AT&T will be bringing the Samsung Galaxy Note stateside early next year as the SGH-I717, we’ve learned. Like the international version of the phone, GT-N7000, AT&T’s Note will be highlighted by a huge 5.3-inch screen with a 1280×800 resolution. However, I717 will incorporate at least two important differences as well.

First, and pretty predictably, the Galaxy Note on AT&T will be 4G LTE capable — as we can expect most high-end phones on both Verizon and AT&T to be from now until 5G. Secondly, I717 will be one of the few Samsung handsets powered by a Qualcomm chipset — a dual-core 1.5GHz MSM8660, apparently. It’s not at all clear why Sammy is eshewing its own Exynos chip for a competitor’s silicon here, especially when the Galaxy S II has been so lauded for its performance.

We expect a rebadged, Gingerbread-powered Galaxy Note — complete with the Americanized four-button layout — to break cover at CES next month.

Update: Quite a few people have suggested that Exynos is not yet LTE-compatible, which is why Samsung went with Snapdragons in the 4G-capable Skyrocket as well. The processor in Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus LTE, incidentally, is made by Texas Instruments.