Samsung to Kill the Galaxy Note next year OR have a Galaxy S Phone with an S-Pen

[dizmo]

2 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

There’s one place to go but it’s not a phone. The iPad Pro. If they kill the pen some high end Samsung business is going to go to Apple. They’ll buy an iPad Pro to get the iPencil, and maybe buy an iPhone or an iWatch to go along with it to make phone calls.  They won’t like it much, but if you NEED a particular feature you need it. 

That's an entirely different product, so no, it doesn't really make much sense to go with that. The Surface Duo would make more sense if you're looking at it that way, but it doesn't hold the pen inside either, so it's not the same, nor is it at anywhere near the same level. You can get the SPen on tablets. It'd make more sense to go that route than to buy an iPad and change operating systems.

[Bombastinator]

3 minutes ago, dizmo said:

That's an entirely different product, so no, it doesn't really make much sense to go with that. The Surface Duo would make more sense if you're looking at it that way, but it doesn't hold the pen inside either, so it's not the same, nor is it at anywhere near the same level. You can get the SPen on tablets. It'd make more sense to go that route than to buy an iPad and change operating systems.

In some situations It would.  the surface is better at different things than the iPencil.  The duo can do great highlighting and good handwriting recognition.  Other parts it sucks at. Depends on what that specific hardcore need for a stylus is. It’s gonna be pretty specific.  Note is awesome stylus plus in a phone, so pocketable. If they kill the note line but keep the stylus I doubt the stylus junkies will care as long as the stylus is still good. 

[EJMB]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

I wouldn't say that it's likely to happen just because there's a few sites spouting off the same info; it's pretty common that one site leaks something and the rest just join on the bandwagon. That said, I could see this happening. Samsung is moving to expand their portfolio of foldables, and I could see that really taking the position in the spotlight, especially once they make a model with SPen support.

 

As for your scenarios:
 

Scenario 1: Unlikely. There's no need to have so many similar models with the SPen.

Scenario 2: I see this being the most likely course of action. Perhaps not next year, but the year following. They'll have the regular phones, with the top model having the SPen in the beginning of the year, and then the foldables in the latter half, one also having an SPen. The Note line isn't that recognizable, and frankly, foldables will replace that with ease.

Scenario 3: How is this any different than #2?

Scenario 4: I don't understand what you're trying to say here. Why on earth would they get rid of the S line?

Scenario 5: Perhaps, but I think it would make more sense to release all the foldables at once.

 

I don't think the Note has really lost it's identity; it still has the SPen. It's pretty much what makes it different.

 

Haha, I couldn't disagree more. It might have killed it off for you, but there's still loads of people that use it without issue. I'd say it's even less of an issue, since business users (its target audience) are less likely to complain about not being able to watch videos or listen to music. Plus, at the higher price, someone affording one of these can easily shell out a little for some wireless headphones.

It had a 50%+ increase in sales in the UK. So, pretty substantial.

I couldn't disagree more. I love the note, and the Note5 has been my favorite phone so far. However, adding stereo speakers at the cost of a larger chin and forehead isn't appealing at all; the phone is already on the upper limits of what makes sense. The hole punch is the best they can do right now, under display tech simply isn't ready for mainstream when this phone was finalized. I like the curved screen, but each to their own on that one; perhaps you had one of their off years where it was a little too pronounced. Personally if I'm going to listen to music I'd rather use something smaller that has better sound qualities

I don't think you can really argue price when their sales are better than last years Notes. Clearly there's a market, and people are more than fine paying that much for a top tier device. I don't think making fewer devices means they'll lower prices. Look at Apple. They only make what, 4? Their prices are just as high. Advertising is one of the main reasons they have the market share they do, they'd be foolish to not push it.

It's not really that much more than the devices before it. Look at the S20 Ultra; it was more expensive than the Note20 Ultra at launch.

If you don't use the pen, I could see how you could think that. If you used the pen, you'd see it in a totally different light.

The camera systems, for example, are much more refined on the Note compared to the S line up.

That's the thing though. There's no where else to go for pen support. Other companies have tried (LG, for example) however their implementations were nothing compared to the Samsung devices.

They can't just cram more battery into the Note. It's kind of reached the upper limit of what they can do without making it fatter and possibly throwing off the phones balance in the process. The battery life currently is in an odd place. The high refresh screens are killing it (though this has to do a lot with poor software optimization on Samsung's part), and they've moved to a massive display. I think next year we'll see significant advances on this front, both through a better SoC and better software management.

 

Really, though, fast charging can counter a lot of those issues. I used to dismiss its usefulness, but as we're approaching 60w chargers being the norm in higher end phones the fact that it could take only 10 or 15 minutes to top off a device really does negate needing a larger battery for 95% of people. The other 5% can just take a battery bank with them, or buy a phone that has the insane battery life they require.

I do agree that the sites may have been posting to join the bandwagon (I've been hearing this for years actually) but I posted it now given that their foldables are in "full-swing" so to speak (sort of rather) so I see the inevitability of it to be honest thus I posted this particular topic.


For scenarios 2, 3 and 4; they're actually very similar with the main difference being how they name the phones (for marketing purposes) because I'm honestly not sure whether the S line or the Note line has more mindshare/market share or maybe they want to rebrand the phones entirely hence those were the scenarios I wrote.
I prefer the Note naming scheme and I believe it's more distinct than the S line but again, not really sure how the community would react if either line was scrapped in a sense as to how well it would sell to the populace.


I actually think that what BigDamn and a lot of enthusiasts (including Linus if I'm not mistaken) mean when it lost its identity was that it used to be the absolutely no-compromises phone when compared to the rest of android which mean it had everything and the kitchen sink.
For example so you never needed to get an adaptor/dongle because you could use your earphones/headphones/lav mic directly to the jack it used to have when you needed to; you never envied battery life on other phones (from other manufacturers) including their own S-line (that changed last year when the top of the line S, the S10 5G, had a larger battery than the Note 10 Plus) because it was the ultimate all day battery and then some; you never envied charging speed on the S-line as apparently the S20 Ultra can charge faster at 45W compared to the Note 20 Ultra that can only do up to 25W; it had the S-Pen (it still has) that only used to exist on Notes but if it were true and they implemented it on the S-line...then what would the Note be eventually in the years to come? There are other details (like the Note 10 non-plus version among other things, lack of "Iris" scanning, the microSD card slot issue) but I might sound like I'm ranting too much. 
Even MKBHD also acknowledged that the Note is losing it's name as what you look for in a flagship, instead you're looking for the word "Ultra" or whatnot. How times have changed.
I know it seems like I'm rambling but I believe everyone remembers a time when the Note was the pinnacle of android but now...it's becoming just another flagship that's way too expensive and almost can't justify the high price tag although I do understand why phones are becoming more expensive these days.
"It doesn't have to do anything the best because it can do anything reasonably competently or at least that was true last generation." - Linus Sebastian in his Note 10/10+ review

 

With regards the stereo speakers and the front-facing camera thing/layout, it's mostly a preference thing as I do prefer a seamless display with front-facing speakers that don't vibrate the phone at high volumes (that layout helps as the vibration is very noticeable on my Note 10 Plus but it's been apparently fixed on the Note 20 Ultra) but I do agree with you that it won't be appealing to all and we have to wait for under display cameras to mature. For the curved screen, I prefer how it's implemented on the S20 series...curved glass but the screen isn't that too curved, something like that.


For marketing, I'm not saying that they shouldn't market and I agree with you on that...it's more so that I think they don't need to release so many models of phones every year (they apparently had 40 models of phones in 2019) and focus on let's say just less than 12 models in a year at most. This would allow focus and decrease costs overall.


I agree with you on the lack of optimization of Samsung's software for everything but with regards to the charging and battery life there is apoint I'd want to raise about it:

 Until we use solid state batteries with graphene (excited for this to be mainstream) and such along with GaN chargers being more common, the use of excessively fast charging on Lithium-ion batteries (also including the practice of leaving the phone plugged-in for prolonged periods without software mitigations such as those found on OnePlus and ASUS phones) can easily kill the battery life which is something that isn't discussed that often and down the line, you might be needing to carry a power bank all the time or be near an outlet a few years down the line unless you replace the battery.

That's why it might be actually better to have a larger battery on a slightly larger phone (we're talking the usual Li-ion battery) than super-fast charging phone with a slimmer profile as battery health and it's overall lifespan is greatly affected on excessive use, that is unless you plan to replace your phone often which is not the case for most but this can also be mitigated by more frequent battery replacement but they are expensive as well.

[BigDamn]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

Haha, I couldn't disagree more. It might have killed it off for you, but there's still loads of people that use it without issue. I'd say it's even less of an issue, since business users (its target audience) are less likely to complain about not being able to watch videos or listen to music. Plus, at the higher price, someone affording one of these can easily shell out a little for some wireless headphones.

Yeah that's exactly the problem. The Note was at it's best when it was more of a niche phone that power users gravitated to. Now that "loads of people" use it (it became mainstream) Samsung now tries to appeal to the masses, rather than the power users.

 

As you've noted, removing the headphone jack from a $1400 shouldn't be an issue, as many users can afford wireless headphones. However, that doesn't tell the whole story. My issue with wireless headphones isn't the cost (though price/performance is a factor), it's the quality. As somewhat of an audiophile, I swear by using wired audio equipment, both in the car and with headphones as it's always sounded better to me. I could use a 3.5mm cable, but not even those are perfect (especially those made by Google. dont even need to be an audiophile to hear how bad theirs are), and are less convenient too.

 

My point being, as the Note line grew it lost the features that many people love. Removable battery? Gone (but justified). Headphone jack? Gone. SD Card slot? $400 premium now. Performance? No better than any other high end Android phone, but you're still paying a premium. The Note wasn't the phone of: "you have nice wired headphones? time to go wireless!" it was the phone of "you have what kind of headphones? nevermind, they'll work".

[EJMB]

4 minutes ago, BigDamn said:

Yeah that's exactly the problem. The Note was at it's best when it was more of a niche phone that power users gravitated to. Now that "loads of people" use it (it became mainstream) Samsung now tries to appeal to the masses, rather than the power users.

 

As you've noted, removing the headphone jack from a $1400 shouldn't be an issue, as many users can afford wireless headphones. However, that doesn't tell the whole story. My issue with wireless headphones isn't the cost (though price/performance is a factor), it's the quality. As somewhat of an audiophile, I swear by using wired audio equipment, both in the car and with headphones as it's always sounded better to me. I could use a 3.5mm cable, but not even those are perfect (especially those made by Google. dont even need to be an audiophile to hear how bad theirs are), and are less convenient too.

 

My point being, as the Note line grew it lost the features that many people love. Removable battery? Gone (but justified). Headphone jack? Gone. SD Card slot? $400 premium now. Performance? No better than any other high end Android phone, but you're still paying a premium. The Note wasn't the phone of: "you have nice wired headphones? time to go wireless!" it was the phone of "you have what kind of headphones? nevermind, they'll work".

Fully agree with you right there.
It used to be a niche product but it has now appealed to a greater market. They don't have to remove everything that made it so great to be honest.

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

In some situations It would.  the surface is better at different things than the iPencil.  The duo can do great highlighting and good handwriting recognition.  Other parts it sucks at. Depends on what that specific hardcore need for a stylus is. It’s gonna be pretty specific.  Note is awesome stylus plus in a phone, so pocketable. If they kill the note line but keep the stylus I doubt the stylus junkies will care as long as the stylus is still good. 

You're basically saying "hey, replace your 4 door sedan with this 15 passenger extended van." They can do the same thing, but they're not really the same at all.

42 minutes ago, EJMB said:

I do agree that the sites may have been posting to join the bandwagon (I've been hearing this for years actually) but I posted it now given that their foldables are in "full-swing" so to speak (sort of rather) so I see the inevitability of it to be honest thus I posted this particular topic.

For scenarios 2, 3 and 4; they're actually very similar with the main difference being how they name the phones (for marketing purposes) because I'm honestly not sure whether the S line or the Note line has more mindshare/market share or maybe they want to rebrand the phones entirely hence those were the scenarios I wrote.
I prefer the Note naming scheme and I believe it's more distinct than the S line but again, not really sure how the community would react if either line was scrapped in a sense as to how well it would sell to the populace.

I actually think that what BigDamn and a lot of enthusiasts (including Linus if I'm not mistaken) mean when it lost its identity was that it used to be the absolutely no-compromises phone when compared to the rest of android which mean it had everything and the kitchen sink.
For example so you never needed to get an adaptor/dongle because you could use your earphones/headphones/lav mic directly to the jack it used to have when you needed to; you never envied battery life on other phones (from other manufacturers) including their own S-line (that changed last year when the top of the line S, the S10 5G, had a larger battery than the Note 10 Plus) because it was the ultimate all day battery and then some; you never envied charging speed on the S-line as apparently the S20 Ultra can charge faster at 45W compared to the Note 20 Ultra that can only do up to 25W; it had the S-Pen (it still has) that only used to exist on Notes but if it were true and they implemented it on the S-line...then what would the Note be eventually in the years to come? There are other details (like the Note 10 non-plus version among other things, lack of "Iris" scanning, the microSD card slot issue) but I might sound like I'm ranting too much. 
Even MKBHD also acknowledged that the Note is losing it's name as what you look for in a flagship, instead you're looking for the word "Ultra" or whatnot. How times have changed. I know it seems like I'm rambling but I believe everyone remembers a time when the Note was the pinnacle of android but now...it's becoming just another flagship that's way too expensive and almost can't justify the high price tag although I do understand why phones are becoming more expensive these days.
"It doesn't have to do anything the best because it can do anything reasonably competently or at least that was true last generation." - Linus Sebastian in his Note 10/10+ review

With regards the stereo speakers and the front-facing camera thing/layout, it's mostly a preference thing as I do prefer a seamless display with front-facing speakers that don't vibrate the phone at high volumes (that layout helps as the vibration is very noticeable on my Note 10 Plus but it's been apparently fixed on the Note 20 Ultra) but I do agree with you that it won't be appealing to all and we have to wait for under display cameras to mature. For the curved screen, I prefer how it's implemented on the S20 series...curved glass but the screen isn't that too curved, something like that.

For marketing, I'm not saying that they shouldn't market and I agree with you on that...it's more so that I think they don't need to release so many models of phones every year (they apparently had 40 models of phones in 2019) and focus on let's say just less than 12 models in a year at most. This would allow focus and decrease costs overall.

I agree with you on the lack of optimization of Samsung's software for everything but with regards to the charging and battery life there is apoint I'd want to raise about it:

 Until we use solid state batteries with graphene (excited for this to be mainstream) and such along with GaN chargers being more common, the use of excessively fast charging on Lithium-ion batteries (also including the practice of leaving the phone plugged-in for prolonged periods without software mitigations such as those found on OnePlus and ASUS phones) can easily kill the battery life which is something that isn't discussed that often and down the line, you might be needing to carry a power bank all the time or be near an outlet a few years down the line unless you replace the battery.

That's why it might be actually better to have a larger battery on a slightly larger phone (we're talking the usual Li-ion battery) than super-fast charging phone with a slimmer profile as battery health and it's overall lifespan is greatly affected on excessive use, that is unless you plan to replace your phone often which is not the case for most but this can also be mitigated by more frequent battery replacement but they are expensive as well.

Honestly I think you're putting waaaay too much thought into it. Most people don't even know what kind of Samsung phone they have, just that it's a Samsung. That's why sales reps in cell phone stores are so important to the cell phone companies, they can basically help push which phones get sold. If you sell certain models they'll even give you a kickback. The model and spec that are in a phone only matter to nerds, people really into tech.

 

An important thing to remember is that battery size =/= better battery life. Take the two phones you're referencing for example; the Note20 Ultra gets better battery life than the S20 Ultra, despite having a smaller battery. As for the charge speeds, IIRC when they did testing they found the 45w Samsung charging wasn't really any faster than the 25w. Again, poor implementation on Samsung's part. If they incorporate the SPen on the S line, then yeah, there's no need for the Note series. But, really, if the Note replaced the top tier S series phone (even if it was called something else), it'd still be holding the same place in the company as their "flagship mainstream" phone.

 

While I agree they put out a lot of models, if it wasn't working for them they'd cut them off pretty quick. So I get the feeling they're simply selling enough that they don't need to change that business strategy. A lot of the lower end models are sold in developing countries where more expensive models simply don't make sense, and then we have things like the S20 Lite that sort of sells off their left over high end hardware at lower prices.

 

The main reason I think they'll ax the Note lineup, is that they're simply going to have too many models, like you eluded to earlier. With the inclusion of the folding line, of which they should have 2 or 3 more models soon as they slot in lower priced options, you've got to cut down somewhere. The cheaper Note hasn't made a ton of sense for them, and if they're not selling a ton of them it might make more sense to fold the Note into the S lineup and just give it the S lineup's flagship position.

 

Eh yes and no. The problem is heat, and there's been huge advances in that area in regards to the way charging is done, the way batteries are laid out, and off loading the heat to the charger (in terms of OnePlus). The latest fast charging by Xiaomi I think, the 120w stuff, is said to only degrade the battery by a maximum of 10% over a few year period. Not bad at all. A few years down the line? By then you'd either replace the phone, or replace the battery. Batteries are finite, and you'll be doing that regardless. Most people that are getting flagship phones, at least in NA, are going to replace them every 2 to 3 years. If not, then a $60 battery change is a very viable option.

 

I find it funny that you quote Linus's phone reviews. He has some of the worst in the industry.

41 minutes ago, BigDamn said:

Yeah that's exactly the problem. The Note was at it's best when it was more of a niche phone that power users gravitated to. Now that "loads of people" use it (it became mainstream) Samsung now tries to appeal to the masses, rather than the power users.

 

As you've noted, removing the headphone jack from a $1400 shouldn't be an issue, as many users can afford wireless headphones. However, that doesn't tell the whole story. My issue with wireless headphones isn't the cost (though price/performance is a factor), it's the quality. As somewhat of an audiophile, I swear by using wired audio equipment, both in the car and with headphones as it's always sounded better to me. I could use a 3.5mm cable, but not even those are perfect (especially those made by Google. dont even need to be an audiophile to hear how bad theirs are), and are less convenient too.

 

My point being, as the Note line grew it lost the features that many people love. Removable battery? Gone (but justified). Headphone jack? Gone. SD Card slot? $400 premium now. Performance? No better than any other high end Android phone, but you're still paying a premium. The Note wasn't the phone of: "you have nice wired headphones? time to go wireless!" it was the phone of "you have what kind of headphones? nevermind, they'll work".

I've always found that argument odd. If you really were an audiophile, you'd want something better than the sound that a phone outputs; either through a DAP, or a USBC - 3.5mm DAC/AMP combo. As for the performance, the Note has only been the best of the best with no competition when there weren't that many flagship cell phone models. Markets have changed, and now there are lots. The Note simply can't be better than everything else unless Samsung makes an SoC, and then only puts it in one device. Which makes absolutely no sense at all. Therefore it'll have the same performance as any other phone with a flagship Qualcomm SoC. It's also not the most expensive phone out there. Up there, for sure, but there are others right up there with it.

[BigDamn]

7 hours ago, dizmo said:

I've always found that argument odd. If you really were an audiophile, you'd want something better than the sound that a phone outputs; either through a DAP, or a USBC - 3.5mm DAC/AMP combo. As for the performance, the Note has only been the best of the best with no competition when there weren't that many flagship cell phone models. Markets have changed, and now there are lots. The Note simply can't be better than everything else unless Samsung makes an SoC, and then only puts it in one device. Which makes absolutely no sense at all. Therefore it'll have the same performance as any other phone with a flagship Qualcomm SoC. It's also not the most expensive phone out there. Up there, for sure, but there are others right up there with it.

Although you're right, I'm seldom in a situation to use my USB DAC on my phone. If I'm at home, I'll use the stereo or my HD 650's (6.3mm jack) which are wired to my desktop PC. At work, I'll run the DAC off my laptop. In the car either as driver or passenger, there's not really a good way to hook my DAC up. An of course, if I need to charge I also can't use it then. So when the choices come down to wireless vs wired 3.5mm, I'll always take wired.

 

The way Samsung used to launch the Notes worked best. They would launch the S Series early in the year and the Notes later, with thee Note benefiting greatly by the several months advantage. For a time, the Exynos SoC could consistently beat the Snapdragons, making the Note the most powerful Android phone in the world. This led me to buying an international Note8, just for that SoC. Unfortunately, starting with the Note9 the Snapdragons began overtaking Exynos in both performance and efficiency, rendering Exynos irrelevant ever since. That's my problem. Samsung is still charging a premium for a phone that get plastered by iPhones with the A13 Bionic chip (albeit, the Notes are better in every other way) and are no faster than any other Snapdragon powered Android flagship. I'm being quite picky, but at $1400 Samsung has to make an extremely compelling case, especially now that I'm perfectly content on my $350 Pixel 4a.

[EJMB]

20 hours ago, dizmo said:

Honestly I think you're putting waaaay too much thought into it. Most people don't even know what kind of Samsung phone they have, just that it's a Samsung. That's why sales reps in cell phone stores are so important to the cell phone companies, they can basically help push which phones get sold. If you sell certain models they'll even give you a kickback. The model and spec that are in a phone only matter to nerds, people really into tech.

 

An important thing to remember is that battery size =/= better battery life. Take the two phones you're referencing for example; the Note20 Ultra gets better battery life than the S20 Ultra, despite having a smaller battery. As for the charge speeds, IIRC when they did testing they found the 45w Samsung charging wasn't really any faster than the 25w. Again, poor implementation on Samsung's part. If they incorporate the SPen on the S line, then yeah, there's no need for the Note series. But, really, if the Note replaced the top tier S series phone (even if it was called something else), it'd still be holding the same place in the company as their "flagship mainstream" phone.

 

While I agree they put out a lot of models, if it wasn't working for them they'd cut them off pretty quick. So I get the feeling they're simply selling enough that they don't need to change that business strategy. A lot of the lower end models are sold in developing countries where more expensive models simply don't make sense, and then we have things like the S20 Lite that sort of sells off their left over high end hardware at lower prices.

 

The main reason I think they'll ax the Note lineup, is that they're simply going to have too many models, like you eluded to earlier. With the inclusion of the folding line, of which they should have 2 or 3 more models soon as they slot in lower priced options, you've got to cut down somewhere. The cheaper Note hasn't made a ton of sense for them, and if they're not selling a ton of them it might make more sense to fold the Note into the S lineup and just give it the S lineup's flagship position.

 

Eh yes and no. The problem is heat, and there's been huge advances in that area in regards to the way charging is done, the way batteries are laid out, and off loading the heat to the charger (in terms of OnePlus). The latest fast charging by Xiaomi I think, the 120w stuff, is said to only degrade the battery by a maximum of 10% over a few year period. Not bad at all. A few years down the line? By then you'd either replace the phone, or replace the battery. Batteries are finite, and you'll be doing that regardless. Most people that are getting flagship phones, at least in NA, are going to replace them every 2 to 3 years. If not, then a $60 battery change is a very viable option.

 

I find it funny that you quote Linus's phone reviews. He has some of the worst in the industry.

 

I don't know, a lot of the non-tech people (I mean even those who just use it as daily drivers and not use all of its features) I talk to really know what model their phone is although not a majority do know the specs so I agree with you there.

If I'm not mistaken though, the S20U actually gets a better battery life compared to the Note20U when all things are leveled out, will recheck that one though.
For the 45W vs the 25W, the 45W charger actually charges faster (if it doesn't compared to the 25W, you might need to get a replacement) but it's more apparent in the initial majority of the battery capacity (initial 80-90%) as it eventually slows down towards the end as most chargers do despite the rating and I find that is where the advantage really lies.

We agree there, they make too many models but basically we all want a simplified naming scheme along with designations as to which is their flagship and whatnot as opposed to just releasing a plethora of phones and market each one intensely
I can honestly see them just make 10-12 models a year (as opposed to the 40 we saw in 2019) and focus on that, I think it will be better in the long run by reducing a lot of the production and marketing costs to be honest and would honestly simplify it for a great majority of people.

Although heat is a big part of it, the inevitable concern is actually the way a Li-ion battery charges and the degradation that comes with every charge cycle and this is more apparent the higher the wattage of the charger or especially when it's left to plugged in for an extended amount of time.
The minimal degradation numbers would seem (not 100% sure on this) to come from an ideal use case (which is apparently the habit of charging it up only  to 70-90% all the time and/or not leaving it plugged in all the time.) People may opt to read on it:

Asakura, K., Shimomura, M., & Shodai, T, (2003). Study of life 
evaluation methods for Li-ion batteries for backup applications. 
Journal of Power Sources, 119-121,902-905. doi:10.1016/ 
s0378-7753(03)00208-8 

Choi, S. S., & Lim, H. S. (2002). Factors that affect cycle-life and 
possible degradation mechanisms of a Li-ion cell based on 
LiCo02.Journal of Power Sources, 111(1),130-136. doi:10.1016/ 
s0378-7753(02)00305-1

Although I do get what you mean though that one could as easily replace the battery down the line but I think it would be more prudent (and more customer oriented) to include a large battery with an adequately fast charger as opposed to facing concerns either of faster battery degradation from multiple charging cycles and/or shorter battery life compared to the competition.
And I think a lot of people would rather not have their batteries replaced but would also not purchase a new phone (especially a flagship) that often, but maybe that's just me.

I quoted Linus just for the point of making that the Note is not what it used to be and that may be inevitable.
Who's your favorite reviewer by the way? Would be interested to read/listen to them!