Samsung-Galaxy-Note5
A man walks past a poster advertising the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 at a shop in Seoul on July 7, 2015. Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images

Samsung has been rumored to release the Galaxy Note 5, the next-generation version of its flagship Note series of phablets, much earlier than its usual launch schedule. Now, a new report said Tuesday that the device’s unveiling could be less than a month away, followed by its public release nine days later.

According to SamMobile, Samsung is likely to announce the Galaxy Note 5 on Aug. 12, while making it available for sale on Aug. 21. The company is also expected to launch the Galaxy S6 edge plus as the Galaxy S6 edge+ alongside the Note 5 on the same day, SamMobile reported, citing sources as well as local media reports.

The South Korean technology giant’s aggressive move to release the Galaxy Note 5 earlier-than-expected is considered as its strategy to take on Apple’s new iPhones, dubbed iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, which are expected to be released sometime in September.

In the so-called Apple vs. Samsung smartphone battle, the latter is trailing behind. The Galaxy-maker, which held nearly 50 percent of smartphone industry profits in 2012, now claims only 15 percent of profits, compared to Apple’s whopping 92 percent of profit share, the Wall Street journal reported, citing research firm Canaccord Genuity.

To help the Galaxy Note 5 stack up against the new iPhones, Samsung is rumored to make the device extremely thin and feature a new metal and glass design. The upcoming handset is also expected to come with a newly designed S Pen, which would look more like a pen than its previous versions, SamMobile reported.

The Galaxy Note 5, which is rumored to have the model number SM-N920, may also feature 4GB of LP-DDR4 RAM, while being powered by the Exynos 7422 chip. According to SamMobile, the new processor is Samsung’s first true single-chip solution, combining an octa-core 64-bit CPU, GPU, RAM, storage and the Shannon 333 LTE modem in the same package.

As for the Galaxy S6 edge+, the device is likely to sport the Exynos 7420 instead of a Snapdragon 808 chip, and have 3GB of RAM. Both Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 are expected to be available in silver, gold, black and white options.

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