The Galaxy Note 8 could be Samsung’s most expensive smartphone ever, if a new report is to be believed.
The average price of flagship smartphones has been creeping steadily upwards for years now. Pair that with the UK’s currency woes and Brits are feeling the cost of buying a new handset more acutely than ever before. Our sympathies, then, to anyone considering buying Samsung’s next flagship smartphone – at least if this latest leak is true.
Renowned leaker and Venture Beat journalist Evan Blass has published a new report claiming that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will cost an incredible €999. For contrast, the new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ cost €799 and €899 respectively, so this new handset would trump both by a fair way.
Given that in the UK, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ cost £689 and £779 respectively, we’d expect the Galaxy Note 8 to cost somewhere in the region of £869 to £899, based on Blass’ claims.
Blass also claimed that Samsung is plotting to launch the Galaxy Note 8 in the second half of September. This is the fourth release date leak we’ve seen for the Galaxy Note 8, each of which has been different.
One suggested August 2, another suggested August 26, a different source pointed to Berlin’s IFA tradeshow (September 1 - 6), and now Blass points to late September. It’s hard to say which rumour is most credible at this point, but it’s worth noting that Blass has an exceptionally strong track record for mobile leaks.
All we know for sure is that the Galaxy Note 8 is coming this year, as has been confirmed by Samsung. The company announced the handset’s arrival following last year’s Galaxy Note 7 debacle, where the phone was recalled twice and eventually killed off permanently following spontaneous combustion issues.
So the pressure is on for Samsung to get it right with this year’s Galaxy Note 8, which is why we’re expecting top specs and a major focus on device safety. The Venture Beat report notes that the handset is expected to feature an edge-to-edge 6.3-inch Super AMOLED display, as well as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chip and 6GB of RAM.
The handset is also tipped to feature dual cameras on the back, a 3,300mAh battery, an S-Pen, and a heart-rate sensor.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to take all leaks with due caution until Samsung makes an official announcement.
