A large number of leaks and various reports have come in regarding the Galaxy Note 6 in recent months, with sources running the gamut from utterly reliable to outright rumors. Things like the screen size, possible specs and a number of details have made their way to the web through various channels as the phone picked up hype, piggybacking off of the release of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. With a large number of reports coming in, it’s only natural that the world of Android journalism would be finding ways to look deeper into the issue.
When our source, Android Geeks, tried to dive a bit deeper into the rabbit hole, they wound up in contact with a current Samsung employee. Specifically, they reached an engineer for the OEM, who asked to remain anonymous. This engineer would not, for the most part, confirm or deny most of the rumors coming down the pipeline, but did talk a bit about the camera on the upcoming high-end phablet. According to the engineer, Samsung is doing internal testing on Galaxy Note 6 prototypes with infrared-based autofocus on the main camera. The presence of infrared autofocus means that the camera will be able to focus much better in low light, as well as having an easier time finding lifeforms on camera by relying on the presence of body heat, rather than a face detector tuned only to humans. Units are also being tested with the excellent super-close aperture camera from the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, which is currently the best smartphone camera that money can buy.
Of course, the presence of multiple test unit types makes it clear that these are only test dummies and that the final camera may be an entirely different affair. There is always the possibility, of course, that Android Geeks’ anonymous source is adding fuel to the rumor fire with no credibility – as they wished to remain anonymous, there’s no way to confirm or deny their credence as a Samsung employee. If what the engineer had to say is indeed true, however, that could mean that the Galaxy Note 6 will sport a camera that’s radically different and much better in comparison to past flagships, even the mighty S7 family.