By Yun Sang-ho

crow@ddaily.co.kr

[Digital Daily = Seoul, Korea, July 24, 2015] Samsung Electronics will unveil its new flagship phablets, the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge on August 13 with their sales expected to begin at the end of the same month. Will they be able to help Samsung revive its old glory? How do they differ to the Galaxy Note and the other phones in the Galaxy S series?

According to Samsung Electronics and other sources, the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus are almost the same, except the S Pen for the Galaxy Note 5. A Samsung official said, “The only difference between the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is the S Pen. They are the same in design and screen size.”

To be unveiled in New York, US, on August 13, the two Samsung phones will be going head-to-head with the next Apple phones. Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, which were released earlier this year, fought a hard battle with Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. They helped Samsung get recognition of its competitiveness in design but did not sell as much as expected. The Galaxy S6 Edge, in particular, suffered a lot from weak sales.

Both the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus borrow the design of the Galaxy S6 Edge. They employ curved screens on the front bent in both sides. The back is made with glass and has a metal frame. The Galaxy Note 5 includes the S Pen stylus on the bottom side, which can be manually detachable like in its predecessors. The battery is not separable. The back side curved design and automatically detachable stylus, which were shown in some models, were not adopted in these phones for mass production.

The Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus have the screens of the same size—5.7-inch Quad-HD (1440*2560 pixels) screens. They inherit major functions of the Galaxy S6, including fingerprint recognition and wireless charging, as well as ‘Samsung Pay.” Samsung seems to adopt a strategy similar to that of Apple, which released the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus that are based on the same design but with screens of different sizes.

Another Samsung official said, “Before the release of the Galaxy S6, there had been rumors that its metal frame and front and back glass body would be similar to those of iPhones but they were not. You will find the distinct characters of Samsung phones when you actually see the new phones.”

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics will also unveil the smart watch Gear A on August 13. With a circular screen, the Gear A is with Samsung Pay and can be wirelessly charged.