysts believe that the Galaxy Note 8 models will both feature dual-edged curved displays similar to that of the existing Galaxy S7 Edge. This obviously means that there will be no flatscreen Galaxy Note 8, but it shouldn’t be a huge problem considering the popularity of Samsung’s curved display technology.

Dream and Dream 2

The Guardian newspaper in Britain reports that the codenames of the two Galaxy Note 8 phablets are Dream and Dream 2, with the latter apparently the smaller of the two smartphones. The displays included in the two devices curve down both the right and left sides of the mobile, while The Guardian also reveals other aspects of the design.

In particular, the larger displays included in these designs can be attributed to the bezel-less design linked with the Galaxy Note 8. This approach is so distinctive that it will be impossible to even etch a Samsung logo into the front of the device. Even the top and bottom bezels, as imagined by this report, are considered to be extremely small, with it also necessary for the fingerprint scanner to be relocated to the rear of the device.

The exploding battery of the Galaxy Note 7 has undoubtedly placed pressure on Samsung to deliver with the Galaxy Note 8. But it also seems that the company looks on this as an opportunity to reimagine what this phablet represents and delivers.