Korean report suggests next Samsung phablet will skip Note 6, be named Galaxy Note 7 instead

As far as Samsung goes, this week certainly is getting pretty crazy. The Galaxy S7 edge is almost at the center of it all: an eighty meter-tall, LED powered screen is turning an entire building’s facade into a billboard ad, and rumor has it that the phone may soon land in a special Batman-themed edition.

But Samsung’s other flagship, the Note, is — according to a Korean report — about to pull a Windows and jump straight to “Galaxy Note 7″…

As it’s known, the latest iteration of the Korean OEM’s lineup of phablets is the Galaxy Note 5, which came out last fall. Therefore it would be logical to follow the yearly path of simply adding one unit to the current device’s numbering, and reveal the phone as Galaxy Note 6.

But Samsung, logic and consistency don’t always play well. At least however, in the company’s defense, there is some sense that can be made out of this rumor, in which the ET News report delves into.

For one, there’s the fact that the smartphone titan is seemingly trying to streamline its top devices’ nomenclature, and thus “maximize marketability”. Given the importance of the Note lineup, having a shiny new “Note 6” sitting next to the months-old “Galaxy S7” could prove a bit odd.

And then, of course, there’s Apple, which is likely to launch its new series of high-end phones in the fall under the name iPhone 7 (and 7 Plus or Pro or something). Apparently these kind of subtle differences play an influential role in the mind of consumers — it’s one of the reasons why Microsoft named its second and third gen. Xbox consoles “360” and “One” respectively, not to go against PS3 and PS4 — and have a Note 6 going against the iPhone 7 could be detrimental.

It sounds a bit sketchy, but the report also mentions a “high-ranking representative of a telecommunication industry”, who commented on the matter: “When Galaxy Note 6 that has its model number lower than Galaxy S7, which is the newest model, is released, it can give out a feeling that it is an outdated phone. It is known that Samsung Electronics has made the numbers same to unify a premium image.”

An additional bit of the report mentions that the next Note will also sport a dual-edge display, which will help in channeling the idea of a more unified high-end segment of Samsung’s lineup. We had heard that Samsung was testing both a flat and a curved model, but if ET’s report is correct, the manufacturer may have decided to push the edge variant forward and ditch the standard flat panel.

In addition to that, you can expect the device to pack things such as a monster 4000mAh battery, water resistance, USB-C and perhaps even an iris scanner; and if the recently rumored launch date of the week of August 15 is correct, it wouldn’t be too crazy to expect the Note 7 to come out — as previously reported — with Android N already out of the box.