A Samsung-made smartphone believed to be the upcoming Galaxy Note 9 appeared in the database of mobile benchmarking service Geekbench earlier today, having been identified by the model number SM-N960U. The device was tested while running Android 8.1 Oreo, with its exact software likely being a new version of Samsung Experience. The listing that can be seen below indicates the company’s next phablet will have 6GB of RAM, approximately 1GB of which will be reserved for the operating system itself. The smartphone is equipped with the Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm’s most powerful mobile chip ever and the one that ended up inside the variants of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus sold in the United States, Canada, and China, as per the same source.
The South Korean original equipment manufacturer already started firmware development for the Galaxy Note 9 and is expected to finalize its design by the end of the month, according to recent reports. The company usually locks down the specifications of its Galaxy Note phablets five months prior to their mass-production but ended up shortening that period of certainty this year as it was still trying to overcome the technical challenges to equipping the Galaxy Note 9 with an in-display fingerprint reader as late as last week, insiders claimed. The next-generation Android flagship from Samsung is rumored to have a 3,850mAh battery and may launch with Bixby 2.0, with the latter point being suggested by the firm’s mobile chief DJ Koh at this year’s edition of MWC.
Samsung traditionally announces new Galaxy Note models in late summer and often does so at IFA, with the Berlin, Germany-based trade show hence being the possible target of its next high-end mobile offering. The company may also bring the Gear S4 smartwatch to the same conference, with both the wearable and the Android smartphone being expected to start retailing in September if they end up being announced at IFA 2018 which starts on August 31. The Galaxy Note 9 is likely to retain the Infinity Display-centric aesthetic of its predecessor, much like the Galaxy S9 lineup looks akin to the Galaxy S8 series.