Dozens of announcement events rock the tech space every year, but few draw as much attention as Samsung Unpacked. It’s a pity that the company’s recent unveilings have not brought much innovation or sparked the excitement we’d hoped for. This wasn’t the case in the past when Samsung regularly shook the landscape with its product releases and gave us some of the best Android phones. If you miss those days like I do, join me on a trip down history lane to revisit some of the best Samsung launches.
5
The Samsung Galaxy S III
A Samsung bestseller
Source: Samsung
Announced in May 2012, the Samsung Galaxy S III is one of the company’s best-selling phones. Over 70 million units of the Galaxy S III series were shipped. This was an impressive feat, considering that competition in the Android space was formidable at the time.
In hindsight, the Galaxy S III was not perfect. It wasn’t the fastest Android phone for daily use, and many of its features could be described as gimmicky. However, the phone was an adequate response to the shifting trends. It focused on camera performance and screen quality when more people were ditching point-and-shoot cameras and consuming media primarily on their phones. It prioritized design, as smartphones were becoming lifestyle accessories.
The Galaxy S III solidified Samsung’s position as a leading maker of high-end phones, a process kickstarted by the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II in previous years. Its success, however, wasn’t as much of a surprise as that of the next phone on the list.
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The Samsung Galaxy Note
An unexpected success story
Source: Samsung
There was a time when a 5.3-inch display on a phone was considered gigantic. The first-generation Samsung Galaxy Note was ridiculed for its size when it launched in 2011. For context, the phone was as tall as the smallest Galaxy S25 model but 13mm/0.5 inches wider due to its 16:10 screen aspect ratio.
However, a few million people didn’t find the concept of a giant-screened Android phone ridiculous. More importantly, they voted with their money, so Samsung sold 10 million Galaxy Note units in nine months. The company hit a home run and pioneered a new product category: the phablet (a portmanteau of “phone” and “tablet”).
While the Galaxy Note series is discontinued, its legacy lives on. Its signature feature, the S Pen digital stylus, is built into the best Samsung phones and supported on a range of its tablets and foldable phones.
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The Samsung Galaxy S8 series
Peak Samsung smartphone design
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are two of the most beautiful phones the company has made. Looks are subjective, but the S8 series represents the peak of Samsung smartphone design.
Would they wow anyone today? Probably not. We’re spoiled by glass-and-metal sandwiches and bezel-less screen designs, which are now the norm even among the best midrange Android phones. However, in 2017, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ looked and felt stunning. “They have an almost precious quality to them,” we said in our review, and I couldn’t agree more.
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ suffered from a poorly placed fingerprint reader, and a reddish display tint was a common issue. Still, that didn’t stop Samsung from shipping over 20 million Galaxy S8 units three months after its launch.
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The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
The ultimate Samsung smartphone
The Note 20 Ultra wasn’t the first Ultra-branded Samsung phone. It arrived in the second half of 2020, several months after the Galaxy S20 Ultra. However, the Note 20 Ultra was a better fit for the title and served as the blueprint for the Samsung Ultra phones that followed.
While the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra was expensive for the time, it was the ultimate phone for fans of the brand: the one that did it all. It packed much of the hardware and software goodies from the S20 Ultra and added the utility of the S Pen. It had as much RAM as the S25 series has today. The S Pen had Bluetooth and could trigger the camera shutter, unlike the S Pen you get with the S25 Ultra. When I look back at my old photos, I’m amazed by how well the Note 20 Ultra’s images hold up today.
In the following year, Samsung discontinued the Galaxy Note brand. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra became the last and best phone in the Galaxy Note lineup.
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The Samsung Galaxy Fold 2
It made us believe in foldable phones
Samsung did not make the first foldable phone, but it did a lot to popularize the form factor. The Galaxy Fold launch in 2019 was plagued by problems. However, the Galaxy Fold 2 launched the following year and was a more refined device. It had a more durable inner display and a larger, more functional cover screen. In other words, it felt like a proper phone, not like a prototype.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 was vastly improved, turning reviewers from skeptics to believers. “Folding phones are undeniably the future, and for the right folks, the Z Fold 2 is a must-buy game-changer,” we said at the time. Had the Fold 2 flopped, perhaps the Z Fold 6 would never have materialized. Yet here we are, expecting to see a Fold 7 in 2025, and a Samsung phone in an entirely new form factor.
What were your favorite Samsung phones of all time?
Listing the most significant Samsung products is no easy task. The company has a rich history of mobile device launches, and its tech has been shifting the mobile landscape for several decades. A list like this is bound to be subjective, but I’m confident tech enthusiasts would agree with at least some of my top picks.
As for the next few decades, I can’t say what the future holds for Samsung. However, rumors point to exciting prospects. A Samsung tri-folding phone is believed to be in development, along with the first Samsung rollable phone. Prototypes and concepts of these form factors have been teasing us for years, and soon, they may materialize on a store shelf near you.
