Samsung Galaxy Note 9 could have a big battery and an in-screen finger scanner

Two potentially major highlights of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 have just been rumored, with the phone said to have a fingerprint scanner built into the screen and a big 3,850mAh battery.

That's according to Ice universe, who has leaked accurate Samsung information in the past. It's also somewhat believable, given that the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and Galaxy S8 Plus both have 3,500mAh batteries, which is a larger size than the 3,300mAh one in the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.

Logically you'd think Samsung would reserve its largest juice packs for the Note range, since they're its largest flagship phones.

The small size of the battery in the Note 8 was probably down to the company being extra cautious after the Galaxy Note 7 disaster, but in tech terms that's a distant memory now, so it's probably time to up the battery size again.

Increased competition

As for the in-screen scanner, this is a feature that's been rumored for a while, and although not all sources think it's going to happen it would make sense for Samsung to aim to include one, especially now that Huawei has with the Huawei Mate RS Porsche Design.

We're more confident that the battery rumor is true than the in-screen scanner rumor, since loads of phones have big batteries but not many have in-screen scanners and the tech is seemingly yet to be mastered.

But if Samsung can deliver both in the Galaxy Note 9 it could have the exciting flagship it needs to compete with whatever Apple's cooking up for the iPhone XI.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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