Samsung Finally Confirms the Galaxy Note Isn’t Dead

With Samsung bringing the S Pen to the Galaxy S21 Ultra and the company planning to expand this feature to more devices in the coming future, it was believed the Galaxy Note, the original model that made a big deal out of the stylus, would be retired.

And indeed, several people familiar with the matter said on multiple occasions the Galaxy Note would be retired this year, with no new model to go live in 2021.

And as it turns out, they were only partially wrong, as Samsung indeed doesn’t plan to launch a new Note this year, though the company doesn’t want to kill off this model either.

Koh Dong-jin, Samsung’s mobile chief, confirmed during the annual shareholder’s meeting that the Galaxy Note is still part of the company’s long-term plan, but a new model for 2021 is still uncertain.

New Note in 2022

And the reason is as simple as it could be: Samsung is one of the companies struggling with the lack of chips that’s now hitting not only the tech world but also automakers and other industries. So the South Koreans aren’t sure they have enough chips to release a new flagship this year, which means the new Note could finally get the go-ahead in 2022.

“Note series is positioned as a high-end model in our business portfolio. It could be a burden to unveil two flagship models in a year so it might be difficult to release a Note model in 2H. The timing of Note model launch can be changed but we seek to release a Note model next year,” Koh was quoted as saying.

So right now, the Note is still alive, though it’ll be interesting to see how Samsung manages to set it apart from its other flagships, especially since the S Pen is now available on the Galaxy S too.