More evidence suggests the Note series could be pulled

Nov 16, 2020 19:14 GMT  ·  By

The next big unveiling in the mobile industry is the Samsung Galaxy S21, which according to people close to the matter, should see daylight much earlier than usual because of a reason that just makes sense for the South Korean parent company.

Samsung needs a high-end model on the market, and it needs it now, as the Galaxy S20 isn’t selling exactly as anticipated and the company must find a way to convince customers to stick with its models and not make the switch to iPhones or the Google Pixel.

So the Galaxy S21 will land earlier than before, with people close to the matter suggesting that the unveiling of the device could happen in mid-January. If this is indeed accurate, then the actual sales of the Galaxy S21 could kick off later the same month, so the device would thus hit the shelves some one month earlier than its predecessors.

This is timing that more or less makes sense. Samsung typically took the wraps off its Galaxy S models just before the Mobile World Congress, but given this event would most likely be canceled next year for obvious reasons, the company has every reason in the world to change its release calendar.

But the Galaxy S21 won’t be only a model launching earlier than before, but also the one likely to introduce some pretty big changes in the long term.

According to a recent leak, the following models are the Samsung flagships launching in 2021:  

  • Galaxy S21 FE
  • Galaxy S21
  • Galaxy S21+
  • Galaxy S21 Ultra
  • Z Fold 3
  • Z Flip 3
  • Z Fold FE

The lineup isn’t necessarily surprising, though there’s something that many might not even notice. The Galaxy Note21 is missing from the lineup, and this could be an indication that the device could be entirely abandoned next year.

While this sounds like something totally unbelievable for some, the Galaxy Note getting the ax isn’t something that just came up. It’s actually a rumor that’s been around for at least one year, as people close to the matter said Samsung was looking into ways to make the Note part of the Galaxy S lineup.

And this appears to be the right moment to do it, especially because the South Korean company is betting so big on its foldable phone lineup. With the Galaxy S and the Note more or less becoming second-class citizens of Samsung’s mobile portfolio, it makes sense for the firm to reconsider the way it positions these devices, so merging the Galaxy S and the Note series is something that total sense.

And the living proof is an update that Samsung plans for the Galaxy S21: at least the Ultra model will feature support for the S Pen, though right now it looks like the device wouldn’t ship with the stylus in the box. Customers would just have to purchase it separately, albeit it’d be interesting to find out how Samsung makes carrying the stylus more convenient since the Galaxy S21 is unlikely to come with a dedicated S Pen slot.

Today’s leak indicates that three of the devices you see mentioned in the aforementioned lineup come with S Pen support, so it’s pretty clear that Samsung is bringing the thing that has until now set the Note apart from the rest of the crowd to more devices.

A separate leak indicates that “there is currently no information on the development of the Note21 series,” so Samsung might not even work on this model at all.

Of course, everything is still in the rumor stage for now, but all points seem to suggest that the Note is ready to go dark.