Galaxy Note 8 model number + codename rumored, Note 7 hardware may be recycled in Korea

After a fall from ‘Grace,’ Samsung pins hopes on ‘Great.’

Samsung has already confirmed that a Galaxy Note 8 will land this year, as it looks to move on from the Note 7 debacle, and now one usually-reliable source claims to have the model number and codename for the next Note.

SamMobile reports that the Note 8 is being developed under the codename “Great,” not the previously rumored “Baikal” (an enormous Siberian lake.) “Great” would seem like a fitting successor to “Grace,” which was the codename for the Note 7. (As well as the thing from which it ultimately fell.)

Codenames show us Note 8 development is in full swing, but reveal nothing about the actual phone.

The model numbers for the phone reportedly start SM-N950, with subsequent letters identifying each region’s model. That would see Samsung jumping from N930 to N950, passing over “940,” just as it appears to have done with the Galaxy S8 (SM-G950). The Korean company has skipped the number four in model numbers before, a number which is considered unlucky in many Asian cultures.

SamMobile also claims that claims of a long-rumored refurbished Note 7 release may be happening, at least in Samsung’s home market of Korea. The project carries the codename “Grace R” (for “refurbished”) according to the outlet, though it’s unclear how the end product might differ from the Note 7 we currently know — and it almost certainly wouldn’t carry the same brand.

The new device, which will apparently use some Note 7 components, but with a smaller battery, will allow Samsung to make use of parts in the millions of Note 7s it had to recall following last year’s unpleasantness. The fate of these recalled Note 7s was a point raised by Greenpeace protestors at Samsung’s recent MWC press conference in Barcelona, and obviously re-using some of these parts in a new device — even if it’s just the PCBs, cameras and other components — is more environmentally sound than just disposing of them.

Samsung has millions of Note 7s sitting in storage, with perfectly good components.

On the outside through, it’s highly unlikely “Grace R” would look anything like a Galaxy Note 7, nor would Samsung want to use that brand name. It’s also unclear whether the recycled device will be sold outside Korea — India and Vietnam have also been rumored target markets for the device. However, Samsung has more than four million Note 7s (with perfectly good components, besides the battery) at its disposal, and it’d be foolish to let that go to waste.

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