Samsung Product Planners Hint At Galaxy Note 9 Development

The Galaxy Note 8 has been on the market for about one month, but Samsung’s product development team is already focused on new products. BJ Kang and Cue Kim, of Samsung Electronics’ Global Product Planning Group, recently hinted in an interview that development for the Galaxy Note 9 is already underway, detailing that the product team has opted to forgo the usual break it takes in between product launches.

Q. What’s next for the Note series’ planning team?

Kang: Usually, when one project comes to an end, we have a small break before moving on to the next. But this time, we’re not taking any breaks, even though the Galaxy Note8 product planning process was so challenging.

We are already considering how to approach the development of the next Note by evaluating the latest model and looking for ways to improve upon signature features like the S Pen. We will continue to keep users’ needs as our number one priority, and will innovate accordingly.

While Kang and Kim did not give specifics on what consumers can expect for the Galaxy Note 9, they did note that the bringing improvements to well known Galaxy Note features, such as the S-Pen is always a focus for the product planning team.

The current Galaxy Note 8 features a high-sensitivity S-Pen with 4,096 pressure levels. While the stylus itself overall remains simple, Samsung has introduced and improved a host of apps and features that work with the accessory.

These features include the Pen Up app, which allows users to color in templates or create original art using the S-Pen; Live Messages, which allows users to create stylized text gifs to send in text messages; a translation feature that uses the S-Pen to highlight text to translate; a screenshot feature that uses the S-Pen to select specific areas on the Galaxy Note 8 screen to screenshot; and 100-page support for the signature Screen off memo feature, which uses the S-Pen to write on the idle screen of a Galaxy Note device.

The Galaxy Note 9 is sure to include many of these features, in addition to introducing several of its own.

So far, rumors suggest the Galaxy Note 9 may be the first high-end smartphone to feature a display embedded fingerprint sensor. Both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 were rumored to include the feature before their respective launches, but the devices were instead designed with virtual home buttons instead of capacitive buttons. Samsung is also expected to introduce 3D facial recognition technology, similar to Apple’s Face ID on the Galaxy S9. If true, the feature would likely trickle down to the Galaxy Note 9.

Taking a cue from the Galaxy Note 8 launch, the Galaxy Note 9 may be introduced until at least mid-August and may release around mid-September. No details about any of the 2018 flagships from Samsung are confirmed at this time.