Officially, Samsung has declared the Galaxy Note 7 dead as production and selling of the recalled device has been halted. But new rumors indicate that the phablet flagship is far from becoming history and likely to be rebranded as the Galaxy S8 Plus.
Reports say that in the aftermath of the Note 7 battery explosions, Samsung is keen on killing the brand that started the phablet craze if only to rehabilitate the company's damaged reputation. The plan is to retire the Note series not necessarily the phablet lines that the South Korean tech giant has started.
According to BGR, citing media reports from Russia and Europe, there is no chance that the Galaxy Note 8 will see the light of the day next year. But to be clear, there is no chance that Samsung will abandon the phablet models that it invented. Yes, the Galaxy maker will continue issuing jumbo smartphones as evidenced by the mid-range variants of the Galaxy A9 Pro, Galaxy A8, Galaxy A7, Galaxy E7, Galaxy J7 and the Galaxy C7/C9.
These handsets will likely be refreshed in 2017 but there is no stopping Samsung from making the phablet - the one to take the place of the ill-fated Galaxy Note. The guess is the Korean will simply attach the rebranded Note follow up to the upcoming S8 series.
Speculations are rife that Samsung will build two Galaxy S8s - in 5-inch and 5.5-inch screen profiles. But if the BGR report is to be believed, a third version is on the way too, likely boasting of a 5.7-inch display like the Note 7 and aptly named Galaxy S8 Plus.
Pointing to TechTastic as source, BGR said that the S8 Plus will unpack bearing some of the well-known Note signatures. There will be the Note stylus that most likely Samsung will not call the S Pen to disassociate the S8 Plus from the damage Note reputation and give the replacement a fresh start.
The same source by BGR also claimed that the biggest of the S8 will impress with a 4K screen resolution in Super AMOLED display. But the report stopped short of providing more specifications. The regular Galaxy S8, however, is tipped to rock the most powerful processing chips to come out in 2017 - the Snapdragon 830 from Qualcomm and Samsung's very own Exynos 8895 SoC. And supporting any of two powerhouse chips is up to 6GB of RAM provision.
It safe to assume that in the event that Galaxy S8 Plus becomes a reality, what will be found on the regular models will be found on the phablet edition - inside and out. And that should include an all-screen curved display that will eliminate the screen bezels, physical control keys and sensors.
Samsung is said to introduce the Galaxy S8 February 26 next year to prepare for a March 2017 release date. Likely, the Galaxy S8 Plus will follow months after or in the second half of 2017.