Samsung made history back in 2011 when it unveiled the Galaxy Note — a huge (well, at the time) 5.3″ phone with an S Pen stylus included. Since then, it’s become synonymous with Samsung’s top-of-the-line flagship experience. But next year Samsung is poised to set history in a different way. Grab a tissue, because 2021 may see the Galaxy Note line tossed into the trash can.
According to these sources, Samsung has no current plans to develop a new version of the Note for 2021. Premium phones like the Note have been rising in prices over the last few years, but 2020 was not a great year for that segment of the market. Apple, Google, and even Samsung itself have solid options that retail for hundreds of dollars less than the Note, making the phablet a hard sell no matter how fab it is.
If you’re worried about losing out on the Note’s signature feature, take solace — the S Pen may not be going anywhere; sources indicate that the top-of-the-line Galaxy S21 will include the stylus instead. Rather than focus its resources on maintaining a nine-year-old series with dwindling returns, Samsung is expected to direct more efforts on appealing to fans of foldables. Indeed, it looks like Samsung’s next-gen foldable may also be compatible with the S Pen.
While it’s always sad to see a piece of tech history ride off into the sunset, nobody can say the Note didn’t have a good run. With new technology and form factors emerging, it makes sense to refocus on finding the future rather than keeping the past alive. Let’s give one last round of applause to the phone that started out at 5.3″ and grew to be 6.9″ by the time it died.