Confused about why we’re referring to the sixth-generation Note variant as the Galaxy Note 7 Well, Samsung has apparently opted to skip the number six and jump straight to seven in an effort to keep its marketing on par with the rest of the Galaxy S7 family. It’s also to help clear up any confusion that might have been caused by last year’s consecutive release of the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5.
A YouTube video from Techconfigurations offers a 3D-rendered glimpse at what the Galaxy Note 7 might look like. At present, it resembles an outstretched version of its Edge flagship counterpart, but with a small slot on the bottom that houses a retractable stylus.
Curiously, the video from Techconfigurations shows us a USB Type-C port. It’s intriguing considering this year’s Galaxy S7 family came equipped with Micro USB. OnLeaks has also teamed up with USwitch to publish a few renders of what the Galaxy Note 7 might look like. It also shows USB Type-C in one of the images, which you can see below.
USB-C would make the Note 7 incompatible with the current GearVR, so either Samsung is willing to forego that entirely, or it plans to release a USB-C based version of the accessory. An adapter would likely not fit.
The Techconfigurations video alludes to a Galaxy Note 7 with a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED display, 6GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of storage space. We’re still murky on what’s powering the device, though. The same video states that the Note 7 will run on a Snapdragon 823 processor, which we know very little about. There are rumors that the SoC will be manufactured on a 10nm process and feature second-generation Kryo application cores, but nothing has been officially announced by Qualcomm. Even SamMobile, the intrepid Samsung fan site, seems dubious about that claim. It's more likely that the 823 is very similar to the 820, only with higher clock speeds.
There have also been rumblings that, like the Galaxy S7 family, the Note 7 will feature IP68 water- and dust-resistance , which should keep It safe in up to five feet of water for a maximum of 30 minutes. And if USB Type-C compatibility is true, it’s likely the Note 7’s 4,000mAh battery pack will support QuickCharge 3.0 and fast wireless charging, too.
The Galaxy Note 7 could feature an iris scanner in place of, or in addition to, Samsung’s existing fingerprint scanner. That would enable you to simply stare at the screen or front-facing camera to unlock the phone, rather than pressing and holding on the Home button. It sounds far-fetched, but it’s entirely likely given Samsung’s history with eye-tracking technology and its latest tablet release in India.
There’s also an order form floating around the Android blog network that shows Samsung has ordered the appropriate parts for the technology. However, there’s no guarantee those parts will show up in the Note 7.
Notorious leaker Evan Blass and SamMobile have both reported that the Galaxy Note 7 will debut on August 2 in New York City, though no official invitations have been sent out by Samsung just yet.