Update: Some of these devices may actually be existing/currently new devices, such as jackpot, which are in fact the Galaxy A8 and A8+, as we discovered in the firmware files for these phones. These could hit the US with a Snapdragon processor in the near future, as suggested by the ‘q' in the codenames.
Original story: Without divine intervention, there's no way Samsung is going to see sense in not releasing a boatload of smartphones in 2018, just like every year in the past. Well, the company does claim to have worked on “lineup optimization of low-end models”, calling it a reason for decreased smartphone shipments in Q4 2017. But that might not actually be the case, as an XDA developer has discovered a slew of codenames in the leaked Galaxy Note 8 Oreo beta for devices Samsung may be working on for a 2018 release.
Unannounced Galaxy device codenames unearthed
We'll be honest here: We don't think much of this list of device codenames as far as products turning into reality is concerned. Indeed, the XDA developer has only speculated to talk about which codename may belong to which device, doing a bit of deductive work to make sense of a mostly random list. Some of it just sounds to be too randomly thrown in by Samsung, putting a question mark on how seriously one should take this list.
There are a couple of devices here that could actually come out, like the Galaxy Tab S4 (codenamed gts4llte). With Apple expected to launch new iPads this year, possibly one with the Face ID tech from the iPhone X, Samsung would do well to launch a high-end tablet of its own. Even if Apple doesn't have something in the works, the Galaxy Tab S3 received enough attention and acclaim to warrant a successor, and we'd love to see it with an Infinity display with on-screen buttons.
Of course, there's also the fact that Samsung doesn't usually need a reason to launch a new device, so the Tab S4 could come out either way. Another tablet on the list is a new version of the Galaxy Tab A 10.1 – its codenamed gta2xl, while the original was gtaxl. The Galaxy C10 is also in the list, and while it's been many months since we heard about that device, it could arrive this year as yet another attempt from Samsung to fight its losing battle in the Chinese market. There is mention of a configuration file for the Snapdragon 660, which was rumored for the C10 and would make for a logical upgrade to the Snapdragon 653 that powered the C9 Pro.
But it's hard to believe devices like the Galaxy J4 or Galaxy J6 exist, especially after the J5 and J7 already being huge hits and Samsung claiming to be optimizing its budget lineup. Which, sadly, brings us back to the fact that there's not always a rhyme and reason to some of the devices Samsung launches. The J4 and J6 may well be on the way as cheaper alternatives to the Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7, both of which have only gotten pricier thanks to improved specs in every iteration. The Galaxy J8, meanwhile, may replace the J7, just as the A8+ replaced the Galaxy A7. Or, wait, the J8 would be a renamed J5 and the J8+ would have to exist to replace the J7.
The one interesting codename here is jackpot, which is listed in two variants. It might be the foldable phone, or something that's more special than the company's mainstream flagships but not as groundbreaking as a phone with a foldable display. star and star2 should be the Galaxy S9 and S9+ according to an early rumor from last year, while crown is expected to be the Galaxy Note 9 based on a different rumor. There's also something called astarqlte, which the developer believes could be the Galaxy S9 Active, with the letter ‘a' in the codename pointing to an Active device, the ‘q' an indication of the Snapdragon processor, and star already being hinted as being the standard S9.
There are also other codenames that don't sound like those for phones or tablets, so there's no telling what they might be referring to. Even the speculated ones aren't guaranteed to come to market or get an official mention, however, so we would suggest taking this information with a giant pinch of salt. We're just a month into 2018, and we'll need further evidence before we can put stock in anything that comes out of Samsung's software files.
Check out the full list of codenames below. For more details, head over to the source link, and leave a comment to let us know what you think of this giant dump of information about Samsung's possible future roadmap.
- astarqlte – Samsung Galaxy S9 Active (Snapdragon)
- c10lte – Samsung Galaxy C10
- c10plte – Samsung Galaxy C10 Plus
- crown – Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- degasy18wifi
- grandppirislte
- gtaxlad
- gta2xl – Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2018
- gtesy18lte – Samsung Galaxy Tab E 2018
- gts4llte – Samsung Galaxy Tab S4
- j2y18lte – Samsung Galaxy J2 2018
- j3neolte – Samsung Galaxy J3 Neo
- j3topelte
- j4lte – Samsung Galaxy J4
- j6lte – Samsung Galaxy J6
- j7topelte
- j7toplte
- j8lte – Samsung Galaxy J8
- jackpotlte
- jackpotqlte
- jackpot2lte
- jackpot2qlte
- kellylte
- lugelte
- star – Samsung Galaxy S9
- star2 – Samsung Galaxy S9+
