At the end of the summer, before the world was introduced to the massive Galaxy Note 3, rumors spread about a second, cheaper model which we playfully referred to as the Note 3 Lite. Of course, the phone never appeared, but a new rumor has shown up this week, detailing a similar device which could really be called the Galaxy Note 3 Lite.
The report comes from SamMobile.com, where many unreleased Samsung devices have been discussed in the past. This time the subject is the SM-N7505, also known as the Note 3 Lite, which could be on track for launch around February or March next year. This would put it around the same time as Mobile World Congress, where Samsung usually has a strong presence.
As the name suggests, the Note 3 Lite would be based on the regular Note 3, but with a lower specification to keep the price down. While the latest rumor doesn’t include any specifications, last time out we were told to expect a similarly sized LCD touchscreen instead of a Super AMOLED panel, and an 8-megapixel camera. We’d also imagine the processor will be swapped for something cheaper than the Snapdragon 800, and the 3GB of RAM dropped down to 1GB or 2GB at most. The Note 3 Lite may also say goodbye to the faux-leather rear panel.
As the Note 3 Lite still sounds a lot like the Galaxy Mega 5.8, we could be seeing a change in Samsung’s branding strategy, as a Galaxy Grand Lite has also been rumored. Could the Mega and other lesser lines be retired, so Samsung can give its major phone releases cheaper, Lite versions to help simplify the range? It would make some sense, and is something it has explored already with devices such as the S3 Mini and S4 Mini.
There are still several months to go before the Galaxy Note 3 Lite will supposedly make its debut, so we’ve got plenty of time for it to leak again, should it be in Samsung’s plans for 2014.
