Leaked Samsung Note 8 gets two rear cameras and awkwardly-placed fingerprint reader

Images of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 have appeared online a full three weeks before the smartphone was due to be revealed.

The images, published on Twitter, show a large Android handset with an 'Infinity Display' and borderless design similar to the Samsung Galaxy S8, along with a new dual-lens rear camera. The S8's awkwardly-placed fingerprint reader is also present on the back of the device.

Published by notorious (and often accurate) technology tipster Evan Blass, the images appear to be renders for use by marketing and the press. They show the phone in black and gold, with matching S Pen styluses.

The images were published on 1 August, 22 days before Samsung is due to hold a media event in Berlin, where it is widely expected to reveal the new handset.

The Note 8 comes a year after the Note 7, which due to two rounds of problems with exploding batteries was removed from sale almost as soon as it hit the shelves.

Blass revealed the Note 8 from all angles and included images of two versions, one black and one gold. A pair of Samsung's S Pen styluses, in the same two colours, are also part of the leak, although no further information was given relating to size, specs, price and performance.

While the front of the handset looks very similar to the Galaxy S8, although likely larger, the rear has a new dual-lens camera which sits alongside a flash and rear-mounted fingerprint reader.

As with the Galaxy S8, the Note 8 features a new button on its side, expected to be for launching Bixby, Samsung's new voice-activated personal assistant.

Just like the S8, the Note 8 drops its predecessor's physical home button, which sat on the front of the last Note and doubled as a fingerprint reader to unlock the handset. Now it seems likely that Samsung has replaced this with an on-screen home button with artificial click, just like on the S8, and the fingerprint reader is now on the back, where it falls below the user's outstretched index finger.

It is understood that Samsung wanted to fit a fingerprint sensor beneath the screen of both the S8 and Note 8, but was unable to do so before the former went on sale. Apple is also believed to be experimenting with this technique for the iPhone 8, due in the next couple of months. But, also due to concerns over making the system work properly, Apple has considered fitting the sensor to the back of the phone, or to its side-mounted power button.

Samsung is expected to reveal the Note 8 at a media event in Berlin on 23 August, ahead of the IFA technology trade show in the same city.