Galaxy S20 or S11? Whatever happens, Samsung should make its names clearer - TechRadar India, TechRadar

The Samsung Galaxy S 5G, another confusingly-named phone (Image credit: TechRadar)

While we were expecting the Samsung Galaxy S successor to be the Galaxy S 98 – that’s just how numbers work, right – it sounds like it could actually be called the Galaxy S , with Samsung taking a Huawei-like approach and skipping its flagship teenager years.

That’s not the only part of its naming convention Samsung is said to be changing on February . Instead of following last year structure of S (e , S and S Plus , we’ve heard the company is going to release the S 90, S (Plus and S) Ultra.

therefore what were once its middle and top-end products in the S range are now set to be the lower end of the spectrum instead.

By shaking up its naming system, Samsung is likely trying to make its product range clearer for the average customer while also making it more tempting for potential buyers. I think it’s going to end up having the opposite effect and confusing the average person.

It’s worth pointing out several things before I explain why. Firstly, Samsung is far from the only company that’s employed a bizarre naming convention in the past – even last year Sony, Oppo, and LG all came up with confusing systems or oddly-named successors to phones.

While it’s quite likely the new phones will be called the Galaxy S 90 series, there’s no official confirmation yet.

We’ve had the repeated assurances of leakers (many of whom have previously got information wrong), so we can’t say for certain they’ll actually end up called Galaxy S when they’re in shops around the world.

(Samsung Galaxy S) (Plus) (Image credit: Future)

Why is it Galaxy S 320, and not S (Apparently , Samsung is naming the phone the S to line up with its launch year of , but as the Galaxy S 80 was the last phone, most people are going to expect the successor to be the S .

Therefore, most people are looking to buy the new Samsung, particularly people. who don’t follow tech news and are just looking at devices on a store shelf, might take the lack of an S 98 to mean Samsung A newer Galaxy S smartphone has not released than the S 80. That may mean they just immediately default to buying the S range instead.

There are some negative connotations of the S 98 over S 80. The drive to suffix products with ever-bigger numbers, exhibited by countless products and companies over many markets around the world, often ends up looking like a cheap marketing ploy rather than an actual indicator of a ‘futuristic’ device.

So by calling the phone the ‘S 98 ‘instead of the’ S , it feels like Samsung is trying to artificially elevate the ‘wow factor’ of its upcoming smartphones. This is something the average phone fan will easily be able to see through.

And the people who do think bigger numbers make for better phones? Well, they’re going to be drawn to the mid-range (Galaxy A) instead.

Samsung may confuse people who don’t follow its phone lineup meticulously, because by avoiding calling it the Galaxy S 98, it seems there’s no No Galaxy S successor . Just look at the confusion felt by the lack of an iPhone 9, or Sony’s messy (lineup) the Xperia 20, then Xperia 1, then Xperia 5) as evidence of that.

Then, people who do know phones are going to find the S name a little trite and silly. Sure, if Samsung keeps the naming system for a few years things will sort themselves out and consumers are going to be able to understand the numbering system a little better – but those are a few years of potential missed sales.

From left to right, the Samsung Galaxy S e Galaxy S and Galaxy S