Samsung published its first-quarter earnings report today, and confirmed that a new high-end handset is coming later this year.
As part of its financial report, Samsung acknowledged that "revenue from the mobile business decreased due to a decline in flagship product sales". The reasons for that were twofold: first, the company hadn"t yet released its new Galaxy S8 and S8+ range-toppers, which are launching in many markets around the world this week; and second, Samsung was still recovering from the fallout from its fiery Galaxy Note7 flagship, and dealing with its embarrassing global recall.
By all accounts, the new Galaxy S8 and S8+ have already proved hugely popular, and it seems that Samsung is succeeding in putting the Note7 mess behind it, despite potentially hindering those efforts by launching fresh sales of the troubled device as a refurbished model with a smaller battery.
But the company is already looking further ahead, beyond the Note7, and even its latest Galaxy S8 handsets. Samsung said today that it will "launch a new flagship smartphone in the second half" of this year, effectively confirming its plans to release a Galaxy Note8 in the coming months.
This isn"t the first time that we"ve heard the company refer to those plans. In January, Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin said: "I will bring back a better, safer, and very innovative Note8."
Samsung hasn"t yet revealed exactly when the new flagship will launch, but if it follows the pattern of previous Galaxy Note-series releases, it could arrive sometime in the third quarter. However, given that the company delayed its Galaxy S8 announcement - choosing not to unveil it at February"s Mobile World Congress, as in previous years - the Galaxy Note8 may end up launching a bit later in 2017.
Source: Samsung