With the Galaxy S23 series just around the corner, millions of current smartphone owners are likely considering their upgrade options right now. For some, the path is inevitable, swapping out one of our favorite Android phones for a new generation. But for a more dedicated audience — one that Samsung is actively courting — the S23 Ultra represents more missed opportunities. And if the company wants to pry older devices away from its previous devotees, it'll need to find the space to compromise on its future releases.

This week, as part of the promotion leading up to the event on February 1st, Samsung's President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business TM Roh published a blog post on the company's website. In it, he drew a direct line of descent between current-gen Ultra phones and the legacy Note "experience," claiming that the Galaxy S Ultra series has adopted everything people loved about Samsung's original phablet series into the company's mainline smartphones.

I'm not sure I agree with this sentiment, and I'm not alone. Several of my friends are (or were) Note die-hards, the type who would upgrade annually to the company's latest device. But it's not just my own anecdotal evidence proving these people are out here. Browsing through various Note-branded subreddits reveals dozens of people facing a difficult decision this year. As their devices begin to fail, what's the next smartphone worth upgrading to?

The Galaxy S23 Ultra is the obvious choice, but not everyone's convinced. Some comments even suggest picking up a used Note 9 or Note 10 through sites like eBay and Swappa to avoid losing out on what made these phones special to begin with. To these fans, the Ultra series isn't the successor they've wanted in a smartphone. It kept the big screen and the S Pen, sure, but it lacks the "power user" tools that had so many people falling in love with Samsung's phablet in the first place.

Scrolling through the responses of people holding onto their gadgets, one thing is perfectly clear: smartphones have changed a lot over the last decade, and many believe it's for the worse. The disappearance of headphone jacks, microSD card slots, and bundled chargers have been felt across the industry, but for Samsung fans, it's even harder. The Note series — along with other select Samsung phones at the time — featured MST payment systems, iris scanners, and other tools that power users fell in love with, all of which are missing on last year's high-end Galaxy S22 Ultra.

The Note 10 was the first generation to ditch the headphone jack. To some fans, it's been downhill ever since.

Like the rest of the industry, Samsung is quick to provide solutions to some of those problems — for a price. Feel like your device doesn't have enough storage? Consider grabbing a cloud storage plan from Google or Microsoft. Is your phone not charging fast enough? Those first-party fast-chargers are still around if you're willing to throw some cash down. Sick of using dongles to listen to music? Perhaps you'll be interested in an array of pro-branded wireless earbuds.

All of this brings us back to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, a phone that will exist in part to convince those legacy Note users to finally upgrade. If Samsung really wants to prove the Ultra series is the device every long-time Note owner has been waiting for, it'll need to concede some of the changes seen by fans as hostile. Sure, it's unlikely that MST payments or iris scanners make a return, but what about microSD card slots? Previous phones utilized the SIM card slot for expandable storage; bringing that back could be seen as a sign of goodwill. You could throw a fast charger inside the box, or make it an optional free accessory available to anyone willing to shell out $1,200 for a new phone. If you really want to get wacky, imagine a Galaxy S24 Ultra that restores the headphone jack. Crazier things have happened.

Don't be fooled by the SIM tray on the S22 Ultra — it won't take your microSD cards.

At the end of the day, all of these ideas are just pipe dreams. Chargers were ditched under the guise of environmental friendliness, no matter how ridiculous that premise may be. The headphone jack is as dead as ever, even missing from some laptops and tablets these days. And that SIM card slot where a microSD card could fit? It's probably next on the chopping block, if history is any indicator.

But if Samsung wants to appeal to Note fans, it needs to find some room to compromise with those die-hard power users. Otherwise, they might lose out on a dedicated fan base altogether. After all, when devices like the Asus ROG Phone series fit a similar niche, why stick with the brand that isn't delivering on your dream experience? The Galaxy S23 Ultra is unlikely to be the device long-time Note users want, but if the company truly wants to hold onto these fans, it'll need to deliver some serious changes with the Galaxy S24 Ultra next year.