Galaxy Note 4 Release (U.S.): What Not to Expect

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 launch date is just hours away in the United States which means that we’re just hours away from hearing all about Samsung’s Next Big Thing. With that in mind, we want to offer up some final, detailed expectations regarding the Galaxy Note 4 release and more specifically, the U.S. Galaxy Note 4 release date.

For more than eight months, we’ve been looking at the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Samsung’s rumored successor to last year’s Galaxy Note 3. We’ve heard rumors about the Galaxy Note 4 specs, Galaxy Note 4 price, and the all important Galaxy Note 4 release date that’s rumored to be happening sometime during the month of September.

Tomorrow, Samsung will be taking the stage to announce its brand new Galaxy Note 4 and there, we should see the company confirm and squash many of these rumors. Familiar Samsung executives will likely take the stage and run down all of the key components including the improved design, the new display, the new processor, the S Pen, the Galaxy Note 4′s software upgrades, the camera, and more. We’re also expecting it to detail the Galaxy Note 4 release date.

In fact, we expect to hear about the Galaxy Note 4 release date, or, the date on which antsy smartphone shoppers will be able to pick up the Galaxy Note 4 for the first time. We’ve heard quite a bit about the Galaxy Note 4 release though we still don’t have a specific date for the U.S. or for regions around the world. The week of September 15th has been thrown around but that timing remains unconfirmed.

With the Galaxy Note 4 release up in the air just hours ahead of its launch event, we want to take a final look at what we expect from the Galaxy Note 4 release and the release date itself in the United States. These expectations will help guide those of you who are thinking about buying the Galaxy Note 4 in the near future.

Laggy Major Announcements

Don’t expect U.S. carriers and Samsung to lag on major Galaxy Note 4 release date details. If there is a pre-order, we should hear about it sometime within the next two weeks. If the Galaxy Note 4 is going to skip a pre-order and go straight to shelves to battle the iPhone 6, you should expect to hear confirmation in the near future.

Samsung can ill afford to leave holes in its U.S. release date announcements and our guess is that it, and its carrier partners, are going to be straightforward just like they were with the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 3 releases. The only laggy release date details could be the blue and gold colors that are expected to come with the Galaxy Note 4.

More often than not, we see Samsung produce two colors right off the bat before releasing new colors weeks down the road. Typically, the announcements come once the dust has settled around the initial release date. Look for carriers to confirm most of their plans within the next two weeks. The iPhone 6 launch on September 9th could stall things a little bit but we’re not expecting a huge widespread delay.

Huge Gap Between U.S. Galaxy Note 4 Release Dates

Do not expect to see a huge gap between the U.S. Galaxy Note 4 release dates. U.S. carriers tend to release their flagship products during the working week (Monday-Friday) and within a few days of each other. We could see a few opt to release late, especially with the iPhone 6 release right around the corner, but we’re expecting healthy competition when the Galaxy Note 4 arrives.

At the very worst, we could see a gap of a few days between release dates for major U.S. carriers. With Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular jockeying for position behind AT&T and Verizon, we’d be surprised if they lagged too much behind.

Absurd Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Release

At this point, we’re not expecting any shenanigans from Verizon. While the carrier has been known to release days, weeks and sometimes months after the competition, its gotten its act together in 2014 with quick Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 and LG G3 release dates.

We know that Verizon doesn’t like to release major devices within 14 days of each other, so there is a chance that we could see the Verizon Galaxy Note 4 release date fall after the iPhone 6 release date, but don’t expect Verizon to push out its Galaxy Note 4 several months after the competition. We’d be shocked if it was weeks behind the curve. There is simply too much competition these days.

Big Galaxy Note 4 Price Differences

We don’t expect there to be a huge discrepancy between the cost of the Galaxy Note 4 on its release day in the United States. Last year we saw Sprint release the Galaxy Note 3 for $350 on-contract, $50 than the rest of the pack, though that was an anomaly. Most of the time, U.S. carrier pricing is congruent.

Galaxy Note 4 price rumors put the device at the same price point as the Galaxy Note 3 and we’re expecting the Galaxy Note 4 to arrive for $299.99 or so in the United States. We’d expect that from all five major carriers.

Widespread T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4

T-Mobile smartphones are a little harder to find than their competitors. That’s because they aren’t sold through major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, RadioShack, and Target. AT&T, Sprint and Verizon smartphones are very accessible as they are sold through most retail locations. We aren’t expecting anything different from the Galaxy Note 4.

Look for the T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4’s availability to be limited. Those who are looking into the carrier, and there are probably more than a few of you, should expect to have to buy through a T-Mobile location and perhaps, select retailers like Walmart.

Every Galaxy Note 4 Accessory

Do not expect every single official Galaxy Note 4 accessory to arrive on the Galaxy Note 4’s release day in the United States. Samsung will likely announce new accessories during tomorrow’s launch event and typically, official accessories take several weeks or more to hit shelves. The Galaxy S5’s wireless charger, for example, arrived weeks later in the United States.

With an iPhone 6 on tap for September, we could see Samsung work a little faster than it usually does, but we still wouldn’t expect every single Galaxy Note 4 accessory to be available when the Galaxy Note 4 hits shelves.

Storage Exclusives

When Samsung launched the Galaxy S4, it announced multiple storage variants including 16GB and 32GB models. In the U.S., AT&T and Verizon adopted both the 16GB and 32GB models while carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile opted to carry the 16GB model and the 16GB model alone. Needless to say, it was a bit of a debacle and a situation that frustrated many consumers. We haven’t seen a situation like it since.

Last year’s Galaxy Note 3 came with 32GB of storage across all carriers. We also saw the Galaxy S5 arrive in 16GB form and 16GB form only across all U.S. carriers. The 32GB Galaxy S5 never made it to shelves. We think something similar will happen with the Galaxy Note 4.

Look for all carriers to offer a 32GB Galaxy Note 4. This is a high-end, niche smartphone and we don’t think there’s a market for multiple storage sizes, not with Android devices supporting 128GB microSD cards.