We’re not expecting to see the Galaxy Note 9 unveiled until the end of summer or early fall, but that means it’s just about the time for major leaks and rumors to start showing up. Right on cue, a mysterious Samsung device has shown up on the Geekbench database with exactly the specs we’re expecting to see on the Galaxy Note 9. What a coincidence!
The mystery device shows up in the database as the Samsung SM-N960U, which lines up correctly with Samsung’s model numbering system to be the Galaxy Note 9. It shows a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, 6GB of RAM, and Android 8.1 as the operating system.
The result showed up in Geekbench’s database of tests, and was spotted by Slashleaks. Results are generated from runs of the Geekbench benchmarking app on individual devices, which scores single-core and multi-core performance and allows comparison of computing power between different devices.
Interestingly, the single-core and multi-core scores of the Galaxy Note 9 here are both lower than the same scores for the Galaxy S9+, which also has 6GB of RAM and and Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. The difference in performance may well be due to earlier versions of firmware and prototype hardware causing performance drops. We’d expect the Galaxy Note 9 to be at least as powerful as the Galaxy S9+ when it launches, and optimizations generally make the Galaxy Note devices a little faster than the Galaxy S devices that launch in the same year. A slightly sluggish benchmark six months before launch doesn’t mean much, if anything at all.
We’ve also heard numerous rumors recently that the Galaxy Note 9 may or may not have an under-screen fingerprint sensor, depending on who you listen to. Samsung is definitely interested in the technology, but it remains to be seen whether Samsung Display can produce a screen and sensor combo in time that provides reliable results. If not, expect to see the industry-standard fingerprint sensor on the rear of the device, and an all-screen design, possibly with a notch.
