If rumours ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10’s likely August 7 launch are to be believed it looks like both versions of the Note 10 will be sporting Qualcomm’s most powerful mobile processor, the Snapdragon 855 Plus. That’s surprising because it was only announced earlier this month. Purported specs for the Note 10 Plus also detail one beast of a phone, and while it might not match arguably the most powerful Android phone to date, it comes closer than just about anything else on the market.
Leaks have been pouring out steadily as we get closer to the date of Samsung Unpacked, where the company traditionally announced new phones. This one comes courtesy of a pretty reliable source: noted leaker Evan Blass, @evleaks. On Wednesday, Blass tweeted that contrary to recent rumours that only the Note 10 Plus would house the new chip, both of Samsung’s flagships will include it.
Given that Qualcomm only announced the updated processor earlier this month, opinion was divided on whether or not Samsung would be able to incorporate it into both models. Its Snapdragon 855 Plus comes with several gaming improvements like Qualcomm’s “Game Jank Reducer,” a feature that claims to curtail jitter and lag players are sometimes cursed within mobile games. Other perks include its AntiCheat Extension and a feature that reduces load times, the aptly named Game Fast Loader.
Blass dispelled similar claims about 45-watt charging (presumed to be reserved for just the Plus). Both phones will feature it. He went on to claim to confirm a couple of specs that have been floating around a while now. He tweeted that the base configuration for the Note 10 includes 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, with the Note 10 Plus housing similar storage but a bump in RAM to 10 GB.
The Note 10 will reportedly come with a 6.3-inch AMOLED screen with 60Hz refresh rate, while the Note 10 Plus will have a whopping 6.8-inch screen, dwarfing even ASUS ROG 2’s. Images that are supposedly of the Note 10 Plus and a few additional tidbits of information showed up on the site WinFuture on Tuesday as well, and its screen looks every bit as massive as it sounds.
And in answer to one of both fans’ and Gizmodo’s biggest questions about the new Note 10 series: Yes, this appears to be the year Samsung kills off the headphone jack.
News about the series’ battery life continues to disappoint slightly, but Blass’s tweets spelled out a small improvement: the Note 10’s capacity will be 3600 mAh, a mere 100 mAh more than previous rumours but better than nothing, eh? The Plus model fairs slightly better at 4300 mAh capacity, putting it on par with other high-end phones on the market but still eons shy of ROG 2’s 6000 mAh battery.
Back in June, Gizmodo asked what else is there possibly left to add to the Note series’s staple, the S-Pen. According to rumours, the answer is “air gestures,” a feature that lets you navigate your phone without having to touch it. From the looks of it, flicking through your timeline may be as simple as flicking your S-Pen. Both phones will also share this feature.
Of course, all of this is still conjecture at this point and won’t be confirmed until Samsung’s launch in August. But it’s getting harder to find reasons to doubt these rumours when so many different leak sources are spouting identical information at this point.