Launch of New Galaxy Note
Samsung Electronics plans to release the Galaxy Note 8 series in the second half of the year after the Galaxy S8 and S8 Edge to be launched in April. Despite the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco last year, the company has decided not to dump its Note brand.
An official from the electronics industry said on January 2, “The Galaxy Note 7 was very popular before user reports began circulating about devices that exploded or caught on fire while charging. As the phablet market, which was developed by Samsung Electronics, has been growing, the company will release the Note series this year again.” The phablet a class of mobile computing devices designed to combine or straddle the size format of smartphones and tablets.
The Galaxy S8, which is expected to hit the market in April, will feature Samsung’s artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, tentatively named “Bixby.” The Galaxy Note 8 will add ultra-definition VR feature and improved styleus feature as well as Bixby. Samsung will decide on the release date of the Galaxy Note 8 after considering those of the previous models – the Galaxy Note 7 on August 19, 2016, the Galaxy Note 5 on August 20 and the Galaxy Note 4 on September 26. However, some say that the company should launch the Galaxy Note 8 early, while others say that it should set the release date carefully. Samsung also considers its plans to upgrade and improve the security of the iris authentication system which was included in the Galaxy Note 7 and made a hit.
An official from a Samsung Electronics’ partner company said, “Samsung will introduce 2K resolution displays in the Galaxy S8, but it will use 4K resolution displays in the Galaxy Note 8 to realize improved virtual reality (VR) functions. I heard that it will connect with new Gear VR wearable.”
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics will release the results of the Galaxy Note7 fire investigation by the end of this month. It is rumored that the root cause of the fire is not a simple battery problem but it is an electronic hardware design problem. The investigation was conducted by U.S.-based safety organization UL. Samsung is highly likely to reveal the probe results along with the independent investigation that the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) asked to the Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL).