The king of the big-screened smartphones, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4, will reportedly debut in September around the same time as Apple’s iPhone 6. The Note series has sold well year after year, but does it have what it takes to knock Apple’s perennial bestseller off its perch?
Samsung is quite a bit less secretive than its chief rival Apple when it comes to details on its forthcoming devices, but the South Korean tech giant still hasn’t given up too much information on what consumers can expect from the Galaxy Note 4. Current speculation has the fourth installment of the Note smartphone series showing up in September, which is around the time that Samsung usually updates the Note line.
With regard to specs, rumors have the Note 4 living up to the Note series’ established reputation as a line of beastly powerful smartphones. With a rumored 5.9-inch display, it could have an even bigger screen than the Note, as well as a WQHD 2560 x 1440 display. Inside, the Note 4 could have a Snapdragon 805 processor and 4GB of RAM.
How would all of the Note 4’s power translate into everyday use? Well, it wouldn’t. The mid-level phones that many people are buying are more than powerful enough to handle most tasks, but the Note 4 will likely just get them done a bit more quickly. The Note 4 – as was the case with the Note 2 and the Note 3 – will be quite future-proof, though, as its internals should be able to handle any app you’re going to throw at it in the next three years.
Surprisingly, the rumor mill is almost silent with regard to other aspects of the Note 4. The most interesting recent rumor is that Samsung may bundle the Note 4 with its fifth or seventh attempt at a smartwatch in the last year, the Galaxy Gear 3. Samsung is really trying to make the wearable market happen, and it might just give away Gear 3 units with a Note 4 purchase.
A Note 4-Gear 3 bundle wouldn’t be the first time Samsung has given away smartwatches. The company eventually did the same last year with the original Galaxy Gear. Those giveaways, though, weren’t sufficient to spark consumer interest in the Samsung wearable, and return rates for the device were said to be as 30 percent.
Even assuming that Samsung’s got the Gear right this time around, would a smartwatch paired with the Galaxy Note 4 be enough to steal the iPhone 6’s thunder?
Not even close. Don’t get us wrong; Samsung’s Galaxy Note series is a perennially high-selling phone. The company moved more than 10 million units of the super-sized smartphone in the first couple of months following its release.
The iPhone, though, is a juggernaut, with fans and observers speculating on the next iteration’s features even before the current generation has been released. Apple CEO Tim Cook has noted that each generation of iPhone sells more units than the previous generations combined. Think about that for a second.
So the Note 4 almost certainly won’t outsell the iPhone 6. If the rumors are true and the iPhone 6 has a bigger screen, Apple’s phone could possibly even pull some buyers away from the Note 4. That said, it’s definitely going to be an interesting September when the two tech hardware giants go head to head again.