New Galaxy Note could come in early September
An analyst is predicting that Samsung Electronics will come out with a third version of its popular Galaxy Note “phablet,” or a phone-tablet hybrid, in early September.Kim Dong-won, an analyst with Hyundai Securities, said in a report that the Galaxy Note 3 will use a flexible OLED screen for the first time in a smartphone, and the display will be between 5.7 inches and 6.1 inches. That is bigger than the 5.5-inch screen on the second Galaxy Note and would be similar to that of the Vega No. 6, a 5.9-inch full-HD smartphone from Pantech, the third-largest smartphone producer in Korea.
Kim forecast the new Galaxy Note will be debuted at the annual IFA consumer electronics exhibition in Germany on Sept. 2 - 13 months after the last Galaxy Note was debuted at the same event.
Flexible OLEDs - known to be thinner and lighter than ordinary screens - can bend and fold.
Ever since Samsung took the wraps off a prototype of its plastic-based display called the Youm at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, rumors that the Galaxy S4 would have a futuristic screen went into overdrive. They turned out to be wrong on March 14, when the company released in New York the Galaxy S4 with a 5-inch full-HD screen.
Galaxy S4 is expected to hit the Korean market in April, but its retail schedule has not been announced. Kim forecast sales of the Galaxy Note 3 will kick off in October at the earliest - a half-year after the S4.
If the Note 3 has a flexible screen, it will open a new battle in the ongoing smartphone war, analysts say, given that competition in other specification areas such as display size and application processor has reached a saturation point.
By Seo Ji-eun [spring@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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