Samsung Galaxy Note 9 screen protector leaks, showing slight design tweak

If you're looking forward to the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 9, then chances are you're hoping for big changes to the way it looks – but that seems to be less likely, based on a new leak.

The info comes from Slashleaks, which is showing off a purported screen protector for the new Note 9 – and it suggests there won't be much that's different from last year in terms of design.

The main change – which lends an air of validity to the claims – is that the bezels have shrunk above and below the screen, which likely means the screen size will be increased slightly, or the overall device will be smaller.

A less-than-curious mix

There's speculation from commenters on the leak that some of the openings on the new screen protector are larger or moved, but in a comparison with the Galaxy Note 8 it looks like everything will stay in the same place.

That means a notification light, IR scanner, proximity sensor, light sensor, front-facing camera and iris scanner. That's already a lot to pack in there, so a second front-facing camera to match Apple's TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X doesn't look likely.

This is only a screen protector for an unreleased phone, so it could easily just be based on predicted specs at this point - we'll have to wait until late August / early September to find out whether it'll be valid.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.