Samsung’s co-CEO said on Wednesday that the company is unlikely to launch a new Galaxy Note smartphone this year.
Speaking at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, DJ Koh, co-CEO of Samsung’s IT and mobile communications division, said: “It may be difficult to launch the Galaxy Note in the second half of the year.”
However, Koh stressed that though their launch timeline may not include the Note lineup, the company intends to continue providing “the S Pen user experience”.
“Galaxy Note is an important product category to us that has been continuously loved by consumers for the past 10 years in the global market,” he said. “The S Pen user experience is an area that Samsung’s mobile business has worked harder on than anybody else.”
“Their launch timing may be different, but we will make sure that we don’t let Galaxy Note consumers down,” he added.
Earlier this year, Samsung offered S Pen support on its Galaxy S smartphone series for the first time with the Galaxy S21 Ultra, though it was marketed and sold as an accessory rather than a built-in function like for Note smartphones.
Since 2020, there has been speculation that the South Korean tech giant would end the Note series, but the company has so far denied this. Koh added that Samsung would expand 5G support to its low and mid-tier smartphones this year and launch region-specific models to meet demand.
For foldable smartphones, the co-CEO said the company was working hard to increase production capacity so it could produce just as many as foldables when compared to conventional smartphones. This year, Samsung plans to cement the Galaxy Z Fold’s position as a “super premium” smartphone while offering the Galaxy Z Flip at a competitive price point for millennial consumers, he added.
