This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.

The spirit of the Galaxy Note family is dead

You might think the built-in S Pen is the main thing that sets a Note apart from a Galaxy S-series device. It’s even in the name, right? The note-taking accessory must be what makes a member of the Galaxy Note handset family special. But if you ask me, there’s a lot more to this incredible success story than an admittedly amazing stylus. Started as a niche-oriented experiment in 2011, the “phablet” broke into the mainstream surprisingly quickly, so much so that I’m willing to bet you’ve forgotten the last time you used that word or heard someone using it.

Phablets are now… regular-sized phones, and Samsung deserves a lot of the credit for popularizing large-screen devices even though the company obviously didn’t invent the concept. The display was not the only department where early Galaxy Note generations went big either. These bad boys took bold risks in directions that were simply not accessible for the mass-oriented Galaxy S roster. 

They also constantly pushed the envelope with their increasingly remarkable specifications and capabilities, despite risking to alienate fans and potential buyers with rapidly surging prices. Certain gambles, like the massive Galaxy Note 7 battery, literally blew up in Samsung’s face, and yet year in and year out the company tried its best to stand out from a pack of increasingly similar high-end handsets.

With standard 5G connectivity, huge screens, and outright insane camera specs, the Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra are virtually rendering the Note 20 irrelevant before the latter is even released.

Nowhere to go but sideways

Galaxy Note 30… Fold?! 

There’s absolutely no functional reason for Samsung to pursue a waterfall Note 20, and perhaps more importantly, a device with its screen wrapped around its sides like that just looks… dumb. It’s not premium, elegant, or futuristic, it’s simply a fugly gimmick meant to distract us from the industry’s lack of meaningful innovation. Samsung knows better than to experiment for experimentation’s sake (or so I hope), which is also why I don’t think the Galaxy Note 20 will come with an under-display camera. Or anything radical to mess with the almost flawless frontal design of the S20 trio.

Probably the most interesting feature rumored for Samsung’s third foldable phone is a built-in S Pen, which would essentially annihilate the last remaining distinguishing trait of the Galaxy Note lineup. It’s pretty obvious where this is going, so let me be the first to declare my excitement for next year’s Note/Fold merger. It’s the only thing that makes sense in these circumstances, don’t you think?