Samsung didn't launch the Note 5 in the UK because you're not productive enough

samsung

There's been an air of mystery around Samsung's decision to not launch the Galaxy Note 5 in Europe, but the company has now clarified a little more on the reason for the phone's absence.

Speaking in an interview with TechRadar, Rory O'Neill, Samsung's European Vice President of Brand and Marketing said that it was because of a skew towards entertainment and not productivity, which is why we got the Galaxy Note Edge+ instead.

"If you look at the large screen form factor in Europe it's fundamentally different as in the US and it's fundamentally different to China," he said.

"We studied that the user patterns for large-screen devices in Europe were much more entertainment-centric, viewing-centric, than while the Note proposition is really good, is more on the productivity side and personal organisation side."

There have been multiple calls to bring the Note 5 to the UK though, so the idea that it the feature set wasn't 'right' for British consumers is sure to lead to some rebuttal.

There will be a return

TechRadar recently revealed that the Note series will be making a comeback to the UK at least.

The company is expected to announce the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge at MWC on February 21, however this time the UK won't be getting the Edge+, and will instead receive the Note 6.

O'Neill would not confirm this, but said that Samsung will "examine the market and the conditions in the exact same way".

"In the smartphone market we don't just make phones for the self-proclaimed elite and premium end, we make them for the whole range," he said on the Note 5's absence.

"We have a flexibility in our business model. We study local markets, we study dynamics, we study channel… and figure out what's the right thing to do for us.

Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.


Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.