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Every year, Samsung pushes out two flagship smartphones in the form of its Galaxy S series and Galaxy Note series. With the Note series offering S Pen support and usually a larger display, it appealed to a different set of customers who could appreciate the larger display and note-taking abilities.
But that might come to an end in 2021 or 2022 where it has been rumored that Samsung might be killing off the Note series for good.
It’s a bit of a pity and we’re sure that there will be many fans who will be sad to see the Note go (if the rumors are true), but at the same time, it makes a lot of sense for Samsung.
Kicking off a trend
When Samsung launched its first Note handset, many made fun of the phone because of its 5.3-inch screen, claiming that it was as good as putting a tablet to your ear. There was even a term coined for such devices – phablets – which combined the terms phone and tablet.
This mockery did not last long as many people were quick to discover that a larger phone had certain benefits when it came to web surfing, watching movies, and playing games, and other handset makers were quick to follow suit.
Even Apple, who strongly believed at that time that the 3.5-inch display was the “perfect” size, eventually caved, where today the company’s iPhone 12 Pro Max is one of the largest smartphones you can buy.
Not so special anymore
Like we said, the original Note helped to kick off the trend of larger-screened phones, which Samsung themselves promptly applied to its Galaxy S lineup as well. For a while, the Galaxy S series and Note series maintained a comfortable distance from each other, with the latter maintained a larger screen, which meant that those who wanted screens even bigger than what the Galaxy S series had to offer could still have the option of purchasing a Note smartphone.
But this was a gap that over the years, started to close and the lines also started to blur.
With the Galaxy S20 and Note 20, the line separating the phones is essentially gone and the Galaxy S20 Ultra and Note 20 Ultra both share the same 6.9-inch display. Save for the support for the S Pen and a few camera tweaks, both phones are nearly identical.
This in turn created a problem for Samsung where it becomes a lot harder to try and find the differentiating factor between both devices, which in turn could cause confusion among customers who might simply go with another brand. It is also probably not a cheap process either to develop two phones at once and having to manufacture two different devices with different designs.
So why not kill the Galaxy S series instead?
Sure, if Samsung had to pick, it looks like it could have gone either way, but it makes sense for the Note series to get the axe. While Samsung has a lot of competition from other Android handset makers, one of its chief rivals in the mobile space is Apple.
The Galaxy S series typically launches in the early part of the year, while Apple keeps its iPhone announcements until the later part of the year, roughly a month a two after the Note series makes it debut.
By choosing to keep the Galaxy S series, it would make Samsung come across as an “innovator”, whereas keeping the Note series could make it seem like Samsung is simply trying to get ahead of Apple at the last minute. Of course, launch dates could be shuffled, but that could mean that customers waiting to upgrade would either have to wait longer, or customers might feel cheated that a new device is out before theirs is even a year old.
Plus there are also investors to answer to who are counting on Samsung to keep to their launch schedules to ensure that the company is able to maintain its sales and revenue, where missing their goals could be seen as a bad sign that could cause stock prices to drop and people to abandon their shares.
It’s not all bad news
We know that there will be some who will bemoan the potential discontinuation of the Note series, but if the S Pen is one of the main draws of the phone, there have been rumors that some of Samsung future smartphones could come with S Pen support, like the Galaxy S21 Ultra in 2021 and Samsung’s foldable Galaxy Z Fold 3.
That being said, this is all conjecture at this point in time. Samsung has yet to officially announce anything so we could be wrong for all we know, but taking a look at where things stand today, we can’t help but feel that maybe it’s time for the Note series to bow out of the market that it no doubt had a hand in helping to make.
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