Over the past few weeks, we"ve seen a handful of rumors and reports suggesting that Samsung is planning to kill off the Galaxy Note line of smartphones from next year, shifting more of its focus to foldable devices. However, in a statement to Korean news agency Yonhap News, Samsung has seemingly denied those rumors. A Samsung representative, who asked to remain anonymous, told the outlet that the company is preparing to release a new iteration of the Galaxy Note next year.
Yesterday, TM Roh, president of Samsung"s mobile division, talked about the company"s plans for 2021, which included saying that features from the Galaxy Note series are being considered for other Samsung phones. Rumors leading up to that statement claimed that S Pen support is coming to the Galaxy S21 Ultra, so many assumed that this was what"s being referenced, lending further credence to the death of the Galaxy Note. After all, there aren"t many major distinctions between the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series at this point, so S Pen support in the former would reduce the need for the latter.
However, S Pen support is only claimed to be coming to higher-end models of the Galaxy S21 family, and even then, these reports suggest the S Pen won"t be sold with the device, which has been the case with the Note series. It"s possible that Samsung is doing this to determine whether customers will keep buying Note smartphones if S Pen support is available on the S series.
Either way, the Samsung representative speaking to Yonhap News reinforced that Roh"s statement doesn"t mean the Galaxy Note series is being canceled. We should get a better idea of Samsung"s plans when the company discusses its devices further. Currently, reports point to January 14 as the date for the reveal of the Galaxy S21 family.
Source: Yonhap News