Samsung has no intention to delay the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Fold 2 launch
Galaxy Note 20 concept render
That's especially weird because the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Fold 2 (or Galaxy Z Fold 2) are widely expected to beat the iPhone 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max to market, suggesting Samsung could have even more to suffer from the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that's causing problems throughout the tech industry.
Believe it or not, that may not end up being the case after all, at least according to a new Korean media report claiming "preparations are underway for the upcoming Galaxy Note launch, and there is no delay."
The original schedule is unchanged
The above statement was made by an unnamed "industry insider" quoted by The Korea Herald that however didn't care to elaborate on Samsung's purportedly unchanged plans for a joint Note 20/Galaxy Fold 2 announcement. In keeping with tradition, this could take place in August, but also in keeping with the tradition of the last few years, the company was rumored a few months ago to be eyeing an early Galaxy Note 20 debut.
The Note 20 could still arrive less than a year after the Note 10 and Note 10+
As crazy as it sounds considering today's global health context and all the troubling market trends reported by various research firms of late, a July Unpacked event is not off the table just yet. That's obviously because Samsung is headquartered in South Korea, where engineers and regular employees can work in their offices and proceed with business as usual.
Of course, actually holding a physical event with thousands of attendees seems unlikely, so "measures like an online event" are unsurprisingly being considered. But nothing is etched in stone right now, which means some sort of a delay could come into play in the end. Even if that happens, though, we highly doubt it will be as massive as the most pessimistic iPhone 12 scenarios bandied about of late.
The Galaxy Note 20 could still be special
Things have been relatively quiet on the Note 20 rumor front lately in terms of specs and features too, with a couple of reports painting Samsung's next mainstream flagship a rather unflattering picture as a Galaxy S20 Ultra clone of sorts with an S Pen in tow. Worse yet, a legit-looking benchmark suggested the Galaxy Note 20+ might actually come with a lower RAM count than the "regular" S20 5G, which would absolutely boggle the mind.
The Note 20+ could hide its selfie camera under the display and borrow the S20 Ultra's rear shooters
While The Korea Herald doesn't have a lot of detailed information to share on what the Galaxy Note 20 lineup could hide under its hood, one drastic design change might help the new guys stand out from their forerunners, as well as the S20 family.
We're talking about an under-display camera, an engineering feat that Samsung has been preparing for a number of years now. Despite all that work, several tipsters and insiders believe the groundbreaking technology is still not ready for primetime. That's not a view shared by Korean media today, so you definitely shouldn't rule out seeing the "world's first full-screen phone without a hole or notch" formally unveiled at an online-only event in July or August.
No words yet on how the original Galaxy Fold design might be revised for the second-gen model
Today's report also mentions an "upgraded stylus-pen" without going into any details regarding said upgrades, as well as a huge 7-inch screen. What we don't know is how many Galaxy Note 20 variants might be in the pipeline and whether or not Samsung plans to go with a bezel, notch, and hole punch-killing under-display selfie camera on all of them.
Interestingly, the Galaxy Fold 2 only gets a passing mention in this new report, although other rumors have hinted at quite a few key specs, selling points, and even a somewhat unexpected price-reducing move.
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