Samsung Galaxy Note is officially dead — and that's okay

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra S Pen upgrades

(Image credit: Future)

Update: Samsung exec reportedly confirms death of Galaxy Note — this is taking over

Ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses and toast the Galaxy Note series, as Samsung has officially killed it.... finally.

We knew this day was coming. But Samsung never officially called time on the Note, only noting that it would skip 2021, and that the Galaxy S22 Ultra was a spiritual successor to the Galaxy Note.

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This means there has been some glimmer of hope that the bone-fide Note phones could make a comeback, rejoining the ranks of the best Samsung phones. But that unlikely prospect was snuffed out entirely in an interview with Korean site Dailian at MWC 2022, in which Samsung head of mobile experience Roh Tae-moon declared we’ve reached the end of the Note as we know it.

In a translated excerpt from the interview Tae-moon said: “The Galaxy Note… will come out as ‘Ultra.’” So that tells us it’s finally game over for the Galaxy Note.

As a fan of big phones with more boxy, rectangular designs, this would have saddened me. Sure there are plenty of large phones but they always felt a little ungainly or too rounded to be the productivity machines Note phones were.

But then I got my hands on the Galaxy S22 Ultra and stopped caring. That's because the Galaxy S22 Ultra is basically a new Note phone, despite its naming convention.

It’s got a Note-like squared design and a suite of powerful specs, as well as a built-in S Pen holder. It feels different to the Galaxy S21 Ultra, so it really does strike me as the genuine successor to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

A photo of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra — (Image credit: Future)

And going by Tae-moon’s comment, it looks like future Ultra phones from the Galaxy S-series will follow the example of the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that future large flagship phones from Samsung will keep the Note DNA mostly intact; Samsung could go left-field with the designs, or do away with large phones in favor of foldables like the rumored Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. So far, though, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is a phone that can deliver a true Note experience while also remaining a Galaxy S-series phone, notably by offering a killer camera suite.

So pour one out for the Galaxy Note line. It’s served me and plenty of others very well. The Galaxy Note is gone but it won’t be forgotten.

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Roland Moore-Colyer a Managing Editor at Tom’s Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he’s also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.