The rumor mill has so far been unclear on when Samsung will officially announce the Galaxy Note 8, but new reports have finally pegged a date for the smartphone's unveiling.
Earlier this month, a report claimed that Samsung was looking to launch the Galaxy Note 8 in August to be able to debut ahead of the next iPhone models of rival Apple. It seems that the company will achieve this goal.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 To Launch In Aug. 26
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Samsung is planning to hold a launch event in New York City for the Galaxy Note 8 in the second half of August.
A succeeding report by Korean website Naver then nailed the specific date that Samsung is targeting for the event, which is Aug. 26. The date was revealed by a Samsung official.
While Naver can be considered as a reliable source, the fact that Aug. 26 falls on a Saturday reduces confidence in the date. This is because Samsung usually holds its product announcements, called Unpacked events, in the middle of the week. Samsung only launches products on weekends when part of a conference, and the closest major event to Aug. 26 is the IFA 2017 in Berlin, which kicks off on Sept. 1.
IFA 2017 was reported as one of the possible events when Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Note 8, as the company has launched Galaxy Note smartphones in previous IFA events. The Samsung official told Naver that the scheduled date could move by a few days, which means that there is still a chance that the company will unveil the Galaxy Note 8 in separate events in Berlin and New York City.
Samsung Learns From Galaxy Note 7 Fiasco
Whether Aug. 26 is the exact date of the Galaxy Note 8 unveiling or another date in late August, it appears that Samsung has learned its lesson from the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 7 in early August last year, with the company rushing the release of the smartphone to give it a significant lead time before Apple released the iPhone 7. However, the move backfired for the company, as the Galaxy Note 7 was recalled twice and eventually shut down due to exploding batteries.
The Galaxy Note 8 is a very important product for Samsung, as it is the company's chance to move the public image of the Galaxy Note line away from the Galaxy Note 7's burning batteries. The extra time that Samsung has given to the Galaxy Note 8 should help the company avoid another embarrassment for the upcoming smartphone while still beating the iPhone 7s and iPhone 8 to the market.
However, despite the extra time, it is unclear if Samsung was able to fix the worst feature of the Galaxy S8 before carrying it over to the Galaxy Note 8. This feature is the fingerprint scanner, which was placed at the back of the Galaxy S8. The sensor's location made it awkward to reach and exposed the camera lens to the risk of constant smudges from the user's fingers.
Samsung apparently ran into trouble in embedding the Galaxy Note 8's fingerprint scanner under its display, forcing the company to keep the sensor at the back of the smartphone. Whether that is true, however, will be revealed in just over a month's time.
