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Report suggests lack of Galaxy Note 21 didn’t help Galaxy S21 sales
July 15, 2025
We saw plenty ofgreat smartphones in 2021, but one name was conspicuously missing. Unlike every year prior a decade back, we did not see a Samsung Galaxy Note phone.
See also:A history of the Samsung Galaxy Note series
All signs point to this being a calculated strategy by Samsung to help boost Galaxy S21 sales. In other words, the company likely thought consumers would buy moreGalaxy S21 phonesif a Galaxy Note 21 series wasn’t around.
Well, according to a report from the South Korean outletThe Elec, this strategy might not have paid off in the end. The report contends Samsung sold about the same number of smartphones as it sold in 2020 withthe Galaxy S20 series. That’s in the range of “mid-20 million units.”
When you factor in the COVID-19 pandemic’s more dramatic effect on the mobile industry in 2020 as compared to 2021, it would appear Galaxy S21 sales are under expectations.
Samsung Galaxy S21 sales: No help from lack of a Note
Samsung’s apparent abandonment of the Galaxy Note series was a calculated risk. The company had to weigh whether designing and producing a Galaxy Note 21 would be worth it. Withthe ongoing global chip shortageand the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing a new smartphone isn’t as simple as it once was.
In fact, the report fromThe Eleccontends that Samsung blames the low Galaxy S21 sales last year on production difficulties. The company suggests it could have possibly sold more phones if its Vietnam-based factories didn’t face the issues they faced. With that in mind, Samsung probably made the right call in not creating a Galaxy Note 21. Even if it did make it, who knows how difficult it would have been to buy.
Related:The best Samsung phones you can get
However, Samsung likely hoped that a silver lining to skipping the Note would have been better Galaxy S21 sales. Unfortunately, it seems that didn’t pan out. This data heavily suggests folks who would have bought a Galaxy Note 21 didn’t jump ship and buy a Galaxy S21 instead.
It will be interesting to see this year how Samsung’s newest strategy will work. All evidence suggests theSamsung Galaxy S22 Ultrawill just be a Galaxy Note 22 with a different name. Will that crossover help the Galaxy S22 series sell?
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