There has been a lot of talk about the future of the Galaxy Note line recently, with many rumours suggesting the series had run its course.
At Samsung’s 52nd annual shareholder meeting, co-CEO of Samsung’s IT and Mobile communications division DJ Koh said (via Sammobile) that it would be hard to launch the Note 21 this year due to severe chip shortages.
The report, however, does go on to state that a new Note device would be expected in 2022 and that the timeline for future releases would differ from previous launches. This could mean we don’t see the next Note released in its usual August slot.
A lot of this makes complete sense to us, as the release of the S Pen-supporting Galaxy S21 Ultra makes the need for another similar device not as clear. Especially when there seems to be a dearth of high-end chips around.
What could Samsung do with the Note series in the future?
The Note series has long been Samsung’s true flagship phone for the year. As it came after the more mainstream S Series, it could improve on its sibling and it often came with newer components, such as the latest Qualcomm chip.
With the Note 20 Ultra, Samsung dramatically improved the camera focusing issues that plagued the S20 Ultra and it turned into a much better phone.
The headline feature of the Note has been its S Pen – a dinky stylus that slides into a slot on the bottom. With the S21 Ultra, Samsung took away the Note’s main differentiator and gave it to the S Series.
Samsung’s issue, for us, in the past few years has been the sheer amount of flagship phones that hit the £1000/$1000 mark it releases. If Samsung could transition the Note into being something more like a best mid-range phone, and leave its S Series and Fold line as the true flagship it could give the series a much-needed boost.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
