Samsung yesterday sent out invites to a press conference on February 26, 2017, to be held during the Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona. All signs point to a device launch, but the teaser-invitation silhouette doesn’t look like it could be the Galaxy S8. So, what else could Samsung be launching?
One thing Business Insider noted was that, unlike last year’s invite for the Galaxy S7 launch, there was no “Unpacked” branding. Samsung has already indicated that the Galaxy S8 could be delayed, and leaker Evan Blass has offered up a launch date of March 29, 2017.
If that’s true, then this is a completely new device that could have been going under the radar until now. The tablet-like profile on the ad could suggest the Galaxy Tab S3. About three days ago, when we reported that Android 7.0 Nougat would come to Galaxy Tab S2 devices, we also shared information about the Galaxy Tab S3 coming “in the next few weeks.”
Could the Feb 26 launch be the Galaxy Tab S3 with Android Nougat? Possibly.
The other possibility is the foldable Galaxy X1 and Galaxy X1 Plus devices that were rumored to be shipped in the third quarter this year. A February launch seems a tad bit early to announce a product that’s only going to be available several months later, however, so we’re not convinced that this launch could have anything to do with that.
But what about a Galaxy Note 8? Samsung did confirm in a roundabout way last year that they would release a Note 8 despite the failure of the Note 7. At the time, the Note 7 wasn’t completely pulled off the shelves, but the problems with the smartphones catching fire and exploding had already escalated to a great degree.
We reported this as part of that article:
“In a statement on Monday, Samsung said customers who trade in their Note 7 phone for either a flat-screen or curved-screen version of the Galaxy S7 can trade up for a Galaxy S8 or Note 8 smartphone launching next year through an upgrade program.”
Has Samsung been secretly working on a Note 8 as well, for 2017? We don’t know. All we know is that it was definitely under consideration until the end of October, at least.
We now have three possibilities for February 26. A tablet, a phablet or a foldable smartphone. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait it out for a few weeks before we know for certain what Samsung’s got up its sleeve this time.
We’ll keep you posted.
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