Samsung ‘to SCRAP iconic Galaxy Note phone series’ after 10 years

SAMSUNG is planning to axe its pricey Note smartphone series after almost a decade, according to reports.

The premium phones are loved by millions for their huge screens and stylus for note-taking, but insiders say they will be discontinued in 2021.

Samsung is reportedly planning to kill off the Galaxy Note seriesCredit: Getty – Contributor

It follows poor sales of last year’s £899 Galaxy Note 20 and £1,179 Note 20 Ultra as fans turned their noses up at high-priced phones amid the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reports of Samsung sounding the Note’s death knell emerged in Korean media in November and were later backed up by Reuters.

An anonymous Samsung official told Korean outlet Yonhap News last month that the firm planned to launch a Note phone in 2021.

However, it remains unclear whether the series will continue beyond this year. Samsung remains tight-lipped on its plans.

The premium phones are loved by millions for their huge screens and stylus for note-takingCredit: Getty – Contributor

Now a trusted Samsung leaker has hinted that the Note 20 will in fact be the last in the series.

Twitter user Ice Universe, who has accurately revealed insider information on the company before, uploaded an image on Wednesday of a classic film illustration with the text: “The End”.

Alongside the graphic, they wrote: “Galaxy Note.”

It’s not clear where the leaker for their information from, so take it with a pinch of salt for now.

Samsung's new Galaxy S21 smartphone supports a stylus, too — Samsung’s new Galaxy S21 smartphone supports a stylus, too

We likely won’t know more until the summer, when Samsung typically launches its Note smartphones.

The company has produced two lines of premium phones since 2011 in the form of its Note and S-series gadgets.

Last week, the latest in the S-series, the Samsung Galaxy S21, was unveiled during an online-online event.

The priciest of the trio of new mobiles, the S21 Ultra, features an enormous screen and support for Samsung’s S-pen stylus.

Samsung – a brief history

Here’s what you need to know…

Samsung is a major South Korean company made up of many businesses that operate globally
It’s known locally as a “chaebol”, which means “business conglomerate”
It was founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 as a trading company
But over several decades, it branched out into food processing, insurance, textiles and retail
It wasn’t until the late 1960s when Samsung entered the electronics industry – for which it’s best known in the west today
It also launched businesses in construction and shipbuilding in the 1970s
Today, Samsung’s most important sources of income are its smartphones and computer chips
The firm accounts for around a fifth of South Korea’s total exports, and roughly 17% of the country’s GDP
More than 320,000 staff are employed by Samsung globally
And in 2017, Samsung turned over the equivalent of £174billion today in revenue