In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Samsung is officially expected to discontinue its Galaxy Note series next year after a dramatic decline in demand for premium phones. Reuters is now citing three independent outlets to report that Samsung does not intend to announce a so-called Galaxy Note 21 next year though rumours to that effect have been making the rounds over the past few months.
The company, instead, is said to concentrate its attention on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is set to become the top product in the phablet lineup of the company. As part of the strategy, Samsung is now supposedly looking to add support into the Galaxy S-series for its S Pen stylus, which is now likely to become the company's only flagship smartphone lineup alongside its new-age folding smartphone models.
Talking about folding smartphones, as part of Samsung's attempts to offer feature parity between its flagship lineups, the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 3 will also reportedly come with S Pen support. Samsung declined to send Reuters a comment about its plans for the Galaxy Note 21, so it would be important to see if we can get official confirmation in the coming days of the suspected cancellation.
Meanwhile, Tom Kang, Counterpoint Research analyst, noted that Galaxy Note series revenues are expected to decline this year by about 20 percent to 8 million units, while S-series sales are expected to decrease by 5 million to less than 30 million units in 2020. This year, premium demand has declined and many individuals are not searching for new devices," he said while offering a glimpse into the possible reasoning for Samsung to discontinue its much-loved phablet lineup."
