Unsubstantiated rumours have been circulating about the future of Samsung’s Note brand, and even to some extent the Galaxy branding following the issues with the Galaxy Note 7. In what seemed to be more of a grab for clicks and views than any real analysis of market sentiment, tech pundits have been prognosticating the death of the Note brand since the issues first started, because, well it gives them something to write and or say.
We first saw Samsung suggest that the Note brand would live on in communications to Korean Note 7 customers regarding replacement options, now a new rumour out of Korea has reaffirmed that.
It would be easy to come up with arguments for and against Samsung shelving the Note brand, however without data to support the underlying reasons to change or not change the brand making a definitive assertion in either direction is just plain guessing, and considering the mounting rumours for it staying I’d put my money on that. Samsung may have conducted market research about the brand or they may just be willing to take it out for another run and see what happens.
One thing is for sure until they publically release the findings of their Note 7 review the tech press, and perhaps some consumers won’t give any future Galaxy devices positive air time, and rightly so. Samsung needs to explain how and why the issues happened and more importantly how they have changed their processes to catch similar issues in the future.
With the Galaxy S8 now rumoured for a delayed release in April not February/ March as is traditionally the case, it could be some time before we get any official hints of Samsung’s real intentions on future branding.
Despite what happened with the Note 7, the Note range has traditionally been good and I’d like them to give it another try.