A new report claims Samsung is preparing to release the Galaxy Note FE next month with the Bixby virtual assistant on board. It’s been known for some time now that Samsung has been preparing a relaunch of the Galaxy Note 7 under a different name in order to reuse some of the old devices that were recalled. Original rumors pointed towards a launch towards the end of this month but, according to today’s report, the company has pushed the release back to July 7th in order to offer a higher number of units.
The report claims that Samsung’s initial offering was going to be 300,000 units, but has now decided to increase this by 150,000, therefore taking the total set to be on offer up to 450,000 which are said to be shipped to three carriers in South Korea. Now, other than the name and the size of the battery, the rest of the internals of the new Galaxy Note FE are set to be identical to the original Galaxy Note7. The report does claim, though, that Samsung is set to bring the device in line with the newer Galaxy S8 line. It’s set to do this by releasing the device with the Bixby virtual assistant on board, due to the fact that the exterior of the device is that of the Galaxy Note 7’s, though, this model will not offer a dedicated Bixby button, which may even please a few customers due to the fact that many dislike the dedicated button on the Galaxy S8 line. Now, considering the model is a refurbished device, Samsung will be offering the phablet at a cheaper price than the original, with this report claiming it will be somewhere between $650 and $670, compared to the original’s $875 at launch. Considering the relatively high price for the model, as well as the negative views surrounding the original model, it’s likely that demand for the model won’t be too high, but considering the Galaxy Note 7 was considered to be one of the best devices on the market at the time of release, it’s likely the company will have no problem shifting the 450,000 units that it’s set to make.
For the time being, Samsung has still not made a statement regarding the model, but considering the reported launch is less than a month away, it wouldn’t be surprising to see an announcement within the next couple of weeks. In case anybody outside of South Korea is interested in the Galaxy Note FE, unfortunately, it appears that Samsung has no plans to launch the device elsewhere, with the existence of the model simply being a way of reducing the amount of waste produced as well as the losses incurred because of the Galaxy Note 7.