Samsung has confirmed the Galaxy Note 8 will touch down in the second half of the year but before its arrival the refurbished Galaxy Note 7 will be reintroduced to the market starting in South Korea. Selling price of the resurrected phablet flagship will be roughly $620, reports said.
The steep sticker price was first reported by Korean news site ETNews, according to BGR. The reworked Samsung handset will be marketed as the Galaxy Note 7R, the R obviously in reference to the refurbished state of the jumbo phone. The same report indicated that the Note 7 will be initially offered through Samsung's partner telcos.
While the asking price was reduced by $200 from the original sticker, it remains in the pricy zone considering the refurbished Note 7 will have to compete against handsets that are both more powerful and cheaper. However, the asking price seems justified as the device remains gorgeous than ever and inside largely left intact by Samsung save for a few modifications.
Of note of the changes implemented is the trimmed down battery size, which BGR said has been downgraded to 3200mAh from 3500mAh. For sure, the downgrade move was motivated by safety concerns and also to make sure that there will be no repeat of the battery explosion episodes that doomed the first Galaxy Note 7 rollout in late 2016.
And BGR said the $620 price tag for the refurbished Note 7 is unsurprising at all as the device "is still one of the best phones Samsung ever made, in spite of its short-lived fame last year."
The same report by ETNews indicated that Samsung is all geared up for the deployment of the company's second flagship for 2017, which is the Galaxy Note 8. The publication estimated the Note 8 will debut between August and September this year.
No specs and details have been provided by the report but basing on leaked details and persistent rumors so far, the Galaxy Note 8 on release date will be the identical twin of the Galaxy S8 Plus, only with the S Pen stylus. To fire up the Android phablet flagship is Snapdragon 835 chip (or Exynos 8895 in select markets) with up to 6GB of RAM support.
The Galaxy Note 8 is also said to boast of dual camera setup, which the Galaxy S8 lacks.