Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to launch earlier because of weaker Samsung Galaxy S4 sales?

Last month, Samsung's top mobile executive, J.K. Shin, confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy Note III would be unveiled in September at the IFA show in Berlin. But there is speculation that because of weakening sales of the Samsung Galaxy S4, the next iteration of Samsung's phablet series could end up being made available earlier, in July or August. While some industry watchers were getting concerned when top Wall Street houses were cutting their forecasts for monthly shipments of the Galaxy S4 from 10 million to 7 million, the news has quite possibly become more serious.

A published report on Thursday says that Samsung itself is cutting back its parts procurement for the Android flagship model to build 6.5 million units in July. Remember, this is a phone that sold 10 million units in its first month on the market. There are some other things that Sammy can try to get the Galaxy S4 back on track. One would be to shut down production of the Samsung Galaxy S III. The latter has become a cheap way to pick up most of the features of the new model, even if it has last year's hardware.

Another reason to get the Samsung Galaxy Note III out earlier than September is to give it a leg up on the competition. Unlike past years, there is some strong looking competition in this niche of the market that Samsung needs to concern itself with. For example, there is the HTC T6, said to be a large screened version of the HTC One and rumored to be the first device to run on Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. There is also the Sony Xperia ZU which is believed to offer a screen in the range of 6.21 to 6.44 inches. That phone could be introduced as soon as June 25th during a Sony event in Germany. Waiting until September to introduce the Samsung Galaxy Note III could prove to be a fatal mistake.

Meanwhile, a picture that claims to show a portion of the Samsung Galaxy Note III shows a completely different look than leaked photos showed earlier this week. The new photo shows a device with a rounded edge while the earlier shots were of a device with squared corners. And while both leaks had narrower bezels, the latest one came with a note that said that the screen for the Samsung Galaxy Note III is 6 inches and accounts for a whopping 84% of the front real estate of the phone. That would top the current industry leader, which is the Sony Xperia ZL. On that device the 5 inch glass makes up 75.84% of the front of the device.

Thanks Anonymous Tipster!

source: AndroidAuthority, gforgames