What to expect at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event in August

We might be more than halfway through 2018, but there’s still a lot for tech fans to look forward to. Samsung’s Unpacked events have traditionally a huge deal, with the Korean giant announcing major new phones like the Galaxy S9 and the Note 8. This August, there’s likely to be a ton of reasons to watch. The reveal of the Galaxy Note 9 is inevitable, but there’s also the possibility that we’ll be seeing some more unexpected reveals from Samsung.

Samsung Unpacked 2018 isn’t until August 9, but we already have a pretty good idea of what to expect and how you can keep an eye on it when it starts.If you want to see all the action revealed as it happens, then there are a couple of ways to do it. The Unpacked event will be streamed live on Samsung’s website, and it’s likely you’ll be able to find it on Samsung’s YouTube channel too. Just tune in at 11 a.m. ET on August 9 and enjoy the show.

There are no prizes for guessing the main attraction at Samsung Unpacked 2018 — one glance at the invitation makes it pretty obvious. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will be in full attendance at Unpacked 2018, and you can expect the majority of the show dedicated to the Galaxy Note 8‘s successor.

So what can we expect from one of the biggest phones of the year? Details obviously aren’t confirmed, but most sources are indicating that — like the Galaxy S9 — the Note 9 will not see a major shift from the previous model’s design. Instead, it seems that Samsung is going to focus heavily on the element of the Note range that sets it apart: The S Pen. Noted leaker Ice Universe claims that the Note 9’s S Pen will come with Bluetooth functionality, will be able to function as a camera timer/clicker, and will be able to control music playing on the main device. While such functionality likely means the stylus will need to be charged, it’s likely Samsung will find a way to charge the stylus while docked in the device. That could be bad news for the battery — but since rumors say the Note 9 will be packing a huge 4,000mAh battery, it might not be a problem.

Another small change may be the addition of another button to the device. Don’t worry, it’s not another Bixby key — instead, it could be a dedicated camera button that could help to cement the Note range’s reputation for strong photography. Like the Galaxy S9, expect to see the fingerprint sensor move from the much-maligned position on the Note 8 — pictures of Note 9 cases place the sensor below the horizontally placed camera lens.

Turning to the internals, leaked Geekbench results show a device equipped with the Snapdragon 845 (no surprise there), 6GB of RAM, and Android 8.1 Oreo. While there have been fewer rumors about the rest of the internals, it’s fair to expect that Note 9 to at least match the specs of the Galaxy S9 Plus — so expect a model of the Note 9 with 256GB of storage to be present at launch.