The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 just got a little more real

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 release date is still a few months away, but we might be seeing the first sign of its existence today.

Samsung appears to have filed a trademark for the Note 9 name recently on March 12, according to Galaxy Club. We don’t expect to see it arrive until August, but this at least shows that tire is meeting the road in terms of the company’s progress on the rumored phablet.

Here's what will be new

If you weren’t sold on the Samsung Galaxy S9 or Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, which officially launched today, there look to be plenty of reasons to get excited for the the upcoming Note 9.

First off, it’s almost guaranteed to continue the line’s S Pen heritage, making it the ideal choice for the artistic types, or those who just like to write on their phones in an intuitive manner.

While it’s not likely to feature the in-screen fingerprint sensor that we’ve recently been enamored with, Samsung may improve its face scanning to make up for it.

It's also said to be vastly improved in terms of Bixby. Samsung’s own DJ Koh confirmed that it “will be able to unveil Bixby 2.0 when we launch the Galaxy Note 9”, seemingly unafraid to namedrop the unreleased phone ahead of the release of the S9 and S9 Plus.

We’re not expecting a wild reinvention, but its improved battery (rumored to be larger than last year’s 3,300mAh Note 8 battery) and Android P support could make the Note 9 worthy of your attention when it launches later in 2018.