Samsung is touting its line of Galaxy Note devices as its flagship products, and the company is slated to unveil yet another stylus-toting gadget next month. The Korea-based manufacturer officially announced that an 8-inch Galaxy Note tablet will make its debut at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress in February.
Korean news publication iNews24 said Samsung’s mobile chief, JK Shin, has confirmed this news himself. This alleged "announcement" comes after a long period of speculation saying the electronics maker would launch an 8-inch Galaxy Note tab in the near future. A mysterious Samsung device with the model number GT-N5100 appeared in recent benchmark reports on the Web, initially sparking suspicion that this could be Samsung’s next-generation Galaxy S4 smartphone. However, upon closer inspection, attention quickly shifted to the notion that this could be a mid-size Galaxy Note tablet.
This appears to make sense, seeing as Samsung showcased its 10-inch Galaxy Note tablet at last year’s trade event. While hype surrounding the Galaxy S4 has incited rumor that it could also debut at this year’s MWC, this is an unlikely scenario. Korean news source News1 reports that the Galaxy S4 will be unveiled at a later date, and a Facebook post from Samsung Lebanon earlier this month confirmed that it won’t be unveiled before May.
Furthermore, the Galaxy-brand manufacturer is accustomed to launching flagship smartphone models at its own separate event, just as it did with the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 last year. It’s also a bit early in the year to unveil a Galaxy S3 successor, seeing as the third-generation Galaxy S handset made its debut only eight months ago. The company also appears to be focusing its attention on its line of Note products and its supplementary Galaxy S devices such as the Galaxy S3 Mini and Galaxy S2 Plus.
We’ll know more about the Galaxy Note 8 next month, but the slate is rumored to feature a 1280 x 800 resolution display, a 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos processor and support for Samsung’s signature S-Pen. It’s also set to launch with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean right out of the box, making it one of the only Jelly Bean tabs to come with software tailored for inking and scribing with a custom stylus.
The upcoming 8-inch Galaxy Note tablet is sure to appeal to Note lovers looking for something more than a 7-inch but less than a full-fledged 10-inch slate. We’ll be interested to see how Samsung’s Premium Suite Jelly Bean features unfold on this device, providing that the tablet comes with the necessary update.
It comes as no surprise that Samsung would choose the Mobile World Congress to announce the next iteration in its Galaxy Note line. The electronics firm typically stakes a larger presence at MWC than it does at this month’s Consumer Electronics Showcase, where it showcased its new line of Smart TVs and flexible displays but largely neglected the mobile front.
It’s also worth noting that iNews24 has been credible in the past when reporting on the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S3 Mini.
Lisa Eadicicco is a reporter for International Business Times, where this piece original appeared.
