(Photo : REUTERS/Lee Jae Won )
The battle for smartphone and tablet supremacy between Apple and Samsung will be heating up even more as the Korean electronics manufacturer plans on unveiling the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 on August 29.
"We plan to unveil the next Galaxy Note at the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event in Berlin on August 29," a Samsung spokesman said on August 3.
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No further details were provided, and the announcement is set to be two days before the IFA consumer electronics fair kicks off in Berlin.
An August 29 reveal date will also give Samsung a bit of leeway before Apple officially unveils the hotly-anticipated iPhone 5. Apple is expected to make an announcement on September 12 which will detail its upcoming line of products, including a new iPhone, an iPad Mini, a new iPod Touch, and also a new iPod Nano.
The timing of the Galaxy Note 2 unveiling will give Samsung a couple of weeks in the media spotlight before the iPhone 5 steals it away. You can bet Samsung will push the device in hopes of snapping up more sales.
Details about official Galaxy Note 2 specs will have to wait until August 29, but various media outlets in South Korea and on the internet have stated that the Galaxy Note 2 will come with a slightly larger 5.5-inch "unbreakable" screen and a faster processor than the Galaxy Note. There is no confirmation that it will ship with Android Jelly Bean installed, although website SamMobile says that the Galaxy Note 2 will most likely receive it in the fourth quarter of 2012, a couple months after its release.
The launch of the Galaxy Note 2 will only exacerbate the intense rivalry between Samsung and Apple. The two companies are currently embroiled in various lawsuits in which both companies are accusing the other or wrongfully stealing ideas and technologies from one another.
Apple has been sitting on top of the smartphone and tablet market for a few years now, and only recently has Samsung made a major dent in Apple sales. Samsung's smartphone sales in the second quarter of 2012 nearly doubled those of the Apple iPhone. Some of this can be attributed to the fact that many would-be iPhone purchasers are simply holding out for the iPhone 5 later this year. Another factor has been the popularity and success of the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone launched in the United States in June.
