Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Release Date Mysteries

After several weeks of silence, we finally know a good amount about the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge release date. Here, we want to take a look at what we still don’t know about the Galaxy Note Edge release date and make some predictions about said mysteries.

In the beginning of September, Samsung took the stage to announce a number of new products. While the spotlight was on the rumored Galaxy Note 4, the company made a surprise announcement in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, a device that shares many of the Galaxy Note 4′s features but comes with a curved display.

Samsung’s brand new Galaxy Note Edge is a concept phone and one that should be intriguing to those that are looking to upgrade to a high-end smartphone. Its specs include a Quad HD resolution, a 2.7 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 805 with 3GB of RAM, Android 4.4.4 KitKat with Samsung TouchWiz, 16MP camera with Optical Image Stabilization, massive battery, and a thin 8.3mm frame. It also comes with an S Pen stylus. However, it’s the device’s unique screen that sets it apart from the competition.

Unfortunately, Samsung’s Galaxy Note Edge launch did not yield any specific Galaxy Note Edge release date information. Over the past two months, Galaxy Note Edge release date and release information has trickled out, culminating with the first Galaxy Note Edge release date last week when Japan became the first country to offer the device. That said, there are still a ton of missing details for buyers in the United States and elsewhere.

Today, we want to focus in those missing details and on the remaining Galaxy Note Edge release date mysteries. We’ll take a look at what we still don’t know and make some educated guesses about how the remaining Samsung Galaxy Note Edge release plans will play out.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Release Date

Let’s start with the first market to get the new Note. Samsung Galaxy Note Edge release date in Japan on October 23rd was the first Galaxy Note Edge release date anywhere in the world. KDDI and NTT DoCoMo became the first carriers to offer the device. And while they have the Galaxy Note Edge on sale, there are still a few things we still don’t know about the Japanese release.

First, the Galaxy Note Edge release was delayed for KDDI in several prefectures ahead of its initial release. It’s not clear how long consumers in those prefectures will have to wait though we imagine that KDDI is going to be working hard to get its device out in those regions as soon as possible. These types of delays typically don’t take more than a few weeks or so.

The other missing detail is the white Galaxy Note Edge release date. Japanese carriers have announced plans to release the white model sometime in November though they haven’t provided a specific date. Early-to-mid November is looking good for both releases and we expect both to drop within a few days of each other, if they don’t arrive on the same day.

At the tail end of last week, we saw a report peg the first Galaxy Note Edge release date in Korea for October 28th. That release is for South Korean carrier SK Telecom. Look for that date to hold. Samsung recently said that it was targeting late October for the Korean Galaxy Note Edge release and it looks like it’s sticking to that.

LG U+ and KT, two other Korean operators, are expected to get it in November, release date unknown. We’d expect that to hold as well with releases coming in early-to-mid November like the white Galaxy Note Edge release in Japan.

We still don’t have official Galaxy Note Edge release dates in China, Russia, India or the United Kingdom. We do, however, have some vague release details that thicken the mystery.

China is widely expected to be among the first to the Galaxy Note Edge joining the U.S., Korea and Japan. With two of the four now out of the way, we expect an announcement for the Chinese market soon. We would also expect the Chinese Galaxy Note Edge release date to land in November, given how important of a market it is.

Russia and India are supposedly getting the Galaxy Note Edge by the end of the year. The Russian release is rumored for November or December while the Indian release is far more vague. While it’s hard to narrow down a specific date, we’d expect Samsung to get the devices out before the end of the holiday shopping season aka late December.

The UK release date is still not known either and unfortunately we still don’t have any kind of specific read on its arrival. Our best guess is that the United Kingdom will be joined by countries like Germany and the Netherlands and that a release will either come in late November at the earliest and early 2015 at the latest.

Canada won’t be getting the Galaxy Note Edge until 2015 and we expect it to touch down in Q1 (January, February or March). Any later than that and the device will be an afterthought, especially with a Galaxy S6 in the cards.

U.S. Galaxy Note Edge Release Date

The U.S. Galaxy Note Edge release date has made substantial progress lately though a specific release date, or dates, remain unknown. The AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile Galaxy Note Edge models have all passed through the FCC with the lone straggler the Verizon Galaxy Note Edge.

It’s not clear when it will pass through though the FCC’s clutches though we imagine it will cruise by soon. Once the Verizon Galaxy Note Edge shoots through the FCC, we expect an announcement from Samsung and its U.S. carriers just a few hours or a few days after. And with the Galaxy Note Edge finally appearing on Samsung’s website, we know that something must be close.

At this point, there’s no reason to think that the Galaxy Note Edge will arrive beyond the month of November. Samsung and its partners love to make money and getting the Galaxy Note Edge onto shelves by Black Friday in late November will help them recoup the cost of this phone. The timing is also huge for marketing purposes with some many eyes in stores and malls around the country.

Now, we’ve heard that at least one carrier was targeting November 4th for a Galaxy Note Edge release date. Given that we haven’t seen any movement lately, that seems a little early but again, we would be surprised if the Galaxy Note Edge release date mystery wasn’t cleared up soon with a release date slated for mid-November.

Galaxy Note Edge Pre-Orders

We still don’t know if U.S. carriers are going to be taking pre-orders for the Galaxy Note Edge. We expect them to arrive though our guess is that they won’t last as long as the Galaxy Note 4 pre-orders did. The Galaxy Note 4 was up for pre-order for about a month and given the niche status of the Galaxy Note Edge, we could see pre-orders lasting a week or two before Samsung and its partners release it.

We would be shocked if no pre-orders were offered. Android smartphones, even expensive niche smartphones like the Galaxy Note Edge, always go up for pre-order. We saw Japanese carriers take pre-orders ahead of their release dates and we’re expecting U.S. carriers to try and capitalize on the Galaxy Note name as well.

Someone is going to offer pre-orders. It may not be carriers but retailers like Amazon almost always offer a way to reserve a device ahead of time. We’ll continue to keep our eyes out.

Galaxy Note Edge Storage & Colors

The Galaxy Note Edge was announced in two colors, black and white, and in two different storage models, 32GB and 64GB. U.S. carriers haven’t announced their plans but there’s no reason to believe that they’ll release anything other than the 32GB model in black and white. Samsung’s website lists 32GB as the likely storage option.

32GB has been the standard for more than a year now and with 128GB microSD card support, there’s really no incentive for carriers to offer the 64GB Galaxy Note Edge. Samsung’s website also reveals that all four carriers will offer black and white in the U.S. though the white model could potentially cause some problems. We’ve already seen delays hit the white Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge and we could see similar issues in the U.S.

Remember, this is a concept phone and there’s a good chance that Samsung will stick with black and white.

Galaxy Note Edge Price

As Galaxy Note Edge release date details have trickled in, we’ve started to get a read on the Galaxy Note Edge price in global markets. However, we still don’t know how much it’s going to cost in the U.S.

Japan’s Galaxy Note Edge price is 93,312 yen which translates to about $875 U.S. dollars. That’s just a little bit more expensive than the U.S. Galaxy Note 4 off-contract price. In the U.S., the Galaxy Note 4 costs anywhere between $700 and $826 off-contract. In Russia, the Galaxy Note Edge is going to be extremely expensive. There, the Galaxy Note Edge will cost 49,990 rubles which is the equivalent of $1221 in the United States.

In other words, it’s all over the board. We expect there to be a premium put on the curved display so we expect U.S. carriers to offer this device for more than the Galaxy Note 4. It’s expensive technology and the Galaxy Note Edge already comes with a wealth of high-end specs including the S Pen. No way it matches the Note 4 in price.

That said, it’s hard to imagine carriers pricing out thousands and thousands of potential buyers. So, we expect a reasonable bump that’s more in line with Japan’s price. $100 more on and off-contract seems pretty reasonable to us and we’re expecting a device that’s price around $400 to $450 on-contract and $900 to $950 off-contract. We hope that we’re wrong.

Galaxy Note Edge deals will likely be scarcer than Galaxy Note 4 deals though we could see a few exciting discounts emerge in the days, weeks and months after its arrival. Remember, there’s no need to jump the gun with this phone.