It appears that Samsung has made its decision and there won’t be any new Galaxy Note phones in 2021, with a “streamlining” effort said to be in place. This news comes after months of rumors that Samsung was skipping a new Galaxy Note phone due to COVID-19, then another report that said they weren’t going to skip. This latest info comes right from Samsung’s DJ Koh, the man in charge of everything Samsung Mobile. If he says it, it’s the real deal.
While streamlining a mobile lineup is a fine excuse, Koh actually dives a bit deeper into the reasoning. Speaking to shareholders at an annual meeting, Koh explains that, “It can be a lot of pressure on us to release two flagship models supporting the S-Pen within a year, so the launch of new Galaxy Note series may not happen in the second half of this year.”
This doesn’t mean the Galaxy Note line is completely dead. He continued with, “Next year, the launch period of the Galaxy Note may be different than the past, but we are trying to continue the series. The Galaxy Note series is an important category for us.”
DJ Koh isn’t wrong. Samsung bringing support for the S Pen to the Galaxy S21 Ultra this year was a bit confusing, though, the implementation is clearly not as good as it is on a Galaxy Note phone. For the S21 Ultra, the S Pen is a separate purchase and you need a special case to bring the stylus with you unless you don’t care about losing the thing. The Note series has a built-in slot for the S Pen, making it still the only phones truly designed for it.
I love the Notes, so this news isn’t cool, but maybe Samsung will make up for it by giving us a really sweet foldable device down the road. I’d be fine with that.
// Bloomberg | Yonhap News Agency