Samsung may not be releasing a new version of its popular Galaxy Note series smartphones this year. The news comes as two industry-insiders allege that the South Korean company will be discontinuing its productivity-focused flagship range in favour of expanding support for its S Pen stylus to other phone models.
There have been multiple reports last November surfaced claiming that last year’s Galaxy Note 20 series would be the last devices in the line. These claims further intensified when it was revealed that the new Galaxy S21 Ultra supports the S Pen stylus.
It has been speculated that Samsung plans to retain the S series as its flagship device for the first half of the year and replace the Note range with its Z series foldable phones as its second half flagship. The South Korean device maker is reported to be expanding support for the S Pen to its other phones to migrate existing users to its S and Z series flagship devices.
This all points to the fact that the Galaxy Note’s days are numbered. However, it is not clear whether we will see a successor to the Note 20 this year. A recent report stated that the Galaxy S21 series might be the only flagship this year.
It seems that the chaebol has made its up mind regarding the Note and its decision will not please die-hard Note fans. Popular Samsung leaker Ice Universe issued a not-so-cryptic tweet featuring the words, “The End” to denote that Samsung will end the Galaxy Note line this year.
Galaxy Note pic.twitter.com/nrE5SbxpRu
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) January 20, 2021
This has been backed by DisplaySearch analyst Ross Young who also suggested on Twitter that the Galaxy Note 21 and Galaxy Note 21 Ultra have been cancelled. Apparently, the sales of both the Note and S series were underwhelming last year and this was what led Samsung its drastic decision.
1) We now see Oppo and Xiaomi each launching a flagship using a Samsung LTPO panel in 1H’21.
— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) January 21, 2021
2) Although now there is no Note 21 coming, we may see a Note 20 FE…
3) The lack of a Note 21 series means the S21 series will sell at higher volumes for longer and could outsell S10..
According to Young, Samsung is expected to fill the void left by the Note series with a Galaxy Note 20 Fan Edition (FE) instead.
Just to recap, the Fan Edition are the “affordable” variant of Samsung’s flagship phones. They retain some key features while leaving some out. As their name implies, the FE models are supposed to be the phones that offer fans the features that they want.
Samsung has yet to officially announce that it would no longer be making new Galaxy Note phones, so take this information with a grain of salt. Furthermore, the company recently responded to PhoneArena with the following statement:
We are committed to innovating new mobile experiences that flow seamlessly and continuously wherever we go to make consumer’s lives easier and better. To bring this to life, we made a bold decision to expand S Pen experiences as an option for Galaxy S21 Ultra. Consumers can expand the S Pen experience on S21 Ultra by drawing and annotating their sharable moments. As Galaxy S21 Ultra aims to provide the ultimate premium smartphone experience without compromise, users can enjoy one of the most popular and preferred features of our Note category.
It does not mean that Samsung is not committed to the Note category but is expanding the Note experience across device categories. To provide the best mobile experience to all consumers, we will actively listen to consumers’ feedback and reflect it in our continued product innovation.
In short, Samsung is not ruling out there will be an upcoming Note device this year. But at the same time, this may be the last Note as the company might have plans to bring S Pen support in other non-Note devices. There is a chance they could be referring to the Z Fold series as it makes sense to pair the stylus with a large screen foldable device
So, what do you make of this news? Are you deeply sadden by Samsung’s decision to end the Galaxy Note line this year? How many of you are die-hard Note users, and which phone will you switch to next if this news is true? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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