Such speculation mounted in January after Samsung launched the high-end model of the Galaxy S21 smartphone that supports the stylus. Koh Dong-jin, who heads the company's IT & Mobile Communications business unit, said the Galaxy Note series will remain intact but hinted that new phablet models may come out next year after skipping this year. "It can be a lot of pressure on us to release two flagship models supporting the S-Pen within a year, so the launch of new Galaxy Note series may not happen in the second half of this year," Koh said at Samsung's annual shareholder meeting in Suwon, 46 km south of Seoul. "Next year, the launch period of the Galaxy Note may be different than the past, but we are trying to continue the series. The Galaxy Note series is an important category for us." Samsung, which first introduced the Galaxy Note series in 2011, has been launching new Galaxy Note models in the second half of the year.