What if the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 was the last iteration of the company’s stylus-equipped range? It’s completely possible, if recent rumours are to be believed. Suspicions have been abundant, since it released its beautiful rose-gold variant, that Samsung may kill off the range completely. And that’s in spite of the company maintaining that the Note series is sticking around.
A kind of Death Note
Most recently, analyst Ross Young tweeted more information, stating that “… although now there is no Note 21 coming, we may see a Note 20 FE”. Samsung did the same thing when it released its Galaxy S20 FE (or Fan Edition) late in 2020. The FE variant came in slightly cheaper than the flagships, featuring much of the same tech and a wider range of colour options.
1) We now see Oppo and Xiaomi each launching a flagship using a Samsung LTPO panel in 1H'21.
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..— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) January 21, 2021
This means we may see a more affordable version of last year’s Note series this year (this is not confirmation, but speculation). According to the analyst’s tweet, we also won’t see a Note 21 at all.
This rumour is backed by a few points, including the fact that Samsung gave its S21 range full S Pen functionality (you just can’t dock it in the phone itself). And, apparently, Samsung’s planning to bring the feature to more S-series devices in the future.
This will follow Apple’s strategy of no longer giving customers all the extras included in the box. Make them pay for it — that’s how you make more money.
Galaxy Note pic.twitter.com/nrE5SbxpRu
— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) January 20, 2021
Bolstering the possibility of a Note-less year, we turn to probably one of the more accurate and trusted leakers, IceUniverse. It simply tweeted out the word ‘Note’ with an image that reads ‘The End’. Even though this is cryptic, this account has been fairly spot-on in previous instances.
But why, though?
It makes sense for Samsung to rethink its two lineups, as it has become increasingly hard to set them apart in terms of available hardware. Having two launches in a year, however, gives the phone maker the opportunity to push out small hardware updates in a completely new device. And, of course, sell more phones.
Samsung’s recent launch of the S21 range also produced some interesting physical characteristics in the flagship device — the S21 Ultra. It looks scarily similar to the Note 20 design in terms of body size, shape and camera module design. Maybe Samsung’s plan is to integrate the Note’s features into the S Ultra range? Only time will tell.
Source: Engadget and Softpedia