Xiao Lei searched for the articles he had written before, and found that there was news in the market as early as 2018 that Samsung might "cut" its top production line Galaxy Note series and replace it with other products. Around 2020, seeing that Samsung's "revolutionary product" folding screen mobile phone was officially launched, this rumor has also changed: Samsung Galaxy Note series mobile phones still can't escape the fate of being replaced, but the product that replaces it has become a folding screen mobile phone, Galaxy Z series.
It is worth noting that the above rumors have never been officially recognized, and even Samsung will come out to deny that "our Galaxy Note series is not dead". However, the action is more telling, in the autumn of 2021, we can not see the figure of the Samsung Galaxy Note series of mobile phones, folding screen phones Galaxy Z Filp3 and Z Fold3 have become the brightest stars.
Time to March 1, 2022, PhoneArena, 9to5Google and other media reported that Samsung executives responded at the MWC2022 event about the future of the Galaxy Note model: "The Galaxy Note... will come out as ‘Ultra’.”
In other words, the fate of the Samsung Galaxy Note series of mobile phones has finally been settled, this brilliant, indispensable product sequence, the last generation of products is finally fixed on August 5, 2020.
The indispensable "Android machine king"
Speaking of Samsung Galaxy Note series mobile phones, Xiao Lei believes that those who are familiar with and love smartphones must be familiar with their history. Since its debut in early 2011 and the official end of 2020, Xiao Lei's evaluation of the Samsung Galaxy Note has only one: indispensable. Once upon a time, the title of "Android Machine King" that we talked about in our mouths actually refers to the Samsung Galaxy Note series, and the Samsung Galaxy S series that is taught out of the same door is still three points back in front of the Note series of mobile phones.
There will be such a difference, the main reason is the gap in their comprehensive product strength. In terms of core configuration, although the Samsung Galaxy S series mobile phones and Galaxy Note series mobile phones of the same year will basically use the same flagship chip, the Note series will always be stronger than the S series in hardware such as storage and cameras. Taking the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Galaxy Note2, which were also launched in 2012, as an example, the RAM of the Note2 is doubled (2GBvs1GB) compared to the S3 with the same chip, and the battery capacity is also larger.
In terms of design, Samsung is always more willing to put excellent design on the Galaxy Note series, such as the "plain skin" that is, the plastic imitation leather design was first launched by the Galaxy Note3, and the epoch-making "curved screen" design also appeared for the first time on the Note Edge in the same year as the Samsung Galaxy Note4.
Finally, the price, whether you admit to the "dominance" of the Samsung Galaxy Note series, but it is undeniable that in terms of official pricing, the Note series does overpower the S series.
In summary, the "invincible" of galaxy note within Samsung is obvious to all, all resources are inclined to this production line, all technologies are first launched on this production line, combined with Samsung's own strong strength in the mobile phone circle, Samsung Galaxy Note series in its life cycle, indeed qualified to be called "Android king".
However, its "indispensable" is not only reflected in the internal, in the external struggle against the iPhone, the performance of the Samsung Galaxy Note series has also made many Android mobile phone manufacturers sigh.
As a high-end product priced at more than 5,000 yuan from the beginning, the Samsung Galaxy Note series of mobile phones is one of the few Android mobile phones in the global market that can confront the iPhone head-on and close to the product force. In terms of sales, Samsung Galaxy Note's performance in the early stage is amazing, of which the first generation of products at the beginning of the global sales exceeded 10 million, the next two generations of products Galaxy Note2, Note3 are members of the "Ten Million Club", as a high-end Android mobile phone can be widely recognized worldwide, which is also the admiration of the Samsung Galaxy Note series.
To some extent, the success of the Samsung Galaxy Note series is related to unique product features, when Jobs hyped up "3.5 inches is the best size of the smartphone screen", Samsung Galaxy Note unexpectedly came up with the "big screen" and "productivity" two big moves, accidentally killed a blood road. But being able to get a piece of the pie from the iPhone is not enough to explain how "cow X" Samsung Galaxy Note is, its "cow X" is that the Samsung Galaxy Note's large-screen strategy has posed a serious threat to the market king iPhone, so that Apple has continued to increase the screen size in subsequent products, from the beginning of 3.5 to the later 4 inches to 4.7 inches, and even launched the screen size "Up to" in the iPhone 6 generation. The 5.5-inch Plus series completely punched Jobs in the face.
Moreover, the big-screen offensive of the Samsung Galaxy Note does not only affect Apple, but also looks at the entire smartphone circle, and we find that most of the products have its shadow. In terms of naming, around 2013, a large number of smartphones with the "Note" suffix emerged, and these mobile phones are located at a higher end in the internal positioning, which is also highly consistent with Samsung's strategy; in terms of products, the entire smartphone industry has fully evolved to a large screen, and small screen mobile phones have basically been eliminated by the market, and these screen sizes generally come to 6 inches or even 7 inches of smart phones, which is in a sense called the "apprentices" of the Samsung Galaxy Note series.
Looking back at these glorious histories, we can summarize why the Samsung Galaxy Note series of mobile phones has such a high reputation in the mobile phone circle. To put it simply, a high-priced mobile phone has excellent sales, and at the same time in the product innovation level has become the industry's vane, profoundly affecting the future direction of the industry, such a product was previously only done by the original iPhone, but after the iPhone there is only Samsung Galaxy Note (Xiaomi MIX changed the direction of the industry, but the sales volume is much worse in comparison).
These two points alone, Xiao Lei believes that the Samsung Galaxy Note series of mobile phones is worthy of the word "great".
"Ultra" instead of "Note", why?
At the beginning, the news about the cancellation of note series mobile phones pointed out that Samsung was considering merging the two product lines of S and Note to reduce internal friction. On the other hand, the sales of Note series mobile phones have declined (mainly note9, Note10 two generations), but also let executives move the idea of concentrating resources on the S series.
But Xiao Lei feels that this is not necessarily the optimal solution, because the audience of S series mobile phones and the Note series are still relatively different, on the contrary, the folding screen Galaxy Z Fold series launched after 2020 is very close to the Note series in terms of business attributes, which is also the reason why Xiao Lei feels more reliable in the later rumors: the Galaxy Z series folding screen as an alternative to the Note series is not a good way.
But now, the official definition makes Xiao Lei feel beaten, in the idea of Samsung executives, the original replacement note series of mobile phones or S series, but more specifically point to the "Ultra" model in the S series. To be fair, can the Samsung Galaxy S Ultra series of mobile phones really take over the Class of the Note series? Personally, I think it's a bit far-fetched.
First of all, the reasonable place, it is obvious that after two or three years of product adjustment, we found that the Ultra series of mobile phones in the positioning is indeed higher than the conventional S series of mobile phones, to the newly released S22 series as an example, S22 Ultra whether the screen quality or image capabilities or peripheral function support are stronger than the conventional version, while the price is also more than 30% difference in the conventional version.
At least within the Galaxy S production line, a set of hierarchical hierarchical systems have been formed, and although the ultra suffix mobile phone shares the iterative naming of the S+ number, it is indeed one notch higher than the conventional S series mobile phone from the perspective of comprehensive product quality.
However, we seem to have walked into a misunderstanding, it is true that the S series of mobile phones with the Ultra suffix is better in configuration, but in essence they are still products belonging to the S sequence, and The reason why Xiao Lei believes that ultra mobile phones cannot replace the "Note" series is also very simple, and there is no fundamental difference in the positioning between these phones, but the advantages and disadvantages between the same attribute products.
The reason why Note series mobile phones can become "Note", the improvement in configuration is only the surface, the fundamental reason is the product positioning, user needs and specialization of application scenarios. For example, the biggest difference point "S-Pen", Samsung has conceived a complete set of "demand- pain points - application - solution" closed loop for the launch of the Galaxy Note series of mobile phones, aiming to allow business people to have a precision beyond the touch of the fingers in some occasions that need to handle affairs with mobile phones.
Of course, the Samsung Galaxy Sxx Ultra mobile phone can also be close to the Note series of mobile phones through the optional S-Pen, but in the stylus storage compartment, software optimization and other details, Samsung Sxx Ultra mobile phones can hardly do as good as the Note series, which is a congenital defect, is the core concept of the product, the difference in the starting point.
In fact, what is the point of arguing about who is the best heir to the Samsung Galaxy Note phone? Whether it's an Ultra suffix phone or a folding screen, they're not essentially a Galaxy Note, and they don't want to be a Galaxy Note.
In the end, it is still the same sentence, "Adult, times have changed."
The success of the "Note" is almost impossible to replicate
With the fate of the Galaxy Note series of mobile phones settled, Xiao Lei had to sigh a sentence of "time is also fate". There is a lot of discussion about why the Samsung Galaxy Note series of mobile phones died, the reason is nothing more than strong competition, vague positioning cloud, Xiao Lei will not repeat it here, in the past few years, we have written a lot of articles like this.
What Xiao Lei wants to discuss is that Samsung can still copy another "Note" series and recreate the glory of Apple and the rush to fight the iPhone?
Hard, hard.
From the perspective of the industry environment, today's smart phone industry is not 10 years ago, the global mobile phone market is still transitioning from feature phones to smart phones in the year of the birth of Galaxy Note mobile phones, high-end consumers have few options, and the iPhone has not established its own competitive advantage. In this environment, the Samsung Galaxy Note series can indeed compete for market share with excellent comprehensive strength and differentiated positioning, and even "equal to Apple".
But now? Now the smart phone market is a red sea, the high-end market iPhone with a stable play to further widen the gap between themselves and competitors, even if Samsung to take out the folding screen mobile phone such a "big move", can only eat some less leftovers in some segments, and Apple's competition in the high-end market has long been out of place.
The so-called "times create heroes", the rise of the Galaxy Note mobile phone is inseparable from the excellent opportunity of the times, but now is not the past, even if the pig itself can fly, it is destined to fly not high, not far.
At the product level, the homogenization of hardware is almost irreversible in the short term, although Samsung is still actively exploring flexible display panels, folding screen technology, ultra-high pixel sensors and other technologies, but from the results of these so-called "innovations" can not let Samsung's own new products completely open the gap with competitors, and even can not give too many consumers the confidence to buy Samsung.
Such a dilemma is not only Samsung needs to face, whether it is Chinese mobile phone manufacturers or Apple, they have to face the competitive problems brought about by homogenization. A more extreme approach is that apple millet and others have begun to "find another way out", since the smart phone "can not be rolled", then find another way out to explore new tracks such as smart cars, it is not a new technology.
From Samsung's own point of view, as a huge group with business across the world and penetrating into multiple fields, any track can not be a "lifelong business", when doing mobile phones and even smart phones is to see its potential, and now seeing the industry is thinning, then it is not difficult to understand the allocation of resources to other sunrise tracks.
At this point, we can also find that none of this matters. Nowadays, the times have changed, smart phones are still important but for enterprises is no longer a "gold and silver mine", "cash cow", the end of the Samsung Note series of mobile phones also means the end of an era, an era of innovation, an era of smart phones, but also officially bid us farewell.