Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Release Date Rumored For H2 2013; May Feature 6-Inch AMOLED Screen, No Flexible Display

With its Galaxy S smartphone line, Samsung has been able to give its arch rival Apple a run for its money. The newly launched Galaxy S4 is just yet another weapon added to the portfolio that is widely expected to give the South Korean tech giant a significant competitive edge.

But Samsung doesn’t merely depend on its flagship Galaxy S smartphones to continue its winning run in the market. The company’s popular Galaxy Note series, the larger-than-life “phablets,” also contribute immensely to Samsung’s smartphone market share.

Now, with the existing Galaxy Note 2 being around for almost eight months, rumors have started surfacing online, relating to the next version of the device, the so-called Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

A new report has hit the web Monday, claiming that the upcoming Galaxy Note 3 will be announced in the second-half of 2013. It will be the first smartphone from Samsung to feature a 6-inch screen with AMOLED display panel, instead of LCD, says the report from Oled-Display.Net.

Citing a document from Korea Investment & Securities, the report (via SamMobile) has stated that Samsung did try to use flexible display, but “couldn’t make it into mass production right on time.”

“Samsung Display plans to produce flexible AMOLED Panels at the A2 P3 line. This production line has a monthly capacity for such 24.000 sheets based on 5.5G. That is not enough capacity to make a flagship product with a flexible display like the Galaxy Note 3,” says the report. “Samsung Display has to expand the capacity for the flexible OLED line. Youm is the brand for the Samsung FOLED technology.”

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Rumored Features

A number of reports have suggested several feature enhancements for the upcoming Galaxy Note 3 over the last few months.

Following the introduction of the 8-core Exynos 5 Octa processor at the Consumer Electronic Show 2013 in Las Vegas earlier this year, a report suggested that the Galaxy Note 3 would sport the new processor and would also feature a massive 6.3-inch display.

The rumor of incorporating the Exynos 5 Octa was seen as a possible move that could make the device “the beast of a Phablet” with much improved processing power. However, increasing the screen size was criticized as it would likely make users compromise with “pocket-ability and one-handed use” of the device.

Another Galaxy Note 3 rumor suggested last month that the device would receive major specs bumps including a 5.9-inch Full HD display (1080p), 3GB RAM, 32GB of internal memory with microSD card slot for further storage expansion and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box OS.

The report also said that Galaxy Note 3 would be powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 5410 Octa-core processor that includes four Cortex A15 chips clocking 2GHz and four power-saving Cortex A7 chips running at 1.7GHz.

When it comes to the rumor of the H2 2013 release of the Galaxy Note 3 in question, it does correspond to some earlier reports indicating that the device might be unveiled at the IFA 2013, scheduled to take place from September 6 to 11 in Berlin. This was the event where both the previous versions of the Galaxy Note were announced.