Even though it has recently been slapped with a $1 billion fine in the United States, and faces the possibility that its current flagship smartphone might face a future ban in the United States, Samsung is still looking very optimistic.
Samsung's IT and mobile unit chief Shin Jong-kyun indicated that Samsung expects the Galaxy Note 2 to do twice as well as the original Galaxy Note. The company announced earlier this year that the original Galaxy Note had passed 10 million sales.
The original Galaxy Note exceeded everyone's expectations. With a 5.3-inch screen that falls between a phone and tablet, the phablet was thought to be too big to catch on. But consumers seemed to enjoy the added screen space to utilize the S Pen stylus for a more creative offering.
The Galaxy Note 2 will up the ante by offering a 5.55-inch Super AMOLED screen and the latest Android operating system, Jelly Bean, running on a powerful 1.6 GHz quad-core processor. With an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, the Galaxy Note 2 is one powerful handset.
Samsung is pushing the creative aspect of the Galaxy Note 2-S Pen stylus relationship. Hoping to turn the handset into a "digital notepad," Samsung is offering a number of S Pen-specific apps and multitasking features.
The Galaxy Note 2 will launch in European, Asian, and Middle Eastern markets in mid-October. The United States will receive shipments before the end of 2012. Reports have surfaced that show it could be available on all four major U.S. carriers AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. European pre-order prices indicate it will be around $870 unlocked.
The company also stated that it expects the strong Galaxy S3 sales to continue.
"The Galaxy S3 is expected to sell more than 30 million units within this year," Shin told reporters at the company's Seoul office according to Yonhap News Agency.
Samsung's official blog, SamsungTomorrow recently stated that the Galaxy S3 had passed 20 million sales in its first 100 days.
"As Samsung's most successful smartphone to date, the GALAXY S III has set a new record, generating sales quicker than any of its predecessors," said the blog.
While Apple's iPhone 5 is set to dominate consumers' wallets in the $219 billion smartphone industry, Samsung doesn't seem scared. It makes up for sales by releasing a large variety of devices, and seems to want to continue that trend - after all, it does seem to be working.
Watch an in-depth hands-on video from Samsung on the Galaxy Note 2:
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