Samsung’s next flagship will be the Galaxy Note 8, and that’s hardly a secret. The Korean smartphone maker confirmed that it’s not killing the Note line despite what happened last year, and we’ve already seen a bunch of reports detailing some of the Galaxy Note 8’s new features. But the newest rumor may bring the best news of all, because it seems to indicate the phone could hit stores even sooner than we expected.
According to Galaxy Club’s sources, the Galaxy Note 8 will feature an Infinity display similar to the gorgeous screen on the Galaxy S8. If there’s one “confirmed” feature of the Galaxy Note 8, it’s the screen. After all, the Infinity display is the Galaxy S8’s best feature.
The report also says the Galaxy Note 8 will be tested running Android 7.1.1. That’s an important detail because it indicates that the phone will not launch with Android O out of the box. That could imply that Samsung won’t have access to the final version of Android O in time for the Galaxy Note 8’s launch. It’s unlikely for Samsung to run Nougat on the Galaxy Note 8 during testing and then launch it running Android O.
If the report is accurate, it means Samsung doesn’t plan to delay the Galaxy Note 8’s launch for too long. Some earlier reports said the Galaxy Note 8 may be unveiled later than the expected late August or early September timeframe because Samsung wants to take extra care that it doesn’t repeat any of its mistakes from last year with the Note 7.
Android O, meanwhile, should debut at some point in the third quarter of the year, just ahead of the Pixel 2’s arrival.
