What you need to know
- A new report from South Korea dispels rumors about the impending demise of Samsung's Note series.
- It cites an unnamed Samsung official.
- Previous reports had suggested that Samsung plans on killing the Note series to focus on its lineup of foldable phones.
Rumors of Samsung's Galaxy Note series' demise may have been exaggerated, as a new report out of South Korea citing an unnamed senior Samsung official claims that while Samsung will be porting over some of the best features of the Note series to its other flagship offerings, the company still plans to continue selling its beloved phablet to consumers.
The report from Yonhap News Agency quotes an unnamed Samsung official as saying, "We are preparing to release the Galaxy Note series next year."
Rumors about Samsung ditching the Note series to focus on its foldable phones began making the rounds after an earlier report from Korea suggested that Samsung was planning to bring S Pen support to both the Galaxy S21 and the Galaxy Z Fold 2 successor. Given that the S Pen is the marquee feature of the Note series, that speculation certainly had some merit to it.
Those reports were substantiated earlier this week when the head of Samsung's mobile business, TM Roh, confirmed that the Galaxy S21 series will include support for the S Pen.
Yonhap's source, however, dispelled the notion that S Pen support for other phones means Samsung is moving on from the Note series: "Roh's message does not mean that the Galaxy Note series will be discontinued."
Still, without official confirmation from Samsung, it's hard to make sense of the many conflicting reports. Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S21 series at a January 14 event, so we may get some official word about the Note series from Samsung then.
If the company continues to be tight-lipped about the future of the Note series, though, we may not have official confirmation until the second half of the year, which is when the company usually launches the next generation of Note series phones.
