Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Could Arrive Earlier Than Apple iPhone 6s And 6s Plus

Samsung is not about to let Apple get all the attention this September. If reports are to be believed, Samsung will announce the Galaxy Note 5 before Apple has a chance to announce the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. The Wall Street Journal has the news.

“In a break with recent tradition, Samsung Electronics Co. will move up the autumn launch of its oversize smartphone lineup by several weeks to mid-August, according to a person familiar with the matter.”

This may be a great idea on Samsung’s part. Even though the Galaxy Note 4 was released to very favorable reviews, the smartphone phablet was overshadowed by Apple’s first phablet, the iPhone 6 Plus. Samsung has tried to differentiate the Galaxy Note 4 from the iPhone 6 Plus, especially by releasing a virtual reality headset for the device.

The Gear VR uses the Galaxy Note 4 screen in a futuristic headset to provide an immersive virtual reality experience. Many like Samsung’s headset, but others think it is limited by the poor field of view and screen door effect due to the fact that the Quad HD screen doesn’t have enough pixels for smooth graphics, especially when the screen is placed right in front of the user’s eyes.

It is believed the first consumer version of the Gear VR (the one that launched with the Note 4 is a developer’s edition) will launch around the same time the Note 5 does. So far, there are no indications that Apple will launch a mobile virtual reality headset with the iPhone 6s Plus, but it has been reported that Apple is working on some type of virtual reality device.

CNET recently reported some details on the Galaxy Note 5.

“The Galaxy Note 5, which will come with Samsung’s S Pen technology for tapping on the screen with the stylus-like digital pen will feature a 5.7-inch screen, the Samsung-tracking site is reporting, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the plan.”

The 5.7 inch screen really isn’t groundbreaking news since the Galaxy Note 4 screen is the same size. However, the news is interesting since most previous reports had Samsung placing a 5.9-inch screen on the Galaxy Note 5. There have been rumors that Samsung will upgrade its Note 5 to a 4K screen to make it good enough for virtual reality viewing. However, a recent report from BGR claims the phone will only have a 2K (Quad HD) screen.

Things have certainly been boring since the release of Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. However, with the release of the Galaxy Note 5, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus looming closely, the rest of 2015 will be great for smartphone addicts everywhere.

[Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]