Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Release Date, Price, and What the Leaks Missed

More than 3,000 tech analysts, journalists, and smartphone enthusiasts crowded into Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center Thursday for the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. As teaser footage of the smartphone looped on digital billboards and company representatives handed out wrist bands, the excitement was only slightly overshadowed by the fact that most in the building knew exactly what would be in the spotlight.

“[The next Note will be] a phone that raises the bar for speed power and performance,” said Samsung President and CEO, Koh Dong-Jin. “A phone with more than enough memory, power, and capacity to leave your life without interruption was the pace you demand. It will never slow you down or let you down.”

Days before this elaborate handset reveal, Samsung maybe-accidentally uploaded the announcement video of the phone along with a pre-order banner disclosing most of the Note 9’s features.

The upgraded S Pen, the phone’s massive storage space, and its electric blue color option were all spoiled before Dong-Jin got a chance to share them with the world. But among the ocean of leaks came a few droplets of newly revealed perks, users should expect.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: What’s We Didn’t Already Know

• Price and Release Date: The pre-orders for the “phablet” begin August 10 with the official release date kicking off at on August 24. It will start at $999 but can cost as much as $1,249 for the most souped up version.

• Four different colors: Smartphone leaker Evan Blass tweeted an image suggesting that the Note 9 would come in blue, black, and brown weeks before the phone’s debut. However, the phone will in fact come in blue, purple, copper, and black variants.

• Smart-Camera: Samsung’s Director of Product Marketing, Jonathan Wong, showed off the Note 9’s intelligent new camera feature. Instead of having to manually adjust the phone’s exposure by tapping the screen, the phone’s aperture will do it autonomously, a lot like the human eye.

• Samsung Dex: The Note 9 is essentially a computer hard drive in your hand. Samsung noted this and gave users a PC experience powered entirely with the newly launched smartphone. With a monitor and HDMI adapter, you can browse your phone on a big screen, making it more of a compact computer than anything.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: What Leaks Were Confirmed

• Upgraded S Pen: The Galaxy Note series’ signature stylus now doubles as a remote control for the phone-tablet hybrid (probably like you, I refuse to use the word “phablet”). With new Bluetooth functionality, the digital pen can be used to play and pause video, flip through slides in a slideshow, and snap photos on your Note 9. It takes a couple of minutes to charge and lasts up to half an hour.

• 1 terabyte of storage: The newly announced smartphone will be capable of the same storage space as many top-of-the-line laptops. The highest caliber Note 9 will come with 512GB of virtual room and will be able to support an additional 512GB microSD card. You can snap photos, take videos, draw images, and download media with out having to worry about running out of storage space.

• All-Day Battery: A filing with ANATEL — a Brazilian telecommunications agency — suggested that the Note 9 would have a 4,000mAH battery. Senior Director of Smartphone Marketing Drew Blackard confirmed this “All-Day battery” feature on Thursday. Below is the official launch video