Samsung Electronics on Thursday officially opened pre-orders for the Galaxy Note 8 in its home country, with the South Korean original equipment manufacturer (OEM) stating that customers who place an advanced order on its latest Android-powered phablet will receive their devices by September 15, a week before the handset’s official domestic release scheduled for Thursday, September 21. The base model of the device with 64GB of internal flash storage carries a price tag of approximately $962 in the country, thus being in line with the price that the Seoul-based tech giant announced in the United States. The Galaxy Note 8 is also somewhat more expensive than its predecessor, with the Galaxy Note 7 having originally debuted in South Korea for the equivalent of $877.
While many industry watchers previously expected the Galaxy Note 8 to boast a commercial performance similar to the one of the Galaxy S8 series which Samsung debuted earlier this year, the fact that the smartphone’s price tag surpassed estimates cast some doubt over these predictions. The Galaxy Note 7 reached 400,000 pre-orders in just under two weeks in the Far Eastern country, though it remains to be seen how will its successor perform in a significantly shorter time frame, with most analysts now being reluctant to make any certain predictions.
The handset itself was presented as Samsung’s most capable Android device to date, with its international variant being powered by the firm’s proprietary Exynos 8895 system-on-chip (SoC) and 6GB of RAM. The Galaxy Note 8 will be available in three storage options in Korea, boasting 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB of internal flash memory, though the price tags of the two more expensive units have yet to be announced. The device features a more rectangular aesthetic compared to the Galaxy S8 series but succeeds its bezel-less design language focused on the 6.3-inch Infinity Display Super AMOLED panel with a QHD+ resolution and a tall aspect ratio of 18.5:9. The Galaxy Note 8 is also Samsung’s first smartphone with a dual camera setup, shipping with two 12-megapixel lenses accompanied by a dual-LED flash unit, as well as an 8-megapixel secondary sensor. Coupled with Android 7.1 Nougat and the latest revision of the tech giant’s S Pen stylus, the device is marketed as the ultimate combo of style and productivity-focused substance, though it remains to be seen how will it perform on a global level.