The Samsung Galaxy Note series is returning to the UK in early August with the new Note 7 (aka the Galaxy Note 6). We round-up the best Galaxy Note 7 rumors, focusing on the new Note 7 UK release date, price, new features and specifications. You might also like: Samsung Galaxy Note 5 review and Samsung Galaxy S7 review.
Latest update: A new leak showcases screenshots of the Note 7 Iris Scanner setup and a video showing it in action.
Meanwhile, Samsung has confirmed via Twitter that the Samsung Galaxy Note7 will launch on 2 August.
New photos of the Note7 have also surfaced. Click here to view them. And you can buy a case for the Note 7 ahead of the launch, choose from a wide range - find out more. The Note 7 looks like it will have an always on screen and feature USB Type-C.
A new render of the Galaxy Note 7 gives us a great look at the phone in the blue colour and the leaker also suggests the stylus can be used underwater - read more. We've also got the below renders which look pretty final, via Seeko.
Note 7 offical render leak
We now have a hands-on video of the Galaxy Note 7 via Mobile Fun which thinks (but isn't sure) that the clip is from case maker Olixar. The brief video shows the curved edge screen and the speed of opening apps but not much else.

What happened to the Galaxy Note 6? Galaxy Note 6 UK release date

Samsung is said to be skipping the Galaxy Note 6 in order to bring the naming of its flagship phablet in line with that of its flagship smartphone family, the S series. Since it announced the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge earlier this year, it makes sense that it would also bring out the Note 7 in 2016.
Samsung appears to be copying more than the name, however. Having dropped the Edge+ model from its S series, it's widely tipped to be announcing a new curved-edge Note 7 - but in place of the standard flat-design Note phablet rather than as well as. This will be a larger device than the S7 and S7 Edge, and come with Samsung's S Pen stylus.
It's worth mentioning that according to @evleaks the Note 7 will actually be called Note7. That would make sense considering there's no gap between the S and the 7 for its S7 series, but for the purposes of this article we'll be sticking with Note 7. 
Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 release date: When is the new Galaxy Note coming out?

Note 7 release date: 2 August 2016.
Samsung has confirmed it will hold an UnPacked event to launch the Galaxy Note7 on 2 August via Twitter.

Galaxy Note 7 UK release date rumours: Is the Note 7 coming to the UK? 

The new Note 7 is coming to the UK.
That’s according to Tech Radar, which quotes a source high up at one of the UK’s major networks as saying the company will ditch the edge+ handset in favour of the Note in Europe.
"Samsung isn't going to launch the S7 Edge+ in the UK. I got the impression that it had been a bit of a disappointment sales-wise and that the decision to keep the Note 5 out of Europe is now considered a mistake. So our information is that the Note 6 will launch in the UK in August and that there will be no S7 Edge+,“ said the source. Also see: Best smartphones 2016
Samsung Galaxy Note 7

New Galaxy Note 7 Lite UK release date - New Galaxy Note 7 Edge release date

Rumours suggest there will be several versions of the Note 7 launching this August, including for the first time a 'Lite' model and an updated Note Edge. According to a source onWeibo, the Note 7 Lite will feature a lower-resolution full-HD display, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor in place of the 823, and 4- rather than 6GB of RAM.
We're not convinced, however. The rumours are much stronger around the theory that there will be just one standard Note 7, but with a dual-curved edge, rather than a trio of devices. Plus, if Samsung really is bypassing the Note 6 for the Note 7 in order to avoid brand confusion, and working to introduce a streamlined design across all its smartphone families (even down to the A series - see our A3 2016 and A5 2016 reviews), it wouldn't make sense to suddenly introduce a Lite version. Samsung is known for ensuring its new flagships obliterate the competition in benchmarks - anything but the best won't be worthy of the Galaxy Note name. 

Galaxy Note 7 UK price rumours: How much will the Note 7 cost? 

Note 7 UK price: Around £630 (TBC).
Based on Samsung’s previous strategy, we’d expect to see a new Galaxy Note 7 come in between £600 and £650, with an RRP of around £630 most likely. It will almost certainly be available SIM-free direct from Samsung, Amazon UK, eBayand the like.
If you’ll be looking to buy the Note 7 SIM-free, note that Samsung Galaxy smartphones tend to drop in price by around 20 percent within the first few months.
If you wish to get the Note 7 on contract, the best deals will likely cost around £45-50 per month. You'll almost certainly be able to pick it up from the UK's major mobile operatorsVodafone, EE, Three and O2, as well as the likes of Carphone Warehouse.
Via SamMobile, the Note 7 has gone up for pre-order in Dubai with a deposit of AED 500 ($130) and customers who pre-order will get a free 128GB Micro-SD card. It's unclear whether this will be an offer in any other markets.

New Note 7 model number: SM-N930F

Samsung appears to have accidentally confirmed the existence of a new Note smartphone on its website. 
A User Agent (UA) Profile page has surfaced for a phone going by the model number 'SM-N930F', and logic dictates that this must be the new Note 7 given that the Note 4 is SM-N910 and the Note 5 SM-N920.

What’s new in the Note 7? Galaxy Note 7 new feature rumours

New Note 7 design

The latest render appears to show a press render of the Galaxy Note 7 in the blue option. It shows in a good amount of detail the curved screen, USB-C port and headphone port. ViaTheTech which also mentions that the stylus can be used underwater, so the Note 7 must have a high IP rating if this is true.
Galaxy Note 7 blue
Sammobile has confirmed that the new Note 7 will, in common with the new Galaxy S7, feature IP68 certification. This means it will be waterproof up to 1.5m for up to 30 minutes, and dustproof. @evleaks backs up this claim, and adds that the Note 7 will be available in black, silver and blue. More recently, he has leaked press renders of the Note 7 that show it in Black Onyx, Silver Titanium and Blue Coral.
Note7 press renders
We've seen some new Note 7 pictures leaked via Twitter, too, which show the black model.
Also via nowhereelse.fr:
Note 7 photos
We’ve heard rumours that it will feature a very similar design to the previous Note and Galaxy S flagships, with a mix of glass front and rear and strong metal frame. We wouldn’t be surprised Samsung to make the Note 7 more curvier at the rear as it has done with the new Galaxy S7. Also see: Best Android phones 2016
The fact there will be an edge model has been leaked all over the place - most recently in this short clip from @OnLeaks. It's becoming increasingly apparent, though, as we have mentioned, that this edge model will be the only new Note 7 coming our way.
uSwitch has also offered the following concept video and writes: "Leaked blueprints of the Samsung Galaxy Note 6 have given us our first-ever look at the phone and confirmed some key features, ahead of its anticipated debut in August or September. 
"Sourced exclusively for uSwitch by @Onleaks, AKA Steve Hemmerstoffer of Nowwhereelse.fr, the blueprints reveal that the handset will feature a design that’s almost identical to the Galaxy S7 Edge, albeit with an aperture for the stylus pen that defines the Note range."
Note that @OnLeaks believes this to be the standard Note 7 rather than the Note 7 Edge, and says a separate Note 7 Edge model seems unlikely.
(The image renders scattered throughout this article are also via uSwitch.)
The latest leaked image of that dual-curved edge and front iris scanner comes via @OnLeaks and Android Authority:

New Note 7 case renders

MobileFun sent across some Olixar case renders (shown below) for the upcoming Galaxy Note 7, which are available here for £17.99. The retailer now has an entire range of cases for the Galaxy Note 7 which you can buy in preparation for the launch.
Note 7 cases

New Note 7 screen

According to @evleaks the new Note 7 will feature a 5.7in Quad-HD SuperAMOLED panel. We expect that there will be an always-on display, since the company already has the tech, as implemented in the Galaxy S7. Also see: Best phablets 2016
The most outrageous claim we’ve seen is that the Note 7 will have a 6in 4K screen (via Weibo). We’ve seen 4K before in theSony Xperia Z5 Premium, but it hardly set the world alight and places extra strain on the core hardware. The idea that the Note 7 will have a larger 6in has since been backed up by India's import and export tracking site Zauba, however.
The curved edge in the video above looks much less rounded than on the Note Edge, leading us to believe it will be closer to the S7 Edge (except larger and more powerful).
A rumour which is perfectly plausible is that the Galaxy Note 7 will come with the the always on display feature from the Galaxy S7. This can be seen in the leaked photo below fromTech Tastic. It seems to have more functionality this time, too.
Note 7 always on display

New Note 7 processor, RAM and performance

Two processors are rumoured for the Galaxy Note 7: the Exynos 8890 and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 823. It is possible there will be a variation of the Note 7 with the Exynos chip and another with the Qualcomm processor, since Samsung has just done exactly this with the Galaxy S7. We’d expect to see the Exynos 8890 variant in the UK.
More exciting is the new Note 7 could be one of the first mainstream phones to feature a huge 6GB of RAM, which should lead to unparalleled performance in benchmarks.
Unfortunately, the validity of both these claims is questionnable. They appear to stem from a CPU-Z screenshot sent into Phone Arena (pictured below), which has since itself admitted that the screenshot is most likely a fake.
Samsung Galaxy Note 6 CPU-Z benchmark

New Note 7 storage - will the Galaxy Note 7 have microSD support?

Yes it will! That's according to @evleaks, who says the Note 7 will get 64GB of storage plus microSD support. 
It makes sense, too: Samsung has appeared to have learned from some of its past mistakes, returning the Note series to the UK and reintroducing the waterproofing and microSD support to the Galaxy S7. We know that the waterproofing is also coming to the new Note 7, so why not also the microSD support?
According to Trusted Reviews, Samsung might also include its UFS 2.0 memory chips in the Galaxy Note 7. That would put 256GB of hyper-fast storage at the disposal of Note users.
The most outrageous claim we've seen is that the new Note 7 could feature 500GB of storage, making it the highest-capacity phone on the market. Studying that rumour, however, the source is actually suggesting it will feature 256GB internal storage, which could be bolstered using the company's soon-to-be-released 256GB microSD card.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7

New Note 7 battery

The Note 5 has a 3000mAh battery, but if Samsung is about to pile on the performance it also needs to keep fans happy and improve the battery capacity. (We don’t think it will go down the removable battery route, because it just doesn’t work with that glass and metal design.)
The aforementioned Phone Arena source, which even it’s not convinced is telling the truth, suggests there will be a 3700mAh battery inside the new Note 7. Another source atWeibo (the same source who suggested there would be a 6in 4K screen), says it’ll be a 4,000mAh battery. We’re not inclined to believe either, but we do think Samsung will increase the capacity from the Note 5.
We thought that the Galaxy S7 would come with USB Type-C, the newer reversible connector, but it didn't. However, is seems that the Galaxy Note 7 will feature the USB-C port if the below video is anything to go by.

New Note 7 camera

We’re not massively convinced by that Weibo source’s claims so far, but something they do say that sounds a lot more likely is that there will be a 12Mp camera with Super OIS Plus. Samsung implemented a 12Mp camera in the Galaxy S7 earlier this year, and it would make sense that it would use a slightly tweaked version of the same camera.
@evleaks has also said the new Note 7 will get a 12Mp dual camera, and a 5Mp camera at the front.
We’ve seen a 20Mp camera rumoured too, but someone always pipes up and says 20Mp when it comes to Samsung phone launches. It sounds like a great number, but phone makers are rapidly learning customers are no longer going to be fooled into thinking the number of megapixels is the most important attribute of a camera phone.
The latest rumours we've heard suggest the new Note 7 will get a dual-lens camera (which is also what's being rumoured for the upcoming iPhone 7 Plus with which it will compete).

New Note 7 extra features: S-Pen, fingerprint scanner, heart-rate scanner, iris scanner

We’d be amazed if the Note 7 didn’t come with an S-Pen stylus, fingerprint scanner and heart-rate scanner. Android Authority has screenshots of the Note 7 user interface showing the S Pen Air Command menu - it looks like normal but there's a new option called Glance and you can supposedly use it to record gifs.
Note 7 S Pen Air Command
Sammobile and @evleaks both say there will be a new iris scanner - it’s spotted an iris cam being imported into India, labelled up as ‘parts for Samsung Mobile’. And what would the company implement an iris scanner on other than its next flagship?
More evidence to back up the iris scanner theory comes from trademarks filed by Samsung for 'Samsung Iris' and 'Samsung Eyeprint' in Europe.
Most recently, Android Authority has showcased a number of screenshots from the iris scanner setup, confirming that the feature will indeed be available on the Note 7. It also mentions the limitations of the feature, which are pretty surprising - you can't use it while wearing glasses or contact lenses, in low light conditions or if you don't want to hold your phone level with your eyes every time you unlock it. There are more limitations too, as can be seen below (click to enlarge):
The process requires the user to hold your phone 25-30cm away from your face with the screen facing towards you. Ironically, even though the feature can't be used with glasses, the image below explaining how to use the Iris scanner showcases someone wearing glasses. Awkward.
Below is a video supposedly showing the Note 7 iris scanner in action looking similar to Windows Hello. It's short and sweet so blink and you'll miss it.

New Note 7 software

Some people are saying the Note 7 will come with Android Nougat out of the box, but we’ve been unable to trace the source and it sounds like rubbish to us. Although the Android N Developer Preview was announced earlier this year, well ahead of its usual Google I/O debut, that doesn’t mean the operating system itself will come earlier. And even if it does Android N will be reserved for the Nexus line, and won’t appear on other phones until late 2016/early 2017.
However, recently more weight has been added to the theory the Note 7 could come with Android Nougat out of the box, no matter how unlikely that sounds. What appears to be a very early prototype of the Note 7 (running only 3GB of RAM and last years' Exynos 7420 chip) has been spotted in theGeekbench database running Android Nougat. Don't get your hopes up just yet, though: Samsung may be doing no more than showing an active interest in how Nougat will run on the Note 7 when it becomes available to it.
We’d also expect to see the TouchWiz UI installed and working in much the same way as on the Galaxy S7 but with extra features for the S-Pen stylus. TouchWiz is reportedly getting an upgrade (called Grace), as shown in the below YouTube video.
On 12 May Sammobile reported that Samsung had begun working on the firmware (N930FXXU0APE1) for the Note 7, with at least one new software feature - a "BlackBerry Hub-like Samsung Focus app" that integrates email, social media, messages, contacts, calendar, memos and more. 

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 specification

Based on all the rumours we’ve read, and our own knowledge of previous Note phablets, this is what we believe to be the most likely specification for the new Note 7 in the UK.
• 5.7in Quad-HD SuperAMOLED display
• Always-on display
• Exynos 8890 processor
• 6GB of RAM
• 64GB storage
• MicroSD support
• IP68 certification
• !2Mp dual-lens rear camera
• 5Mp front camera
• S-Pen stylus