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Foldable smartphones hit the market last year itself, but they gained in popularity with improved hinge mechanisms in 2020. Samsung, which is one of the first companies to embrace the design, had a busy year on the foldable phone front. Against this backdrop, the success of foldable phones seems to have caused a decline in discussions around the Galaxy Note, finds GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s Filing Analytics platform reveals that mentions of ‘Galaxy Note’ were down by 80% year-on-year in Samsung’s 2020 filings. At the same time, discussions around foldable phones and related keywords were relatively stable. Samsung’s diversified production and supply chain helped the company boost its profits during Q3 2020.

Rinaldo Pereira, Senior Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Interestingly, the mentions of ‘premium’ and related keywords also declined by 54% in 2020 compared to 2019. As a result, it is likely that Samsung will trim down its premium Galaxy Note offerings to focus on the Galaxy Fold.”

In Q3 2020, Samsung’s smartphone shipments were driven by its mid-range phones and the Galaxy Fold, highlighting the rising importance in filings. The South Korea-based smartphone manufacturer expects a healthy Q4 2020 due to the holiday season and hopes to boost its smartphone sales in 2021 by focusing on foldable and 5G models.

Mr Pereira concludes: “In late November, Samsung released the illustrations of the upcoming foldable models to be released in 2021. It is likely that Samsung will not release a new Galaxy Note variant in 2021 but make the Galaxy S21 and foldable phones compatible with a stylus.”