Samsung confirms February Unpacked, hints at the end of the Note line

The Note 20 will likely be the last of its kind. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

Samsung will host an Unpacked event next month, the company has confirmed in a press release authored by president TM Roh, and the writing is on the wall for the Galaxy Note series. The release hints that more Note features will be coming to the Galaxy S series — specifically the next Ultra phone in the lineup, which looks poised to take on the Note’s built-in stylus and related productivity features. This all but seals the Note series’ fate, which Samsung left in ambiguous territory last year.

Things looked doubtful for a renewal of the Note series when 2021 came and went without a new Note device. Roh’s post acknowledges the disappointment from Note fans and that this feedback has been taken into account in designing “the most noteworthy S series device we’ve ever created.” To drive home the point, the post ends with a rallying cry to “help Samsung rewrite the future of smartphones once again” and an invitation to “[g]et ready for the ultimate Ultra experience.”

This doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Last year’s S21 series took a half step toward absorbing the Note series when it incorporated S-pen support. When the S22 leaks started to roll in, it began to look more obvious that the S-series Ultra, in particular, would more or less become the new Note, complete with a built-in stylus silo. We expect to get all of the details at Samsung’s February Unpacked event, though the exact date and time are still unknown. Until then, Note fans can hold out some hope that the stylus features they love haven’t been forgotten.