Samsung Unpacked Officially Broken: 'FE' Launches Instead of Galaxy Note in Second Half of the Year

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE released in September last year

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] Instead of a new Galaxy Note model in the second half of this year, the 'Galaxy S21 Fan Edition (FE)' is expected to be launched. Samsung Electronics confirmed that it may be difficult to release a new Note model in the second half, and the FE has emerged as a strategic smartphone to replace it. Samsung's usual unpacking schedule, which revealed the flagship S series in the first half (February) and the Note series in the second half (August), has effectively been broken.

According to the Samsung Electronics new product release schedule revealed by IT tipster Evan Blass on the 18th (local time), an FE unpacking event is scheduled for August instead of the Galaxy Note. Samsung has traditionally unveiled new Galaxy Note models at the August unpacking event, but the schedule excludes the Note name. Prior to the August unpacking, plans include the release of the Galaxy Tab S7 Lite in June and the Galaxy A22 5G in July.

[Source: IT tipster Evan Blass Twitter]

The FE is a limited edition model introduced by Samsung Electronics for Galaxy fans. When it first appeared in 2017, it was largely about recycling parts from the discontinued Galaxy Note7. Last year, which was hit hard by COVID-19, Samsung reintroduced the Galaxy S20 FE, based on the Galaxy S20 series, emphasizing cost-effectiveness with a price around 300,000 KRW, drawing attention. It compensated for the poor sales performance of the Galaxy S20 with the FE.

This year, the strong performance of the flagship Galaxy S21 has rather supported the launch of the FE. An industry insider said, "FE has effectively established itself," and evaluated it as "a process where, similar to tablets, a light version of the same line is released after the flagship model." There is a forecast that this 'flagship-light' formula will be maintained in the future.

The reason why there are growing expectations that Samsung Electronics will put more effort into the FE is that the release of the Galaxy Note, which was the main focus of the second half unpacking, is expected to be difficult this year. Since Samsung Electronics equipped the Galaxy S series with the S Pen, rumors about the discontinuation of the Note have not ceased. Kodongjin, President of Samsung Electronics' IM (IT & Mobile) division, drew a line on the possibility of discontinuing the Galaxy Note at the Samsung Electronics shareholders' meeting on the 17th, but said, "It could be burdensome to release two flagship models with the S Pen in one year, so I think it may be difficult to launch one in the second half."

Accordingly, it is expected that efforts will be focused on the FE and foldables instead of the Note series in the second half of this year. Samsung Electronics has announced that it is preparing to release the Note series next year. This year, it is expected to introduce three new foldable phones in line with the goal of popularizing foldable phones. There are also expectations that the Galaxy Z Fold3 will be the first foldable phone to support water resistance.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.