Samsung Galaxy Note 20 – Sacrificing its roots in favor of lower contemporary standards

I have been a long time Galaxy Note user, a big fan and advocate of the case it made for charging a premium. With the definition of flagships evolving from a device which makes no compromise, to a device which is ridden with compromises to be able to increase average revenue per consumer, the trend seems to have no exceptions. The famed Note series has also succumbed to the dilemmas that every manufacturer has – do I lean towards being pro consumer or should I prioritize my investors interest; do I make the best no compromise product or do I become a business that makes no compromise on its numbers. Unfortunately it looks like there is no mid-path.

From a productivity powerhouse to a mere me too: For folks who aren’t aware of the Galaxy Note series, they were meant to be the no compromise device from Samsung that in some ways showcases the best that Samsung has on offer. Everything about the device would be bleeding edge – you talk about the hardware, there was no compromise – one of the best endurance, courtesy of a large battery, cameras that were no slouch (top 5 best – easy), the most beautiful large screen on a smartphone; do you want to store a lot of photos and multimedia files – sure why not – you can have a terabyte storage on the phone; Software – a powerhouse device with which you could do everything; Want to edit and make recommendations for a presentation on the fly – yes, use the S-Pen stylus and annotate comments on the move. Do you want to make a presentation – check – connect the device to the projector using the USB C to HDMI converter to project the device, use the stylus as the clicker; want to sign documents on the fly – check, you have Adobe’ suite specifically for the Galaxy Note to sign PDFs; want to transform your smartphone into a computer – easy – look no further than Samsung Dex. The Galaxy Note had it all and it came with it a robust software suite that made a very compelling case for its existence.

Not just that, the device had potentially thought of so many use cases that it had no equal in the smartphone industry. But that started to slowly change. The Galaxy Note was no longer a class above the rest. Its mail USP – a large screen – was incorporated by all, the endurance advantage was no longer a USP with everybody equipping devices with large batteries. But, the Note was still a niche with its stylus and appealed to the folks who want the best productivity and media consumption device, period.

But where the Note started to slip was in 2019, with the introduction of the Note 10. Samsung, after having trolled Apple for the removal of the headphone jack, resorted to the same move. And at a time when most flagship devices had high refresh rate displays, Samsung still stuck to its dated 60Hz displays. It also made one of the most questionable decisions that diluted the proposition of the Note, which is to introduce a not so powerful Note to keep the entry prices low, and packed all the delicacies in the more expensive Note 10+. This was the start of the downfall of one of the most compelling smartphone series that was the reason for coining the word “Phablet” – a phone + a tablet. From being the most compelling large screen device with an uncontested proposition, the Galaxy Note became a new generation smartphone with a stylus.

Drop in profits courtesy of drop in flagship smartphone sales – the road to redemption? – Accessory sales: While Apple’s reasons to eliminate the headphone jack was to remove a legacy port and make devices more compact, the business reasons were rather obvious. It wasn’t a coincidence that in 2018, Apple’s highest selling accessory for over 2 years in the running was the proprietary headphone connector. Apple introduced a problem in the name of doing away with legacy, created a painful solution resulting in consumers losing several headphone connectors and having to keep buying them. And eventually introduced a “convenient solution” of going wireless.

While most companies thought the removal of the headphone jack would back fire, Apple’s revenues continued to rise – they continued to sell devices, as well as accessories like the dongle and the Airpods. But what one needs to note is that Apple also owns the platform, and since its consumers were so well invested and used to the platform, they weren’t going to move anyway, and most importantly - no matter what Apple does, it will be perceived as an aspirational brand, a luxury that no consumer technology product company brand is blessed with. So the rules for Apple aren’t applicable to the others.

In Android, it’s a different story. In fact Android is built on the foundation of choice with the tagline - Be Together, Not The Same. This meant the cost of switching to a different Android handset is negligible. Samsung being the largest smartphone seller by volumes, started to face stiff competition across all the segments it caters to. Xiaomi started to make a compelling case in the online market catering to the affordable smartphone segment; Oppo and Vivo started to drive very aggressive programs for offline retailers, putting Samsung out of contention; the likes of OnePlus always questioned why powerful devices need to be expensive. This meant that Samsung was losing market share quickly. And since Samsung’s business model, despite its attempts to build an ecosystem, relies primarily on handset sales. Samsung was compelled to look for additional revenue streams to keep its coffers ringing.

As has been the case in the past, Samsung mustered the courage and removed the headphone jack – and what device do they start with – their no compromise device – the Galaxy Note 10!!! Add to that the inexpensive Note 10 didn’t even have a micro-SD card slot, another USP that Samsung has stuck to after facing backlashes during past attempts to do away with it. What was also perplexing was their attempt to market the colors in which the device was available, as against promoting the productivity prowess it brought to the table. Since then the differentiation that the Note has brought with it has dwindled. These decisions helped Samsung trigger its accessory business. Well what did they sell as a result – ofcourse the headphone dongle; Bluetooth headphones followed suit with the acquisition of Harman and its AKG brand; and who can forget smartphone cases and covers – courtesy of the slabs of glass between which the phone is sandwiched. Not to mention the Apple-isque device care plan for two years of hassle free ownership.

With the Note 20 – they seem to have gone from bad to worse, and they are resorting to a questionable decision of holding themselves back from including the latest and greatest in the Note device. The Note 20 seems to have been created to make the Note 20 Ultra look uncontested and "flagship" status worthy. But in the process, they have diluted Brand Note significantly. The treatment meted out to product line that revolutionized the smartphone market, is today built using plastic, uses a Full HD 60Hz display, comes with no memory expansion – things you usually associate with USD 300 device. The components that do justice to its flagship tag are the chipset, stylus and a good (but not great) camera. When the Galaxy Note 10, its predecessor is considered as an alternative to the cheaper Note 20 – you know that the true productivity Mozart who has always been at the bleeding edge of technology at launch, had indeed left the building.

Enter the foldables - The newly crowned king: With the Note losing its competitive edge, Samsung definitely realized that this product line wasn't going to continue being their latest and greatest, and in some sense, the lack of ground breaking innovation in the Note, is an indication that Samsung was looking at greener pastures. Samsung has had a head start with foldables and are today couple of generations ahead of their peers, and from the look of how the recent foldables have shaped up, it looks like Samsung has nailed the proposition for a true foldable device.

In the last decade, the primary objective for device manufacturers has been – Build a universal smart device that prioritizes convenience and portability. Be it laptops, ultrabooks, phablets, smartphones, tablets and now foldables, companies have been experimenting for a very long time now leaning on this philosophy. The foldables are definitely making the smartphone space more exciting, since devices were ultimately becoming defined as glass slabs of varying sizes. But with foldables, things look to have become revolutionary and without doubt these devices look nothing short of an engineering marvel. And considering it isn’t mainstream as yet and nobody has a device available to purchase, Samsung is very well poised to take the ultra-premium segment by storm.

If Samsung is able to achieve greater efficiencies in manufacturing foldable devices, and if their marketing machine churns out some of the most compelling use cases for a foldable device, the US$1,500 smartphone segment will have a new contender. This would be Samsung reliving its earlier Note days where all they had to do was make the device available and consumers were willing to pay a premium, atleast until the novelty of owning a foldable phone becomes more mainstream.

Bring back the Note and rationalize pricing – Or risk losing the ardent fans who have played a pivotal role in building the brand: As much as I try curbing my emotions as an ardent Note fan, its hard to believe that the device has been reduced to this. While we all knew that device manufacturers are going to introduce new problems to monetize solutions, we could never fathom the Note reduce itself to this definition.

With Samsung looking to the foldables as its next margin maker, the Note should get back to becoming the no nonsense productivity device. Samsung is in a unique position in the Android ecosystem. They are potentially the only smartphone manufacturer who could manufacture 90% of all the components that make a smartphone. While the coveted position can be used to gross billions, they would also have to play a very important role of driving smartphone innovation and adoption. The US$1,000 smartphones have unfortunately become a norm, but pushing the boundaries further and venturing into the US$1,500 mark in just few years is atrocious. The most ideal way Samsung can go about positioning its product line would be – Galaxy S: the mainstream consumer flagship, Galaxy Note: the productivity and enthusiast device, Galaxy Foldable (Z line) – The ultra-premium flagship.

I would really like to see the Note stick to its ethos and be priced optimally. The Note was never a device that went with the herd and it should never be. The 2021 Note should come packed with everything – get the headphone jack back, embed a mammoth battery – no your loyal fans will not be disappointed with a few extra millimetres of thickness, refine Dex, refine the S-Pen, have a quad HD OLED, 120Hz display, include your famed Wolfson Dac and Amp, throw all but the kitchen sink and redeem the legacy of the smartphone line that has been celebrated as the pinnacle of mobile computing by enthusiasts, customers and the technology fraternity alike.

Dear Samsung - BRING THE OG GALAXY NOTE BACK!!!

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