Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Horizontal Back Cameras Fuel Bigger Battery Rumors

Samsung won’t be unveiling the Galaxy Note 9 until this coming August, but more and more details about the handset keep leaking online. By now, many industry sources and fans believe that the new device won’t be very different from its predecessor. Interestingly, Samsung might not be equipping the Note 8’s successor with vertically positioned back cameras — something its rivals are doing with their latest flagship releases.

Illustrations of the Note 9 leaked via Chinese microblogging site Weibo show the device having a horizontal dual-rear camera module. The leak also compares the setup with a device that has a vertical module. By the looks of things, the horizontal module has the advantage of giving more space for a larger battery.

The leak fuels earlier speculations that Samsung could increase the size of the battery in its Note lineup this year. Rumors claim the battery size of the Note 9 could be somewhere between 3,850 mAh and 4,000 mAh. If true, then the horizontal positioning of the rear lenses makes a lot of sense.

However, it’s also possible for the Note 9 to not come with a bigger battery. Sammobile says the S Pen takes up some precious space inside the Note devices. Hence, it limits Samsung from using significantly bigger batteries. In previous iterations, Samsung had to come up with thinner and taller batteries that have similar capacities as the ones found in the S flagship devices.

While there’s still no confirmation on the rumored bigger battery of the Note 9, the handset’s design may have already been finalized. A photo showing a protective case for the Note 9 appears to confirm the horizontal placement of its back cameras. The case also suggests that a physical fingerprint sensor would be placed underneath the camera module.

Last week, renders for the Note 9 were leaked by Steve Hemmerstoffer (@OnLeaks) and 91Mobiles. They are consistent with what the protective case is suggesting. Unfortunately, the presence of a fingerprint scanner at the back of the device strongly indicates that Samsung might not be releasing a phone with an in-display fingerprint sensor this year.

Samsung hasn’t confirmed anything at this point, so it’s best to take all of these things with a grain of salt and wait for the Unpacked event that’s set to happen in early August.