To no one's surprise, the upcoming Galaxy Note 9 flagship will look exactly like last year's Galaxy Note 8, if recent leaks are to be believed.

An alleged official render of the phone has just landed at Android Headlines, revealing the front of the panel of the device. Long story short: it's nearly impossible to differentiate from the Galaxy Note 8.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Render Leak

Unfortunately, the render only shows the front of the device, but it allegedly confirms ahead of Samsung's Unpacked event on Aug. 9 that the forthcoming note flagship won't be that much different from its predecessor design-wise.

The bezels might look a tad bit slimmer, and the S Pen slot might be a little bit more flush with the device, but it's hard to say from just a single image.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Rumors

Foregoing any radical design changes means that publications can focus instead on the things that really matter, such as the phone's specs. A lot of rumors about the Galaxy Note 9's specs are floating around, with some claiming it will have 6 GB of RAM, and others suggesting it'll have 8 GB partnered with 512 GB of onboard storage. These are pretty optimistic predictions, but not entirely impossible.

Other rumors say it will sport a bigger battery and that it will come with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner as opposed to an in-display one, which fans have long been clamoring for.

Samsung S Pen Rumors

Another more notable rumor that's backed by an FCC filing suggests the S Pen will get a massive upgrade: Samsung's proprietary stylus is apparently getting Bluetooth capabilities, which could make it an even more useful tool.

At its current iteration, the S Pen can be used to take down notes. However, with Bluetooth, it could become a remote control for the camera, music playback, and it might be even used for certain apps and games.

Take everything mentioned above with a grain of salt, it goes without saying. Android Headlines stresses that while the image came from a reliable source, it should not be taken as an official confirmation of what the phone is going to look like.

However, given Samsung's avoidance of the notch display, it's very likely the Galaxy Note 9 is indeed going to share huge similarities with its predecessor in terms of design. Again, though, that doesn't matter much. Internal upgrades should be the real discussion here, but there's still no concrete word on specs, unfortunately.

Make sure to check back with Tech Times as we learn more.