After the global unveiling, Samsung is reportedly planning to host local Galaxy Note9 launch event in New Delhi later this month.
Samsung is expected a splurge a huge cash for the Galaxy Note9 India launch, touted to be the company's grandest event to date in the country, reported IANS citing industry resources.
In a show of strength and commitment of Samsung to India, top honchos of the South Korean company are scheduled to attend the event. Last month, the company opened a new factory in Noida, which is understood to be the world's biggest mobile manufacturing plant.
The series of Samsung initiatives in the recent months comes in the wake of the company's poor smartphone sales in both low-end and high-end segments in India in the past couple of quarters. At the top-end premium range, OnePlus has outranked the South Korean company, whereas in the entry-level and mid-range category, it is facing a lot of heat from Xiaomi and the latter is also now the numero uno smartphone brand in the country.
In a double whammy for Samsung, Xiaomi's sub-brand Poco is launching a premium Poco F1 with top-notch Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor on August 22. It is expected to be priced anywhere between Rs 29,999 and Rs 37,999, which is almost half the price of the Galaxy Note9. But, we have to say the latter has more versatility (thanks to S Pen) and premium features, no other brands can boast off.
Also, the recent launch of Infinity Display-based devices Galaxy J6 and J8 have received a positive response from the consumers in India and Samsung is slowly clawing its back to the top.
Samsung will not stop with the grand Galaxy Note9 event and is expected to spend more for marketing in the lead up to the upcoming festival season (September to November) in India, where premium phone sales seem to the highest for the whole year.
Samsung Galaxy Note9: All you need to know
The design language of the Galaxy Note9 is almost the same but we are not complaining, as the company has made some valuable cosmetic changes including the translocation of the fingerprint sensor below the camera. In the 2017-series, the biometric sensor is placed beside the camera. This caused the device owners to accidentally touch the latter; most of the time, leaving smudges on the camera lens. This time, there will less chance of recurring of the issue.
Another huge upgrade in the Galaxy Note9 is the S Pen. For the first time, the company has incorporated Bluetooth modem inside the stylus. With this, device owners can use S Pen to control music and volume, take photos, flip cameras from main to front for selfies without having to physically touch or open the smartphone. The company has added that third-party app developers will also able to code functionalities for the S Pen and be able to roll out new functionalities later in the year.
However, the S Pen, which now has a modem inside, it has to get charged. That's not a problem, as it gets automatically charged wirelessly inside the phone and the company claims, that just 40 seconds of charging is enough to power the S Pen for one hour.
Another upgrade is the battery. Galaxy Note9 houses a 4,000mAh cell, 700mAh (21 percent) more than the Galaxy Note8 (3,300mAh). It boasts fast charging and a wireless charging capability.
Like the previous iterations, the Galaxy Note9, depending on the region of sale, will be deployed with different chipsets. The Galaxy Note9 model bound for Europe and Asian markets, including India, will house Samsung's in-house built Exynos 9810 Octa-core CPU chipsets.
The company will pack the Galaxy Note9 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core for US, China, Japan and other select nations.
As far as the camera is concerned, it houses the same camera hardware as seen in the Galaxy S9 series. The Galaxy Note9 comes with an 8MP wide-angle sensor having F1.7 aperture and is complemented by several facial recognition sensors, which enables the device capture Augmented Reality photos of the user to create 3D emojis, Samsung's answer to Apple iPhone X Animoji feature, but the latter's utility is very limited, as it can only be used on iMessage app, whereas the former allows users to share them on all messaging apps and social media sites.
On the back, it houses two horizontally placed 12MP sensors with LED flash (& heart rate sensor) It boasts dual aperture (F1.5 and F2.4), AR Emoji capability, slow-motion video recording and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS).
The Galaxy Note9 will be available starting 24 August in select markets including India and will be offered in Midnight Black, Lavender Purple, Metallic Copper with matching S Pen, and Ocean Blue with a Yellow S Pen.
It will be available in two variants—128GB and 512GB—for Rs 67,900 and Rs 84,900, respectively with lucrative launch offers, but only for those pre-order the Galaxy Note9 via Airtel and Samsung store.
Read more: Galaxy Note9 offer you simply can't refuse: Airtel, Samsung India launch pre-booking with lucrative deals
Key specifications of Samsung Galaxy Note9:
| Model | Samsung Galaxy Note9 |
| Display | 6.4-inch Quad HD+ (2960×1440p) Super AMOLED
|
| OS | Android 8.1 Oreo-based Samsung Experience UI |
| Processor |
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| GPU | Model 1 bound for US, China and Japan: 710MHz Adreno 630Model 2 bound for Europe, India and rest of the world: 572MHz ARM Mali-G72MP18 |
| RAM+ storage | 6GB RAM + 128GB storage/ 8GB RAM + 512GB storage (UFS)Note: Storage can be further upgraded up to 512GB via microSD card |
| Camera |
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| Battery | 4,000mAh
*May differ by market and mobile operator |
| Security | Lock Type: Pattern, Pin, Password Biometric Lock Types: Iris Scanner, Fingerprint Scanner, Facial Recognition Intelligent scan: Combines iris scan and face recognition for convenient unlocking and in some cases provides enhanced security for certain authentication services |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor, Iris Sensor, Pressure Sensor |
| S Pen | Comes with inbuilt Bluetooth modem. With this, device owners can use S Pen to control music and volume, take photos, flip cameras from main to front for selfies without having to physically touch or open the smartphone. The company has added that third app developers will also able to code functionalities for the S Pen and be able to roll out new functionalities later in the year. |
| Network |
*May differ by market and mobile operator |
| Audio | MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA, DSF, DFF, APE |
| Video | MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEB |
| Add-ons | IP68 ( can sustain up to 1.5 meters underwater for 30 meters) Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), VHT80 MU-MIMO, 1024QAM, Bluetooth v 5.0 (LE up to 2Mbps), ANT+, USB Type-C, NFC, MST, Location (GPS, Galileo*, Glonass, BeiDou*)*Galileo and BeiDou coverage may be limited. Stereo speakers, which are tuned by AKG, and ability to deliver Dolby Atmos® immersive audio |
| Dimensions | 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8 mm |
| Weight | 201g |
| Colours | Midnight Black, Lavender Purple, Metallic Copper with matching S Pen, and Ocean Blue with a Yellow S Pen |
| Price |
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