Samsung Galaxy Note 10 launch confirmed - with big camera tease - TechRadar

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 release date is nearly with us, as the official launch of the new powerful handset from the South Korean brand has been confirmed for August 7 in New York.

The invite, which teases new intriguing selfie camera capabilities, shows the S Pen (Samsung's in-built stylus for the Note range) circling around a new sensor - and the link to the invite says that the launch will 'take the Galaxy's connected ecosystem to the next level'.

On Wednesday August 7, the new Galaxy Note 10 will appear on stage in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center (the same as the Note 9 launch).

This launch event will be later in the day locally for New York: 4pm EDT (1pm PDT, 9pm BST, 6am AEST).

This is hardly an unexpected leak, given we've been seeing rumors of a similar launch date for a few weeks now - and the Samsung CEO himself name-checked the phone to TechRadar at a recent media briefing.

What are we expecting from the Note 10 launch?

The Galaxy Note 10 is about to get some of the bezel-less Samsung Galaxy S10 treatment along with a punch-hole display, according to the latest Note 10 leaks.

However, the front-facing camera that fills that punch-hole is poised to be center-aligned, and there appears to be only one camera peering out of the display. The Galaxy 10 Plus has two front cameras in a wide oval-shaped hole and the S10 5G has three front cameras.

The rear cameras also appear to be shifted to the left side for a vertical triple-lens camera setup – the extra camera is likely for a depth-sensing "Time of Flight" camera.

And, of course, the S Pen is due to get more tricks in the 2019 model. We might see the RAM max out at 12GB in certain versions, and we're expecting the chipset to get a Snapdragon 855 in the regular and rumored 'Pro'/'Plus' higher-specced version.

Samsung smartthings ecossystem — The new Samsung SmartThings set. Image credit: Samsung.

What about that 'connected ecosystem'? Well, there's been a lot of chatter around Bixby being given ever-greater powers, as well as Samsung SmartThings smart home play getting a big upgrade - so it might not be just the new Note that lands at the event in August.

Samsung needs to go a long way to improve both Bixby (the voice assistant which launched to muted interest) and the smart home play, where it's already far behind the likes of Google and Amazon.

That said, the South Korean brand has a lot of users that it can leverage (in a similar way to Apple and its walled-garden ecosystem) - so perhaps the future will have another player in the connected home space.

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