For a few months now, we've been hearing that Samsung may be killing off the Galaxy Note lineup of smartphones, simplifying its lineup and making way for the new foldable form factor of the Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold families. Those reports went along with the possibility of S Pen support in the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which materialized at last week's Unpacked event.
While Samsung has yet to confirm the fate of an eventual Galaxy Note21, analyst Ross Young - CEO of DSCC - has shared some predictions on Twitter regarding the Note lineup (via TechRadar). Instead of releasing a Galaxy Note21, Samsung may be planning a Galaxy Note20 FE at some point this year.
1) We now see Oppo and Xiaomi each launching a flagship using a Samsung LTPO panel in 1H'21.
— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) January 21, 2021
2) Although now there is no Note 21 coming, we may see a Note 20 FE...
3) The lack of a Note 21 series means the S21 series will sell at higher volumes for longer and could outsell S10..
FE - short for Fan Edition - is a name Samsung used last year for the most affordable member of the Galaxy S20 family. We gave that phone high praise for its killer price point and the features it offered at that price, and it looks like Samsung may actually have learned something from it, as the entire Galaxy S21 lineup has lower prices than last year's equivalents.
A more affordable, but still capable version of the Galaxy Note20 could be a solid proposition for fans of the S Pen. When we reviewed the Note20 Ultra, we found that it didn't justify its ludicrous price tag, but an FE model could certainly improve that. Of course, we'll need to wait for Samsung to actually confirm a Note20 FE exists.
