Samsung’s ‘Project Zero 2’: Will The New Edge Smartphone Be The First Note Series Device Without An S-Pen?

Samsung Electronics is going back to the drawing board on one of its biggest phones: the Galaxy Note Edge. Formerly codenamed "Project Zen," new reports suggest that Samsung is renaming the new Edge "Project Zero 2" internally and that bigger changes to the phone -- a phablet with a curved screen -- could be in store when it debuts this fall.

An official name for the new Edge smartphone has not been determined but pundits suggest the device could be called the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge 2 or the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Edge, similar to the Galaxy S6 Edge, which launched in April with two curved edges.

Regardless of what the device will ultimately be called, the codename “Project Zero 2” suggests that Samsung plans to some big changes for the device. One tidbit of information that has surfaced is that Samsung is expected to remove a feature from the new Edge device, the S-Pen stylus, according to tech website SamMobile. The S-Pen has been a staple of the Note Series ever since the first Samsung Galaxy Note launched in 2011. Even the Galaxy Note Edge included a stylus when it launched in September 2014.

But most phablets on the market sell without a built in stylus. Devices like Apple’s 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus and Google’s 6-inch Nexus 6 are both without styluses. Samsung even launched the Galaxy Mega smartphone in 2013, which released without a stylus.

But there are some other recent phablets, outside of the Samsung Galaxy family that feature capacitive styluses. LG launched the LG G3 Stylus in 2014, and announced the LG G4 Stylus Tuesday. However, not only is the Galaxy Note the first phablet series, it is also the first smartphone to ship with a stylus.

With the possible changes, pundits expect the new Edge device to be a larger version of the Galaxy S6 Edge. The device will likely also feature a dual-edge display as well as a glass and metal design like the Galaxy S6. Internal specifications for the device may include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chip, 32GB storage, a 16-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 has been codenamed “Project Noble,” according to Sam Mobile. The device is expected to feature a flat 2K (2048 × 1536 resolution) or 4K (4096 × 3072 resolution) display, a Samsung Exynos 7422 chip and a traditional S-Pen.