Samsung has always been on a 2 flagship per year cycle with the Galaxy S series launched earlier of the year followed by its Galaxy Note phablet series in Q3. The Galaxy S6 is still the most advanced Android smart phone at the moment but for those prefer bigger phones, the new Galaxy Note 5 launch is just right around the corner.
Taking its performance up a notch, Samsung will still be using its in-house developed Exynos processor but this time it will combine its Octa-Core 64-bit processor, RAM, GPU, LTE modem and storage into a single chip solution. In terms of RAM, the folks at Sammobile had confirmed that the Galaxy Note 5 will join the big boys by offering 4GB of LP-DDR4 RAM. So far the Mi Note Pro and the upcoming OnePlus 2 are the only devices that officially use the same type (LPDDR4) of RAM.
The upcoming Galaxy Note 5 has been said to feature a 5.67″ Quad HD display, which is slightly smaller than its current Galaxy Note 4 and of course it will come with its signature S-Pen stylus. Like the Galaxy S6, it will use glass for both front and back, so it is likely that you won’t get a removable battery but it will definitely have wireless charging built-in.
In terms of camera, the front unit is speculated to have the same 5MP sensor as the current Galaxy S6 but it would be further assisted with Optical Image Stabilisation. A purported FAQ has appeared on Samsung’s website on its OIS front camera but strangely it mentions the entire Galaxy S6 range despite the S6 and S6 edge not having hardware based stabilisation for the front cameras.
Usually Samsung would launch the Galaxy Note series during IFA that’s held around September each year but now it is rumoured that they might launch it earlier in August. Apparently Samsung has been pressured to do so due to less than expected sales performance of its current S6 flagships. Furthermore this could also give Samsung extra sales lead time before the new iPhone 6S is announced later this year.
For the launch, Samsung has been reported countless of times that they won’t release a new Galaxy Note edge variant. Instead, they would release a larger version of its Galaxy S6 edge that could be named as the S6 edge Plus. It would look the same as the current Galaxy S6 edge but it gets a larger 5.3-5.4″ display with curve edges for both sides.
Since it isn’t a Note series, it won’t carry an S-Pen stylus and it will be positioned slightly lower than the new Note 5 with a Snapdragon 808 processor on-board. With both the S6 edge Plus and Galaxy Note 5 launched at the same time, we might see a smaller price gap in between and consumers would then need to decide if they prefer to have the S-Pen or a double-edge display.
Do you think Samsung’s flagship approach is too fast for its own good? And would you sacrifice the S-Pen for a larger double curved display? Leave your comments below.
