In any normal year, there would be little doubt that we would see a new Samsung Galaxy Note model. After all, the Note range is Samsung’s second highest profile after the Galaxy S and a big seller for the company. Yet there is great doubt whether there will actually be a Samsung Galaxy Note 21.
With the phone – if it arrives at all – likely not landing until August 2021, it’s far too early to say with any certainty whether a Samsung Galaxy Note 21 will come, but below we’ll look at the reasons why it might not and proof that this could be the end of the line for the Note series.
We’ve listed the top five reasons why the Galaxy Note 21 might not arrive, and combined they make the phone look a little unlikely, but there’s still hope.
1. There is little difference between the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy S
There was a time when the Samsung Galaxy Note range stood out from the Galaxy S range. The phones in the Note range were larger, often described as ‘phablets’, making them arguably more versatile and productivity-oriented than Samsung’s more common Galaxy S range.
Pushing further that angle was the presence of the S Pen stylus, allowing users to sketch and take notes as if they were with pen and paper.
While the S Pen remains a difference, the size doesn’t. The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is exactly the same size as the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, and the specifications are also very similar. The Note has a squarer design, but that’s hardly reason enough to exist.
Likewise, the standard Galaxy Note 20 has the same screen size as the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus. Admittedly, there is a little more difference here, with the Note 20 being a marginally lower phone with a price tag more in line with the base S20, yet the differences other than the S Pen aren’t that important.
2. Samsung has new premium telephone lines
How many premium phones can a company support or justify? We don’t know, but that might be a question Samsung is asking itself as it has launched the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip series in recent years.
These are foldable phones and are arguably spiritual successors to what the Note range was in the past as they are large and versatile.
They are also very different from both the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note ranges, and in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, they come at a similar price point to the top models in those lines, essentially making them competitors.
We suspect Samsung doesn’t want too many different models competing for the same market, so for all those reasons it might make sense to drop the Note range and focus on foldable items.
3. The S Pen can be moved to other models
We noted above that the main thing that the Samsung Galaxy Note range still has in the Galaxy S range is the S Pen stylus, but Samsung could easily start supporting that on other phones, and there is some evidence that it will. to happen.
We heard rumors that Samsung would add the S Pen all the way to the S line in 2019 and have since heard that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 in particular may support the S Pen.
That said, they’re both definitely more expensive than the standard Samsung Galaxy Note 21 would be, and in the case of the S21 Ultra, there might not even be a slot for the stylus, so there could still be an audience for the Note.
4. There is no evidence that the Note 21 is in the works
We don’t necessarily expect to have heard any rumors about the Samsung Galaxy Note 21, but its almost complete absence – except for the ones suggesting it may not come – is remarkable.
One leaker has even gone so far as to stress that there is apparently no information about the Samsung Galaxy Note 21 at the moment.
As mentioned above, the Samsung Galaxy Note 21 range probably wouldn’t land until around August 2021 anyway, so there’s plenty of time for rumors to get in, but high profile phones like this tend to leak very early on.
5. Samsung itself may have said the range is dead
Perhaps most damningly is a claim apparently coming from a ‘Samsung Group official’ who supposedly said the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra will both support the S Pen, and as a result, the Samsung Galaxy Note series will be discontinued.
However, it’s still worth taking this with a pinch of salt as this claim was made through Ajou News (a South Korean news site) rather than being an official announcement from Samsung.
It’s also somewhat unclear whether they mean the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 to be the last Note model, or whether the range will just be phased out – which may still leave room for a Samsung Galaxy Note 21.
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