It’s official: Samsung’s next big product launch is happening on August 5th at 10AM ET, and it’ll be a virtual event as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The main product reveal is almost certainly going to be the next phone in Samsung’s Galaxy Note series, its top-of-the-range smartphone lineup that pairs some of the most powerful phone hardware around with a big, beautiful screen and its signature S Pen stylus. Alongside it, however, we’re expecting to see anything from new earbuds to wearables and even foldables.
Samsung hasn’t been shy about teasing additional product reveals. And since we originally published this article, Samsung said in a blog post that it plans to unveil five devices at the event, and more recently, it used a teaser trailer to show off five silhouettes. To our eyes, they look like silhouettes for a new tablet, smartwatch, true wireless earbuds, a foldable smartphone, and, of course, the Note 20.
Those silhouettes tie neatly into recent reports about products Samsung has in development including a Galaxy Tab S7 tablet, a Galaxy Watch 3 smartwatch, Galaxy Buds Live true wireless earbuds, and a successor to the Galaxy Fold called the Galaxy Z Fold 2.
This article originally noted that rumors suggested Samsung might unveil a 5G version of its Galaxy Z Flip handset, but the company has since officially announced it, so that’s off the table for August.
Read on for a rundown of everything we’re expecting to see at Samsung’s next Unpacked event.
Samsung’s stylus-equipped Note phones tend to be the company’s big focus at its August Unpacked event each year. This year, we’re expecting Samsung to have at least two Note phones to show off, including a standard Note 20 (which will reportedly have a flat 6.7-inch 2400 x 1080 display) as well as a bigger Note 20 Ultra with a curved 6.9-inch 3200 x 1440 display, according to WinFuture. Some reports have also referred to a Note 20 Plus with a 6.87-inch 2345 x 1084 display, but there’s also been speculation that this could be the same device as either the regular Note 20 or the Ultra.
Our first proper look at Note 20 Ultra came to us from Samsung itself, which appeared to mistakenly post a photograph of the phone on its website. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to confirm that the device exists (which… duh) and will have a redesigned camera bump this time around. This seems to include three cameras along with a fourth sensor that could be either a 3D ToF sensor or a laser autofocus, which would help with portrait shots and focus speed, respectively.
We subsequently got another look at the Note 20 Ultra, thanks to a short hands-on video and photos from YouTuber Jimmy Is Promo whose channel specializes in news about Samsung phones. Included in his leak were a couple of shots of the front of the device, showing off its Note 10-style centered hole-punch selfie camera, along with its slightly smaller bezels and a larger camera bump. Renders of the phone that were subsequently published by WinFuture, appear to corroborate this leak.
When it comes to the step-down Note 20, meanwhile, WinFuture has shared what appear to be marketing renders of the phone. These images appear to show that the Note 20 has a less prominent camera bump and flatter screen that doesn’t curve around the edges of the device.
In terms of cameras, the leaked images and video of the Note 20 Ultra appear to show that Samsung’s “folded” periscope zoom lens is making a comeback from the S20 Ultra, allowing for the kinds of zoom that, until recently, were difficult to pull off in the limited space allowed by a smartphone. When it comes to the Note 20 Plus (which may or may not be the same device), leaker Ice Universe initially said that its main camera will have a 108-megapixel main sensor like the S20 Ultra. However, he also said that this time, its zoom lens will reportedly top out at 50x rather than the 100x we saw with the S20 Ultra, and that its zoom lens will have a 13-megapixel rather than a 48-megapixel sensor. (WinFuture has since corroborated that the Ultra’s camera’s main sensor and ultrawide cameras would have resolutions of 108-megapixels and 12-megapixels, …
