The first Samsung Galaxy Note was unveiled in 2011 and immediately became popular thanks to its large size and inclusion of the S Pen. Over the years, the Note line has continued to set the standard for “phablets”, devices with a form factor somewhere between phones and tablets. People clearly wanted something large but still portable and powerful enough to handle productive multitasking. But the Galaxy Note 20 series, released in 2020, was the last we ever saw of this product. So why exactly did Samsung stop making the Galaxy Note?
The best official explanation comes from Samsung President and Head of Mobile Communications TM Roh, who said in 2021 (via TechRadar): “Instead of unveiling a new Galaxy Note this time, we’re going to further expand the Note’s beloved features to more Samsung Galaxy devices.” One such feature is the Note’s iconic S Pen, which has since made its way to the Galaxy Ultra series and Samsung’s foldable phones. This makes sense considering all the useful features of the Samsung S Pen are now available on a wider variety of devices.
A disastrous recall was the first domino to fall in the death of the Galaxy Note
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Five years before Samsung announced the end of the Note series, a huge batch of defective products marked the beginning of the end. In September 2016, Samsung recalled 2.5 million phones following reports that Galaxy Note 7 devices were catching fire. The following month, the company announced that it would cease production of the Note 7 completely.
The Note 7 naturally went down in history as one of the worst Samsung phones of all time. New Note phones continued to come out over the next few years, but it’s easy to imagine that the company might have been eager to come up with a new product that could take over the Note’s niche in the market under a new name.
Samsung confirmed this at Mobile World Congress 2022. When announcing the Galaxy S22 Ultra phone, TM Roh said (via Notebookcheck): “(the) Galaxy Note will be released as an ‘ultra’ every year in the future.” The Ultra models are larger, more powerful versions of the standard Galaxy S flagship phones, also equipped with a built-in S Pen, making them a close successor to the Note’s legacy in both form and function. And if you want something that feels even more like a tablet that fits in your pocket, that’s where the Z Fold and Z Flip series come in.
Will Samsung ever bring back the Note?
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It’s unlikely that the Galaxy Note will ever come back. Samsung went into damage control mode after the Note 7 was discontinued. After all, a tech company’s reputation will naturally suffer when everyone knows its products catch fire. The Note is synonymous with this disastrous moment in Samsung’s mobile business, and no company would want its customers to remember such a catastrophic failure.
It’s still possible to use an old Samsung Galaxy Note, but with serious limitations. Samsung released the last official security update for the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra in August 2025. If you’re still holding on to your Note phone, it’s probably already suffering from security vulnerabilities and battery degradation.
Does this mean it’s time to upgrade to a Galaxy Ultra or a foldable phone if you’re a fan of the Galaxy Note? We reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and found it to be a polished product that’s worth buying if you haven’t upgraded in a while. Our review of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 highlighted many attributes that make it a very desirable product, albeit at an incredibly high price. But if you’re looking for something as premium now as the Note was in 2011, you’ll appreciate all the features exclusive to foldable phones.
