With its large screen and a stylus for note-taking, the Note is one of two Samsung premium phone series - the other being the more compact Galaxy S which draws in consumers with its state of the art parts.

But Samsung does not have plans to develop a new version of the Galaxy Note for 2021, and will give the Galaxy S series’ top model, the S21, a stylus along with the next version of Samsung’s foldable phone.

A second source said company development efforts that normally would have been directed to the Note would now be channelled into its foldable phone range.

Tom Kang, an analyst at research firm Counterpoint, told Reuters that sales of Samsung’s Note series are expected to fall by a fifth to eight million this year while sales of the S series are likely to drop by five million to less than 30 million.

“Premium demand has decreased this year and many people are not looking for new products”, he said.

The Galaxy Note 20 was launched in the United States this year with a $999 price tag, on par with the Galaxy S20 while the iPhone 12 starts at $799.

Samsung first launched the Note in 2011, breaking new ground in the market for larger screen models and helping it overtake Apple to become the world’s largest smartphone maker for the first time that year.