Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 phablet is barreling towards release, but amid all the talk aboutthe phone’s preorders and super-nifty Gear VR headset accessory, one question has remained unanswered: What’s up with the Galaxy Note edge, the curved, second-screened counterpart that Samsung announced alongside the Note 4 at IFA?
Now we know the answer: The nifty-looking Galaxy Note Edge was never intended to be produced in bulk and sold to the masses, despite being revealed on a grand stage.
The impact on you at home: Easy! You won’t be able to buy a Galaxy Note Edge unless you know somebody at Samsung or get really, really lucky. The Note Edge is another case of Samsung rushing to announce something early just so it can scream “First!” like all those annoying forum commenters—2013’s curving Galaxy Round being another example.
This is not for you
The news comes straight from the head honcho’s mouth. Calling the Galaxy Note Edge “technology-intensive,” Samsung Electronics president DJ Lee told reporters that the device is a “limited edition concept,” according to ZDNet Korea. Limited sales of the device will start in South Korea next month and trickle out from there.
That jibes with an earlier report from independent mobile retailer Clove, which said earlier this month that the Galaxy Note Edge will not be available in the United Kingdom at launch (as was first noted by Neowin):
“We have heard from distribution channels that the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge will not be available in the UK at launch… When the Note Edge launches, there will not be UK stock available. It will not be available in the majority of European countries.”
Not that a limited release is a bad thing for the Galaxy Note Edge. When Greenbot’s Florence Ion got her grubby paws on the phone she found the curving edge (which functions as a secondary display for information and apps) to be more of a gimmick than anything else:
“I wasn’t particularly impressed with the ticker’s different abilities,” she wrote. “I think Samsung jumped the gun on this product, just so it could say it was first.”
Sadly, it looks like she was right.
