The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is officially a real thing, having now been certified in China. That snippet of news was spotted by Dutch site LetsGoDigital, which notes that the Chinese version of the Note 9 obtained its certificate from the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
This is actually the second time that Samsung has confirmed the existence of the Note 9 by way of official documentation: the company filed an application for the phone's trademark in Columbia in March 2018.
So what do we know about the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 so far, what do we think we know, and what don't we know? Read on to get up to speed with five key rumoured facts about Samsung's next Note.
1. The Note 9 release date will be between July and August 2018
Samsung usually releases its Note handsets in mid to late August and that's the month we'd expect the Note 9 to be released, but there's a possibility that Samsung is looking to release the phone a little earlier this year, perhaps in July. That speculation has arisen because Samsung has started testing the phone's software a little earlier than it did for its software for the Note 8 last year.
2. The Note 9 screen will be between 6.3" and 6.4"
A 6.3" screen would match the screen on the Note 8, but if Samsung is able to shrink the bezels – which seems likely – then it could boost the screen dimensions while keeping the body the same size. A recent leak claimed that the Note 9 will come packing a 6.4" screen.
3. The Note 9 battery will be 3,850mAh or 4,000mAh
We've heard a few rumours about the battery that the Note 9 will come with, and they're all pointing at a unit that has more capacity than the one in the Note 8. Leaker Ice universe recently tweeted that the Note 9 battery will be either 4,000mAh or 3,850mAh. Both of those dwarf the Note 8's 3,300mAh battery.
4. The Note 9 may or may not have an in-screen fingerprint reader
We know that Samsung wants to put the fingerprint reader in the screen: here's a patent application from the company which shows how the technology will work.
But the jury is still out on whether it will happen in time for the Note 9. We initially heard that the Note 9 would feature an in-screen fingerprint reader. Then we heard via an analyst's note to investors that the tech won't be ready in time for the Note 9 launch and that it will be held back for the Samsung Galaxy S10 instead.
But later that month, Ice Universe tweeted to confirm that yes, the Note 9 will feature an in-display fingerprint reader.
So at this stage it looks pretty certain that a future Galaxy phone will feature this innovative tech but whether the first handset to get it will be the Note 9 or S10 is still up in the air.
5. Nobody knows what the Note 9 price will be
We think that the Note 9 will either sell for the the same price that the Note 8 launched at last year, which was £869/$929, or perhaps slightly higher. But this is one piece of information that we're unlikely to get ahead of the launch unless a careless retailer puts their Note 9 product page online early – and that's happened a few times in the past, so we'll be scouring the web that price as the launch approaches.
