I hope it is painfully obvious, but this post is satire. Obviously it makes sense for Samsung to make more than one line of phones per year, just like it makes sense for Apple to make more than just the iPhone X.

In 2017 Samsung has released 2 lines of phones, the Galaxy S8/S8 Plus and the Note 8. And while the Note 8 is a top of the line machine with all the latest specs, the S8 and S8 Plus phones just seem kind of useless in comparison. Why did Samsung even make these?

Don’t get me wrong, the S8 phones are good phones, but they’re not as exciting as the Note 8. The S8 phones have 5.8” or 6.2” screens, but the 6.3” screen on the Note 8 is bigger and better.

The Note 8 also bests the S8 phones when it comes to the cameras. All Samsung phones this year have a similar front facing camera, but it’s on the back where we start to see serious differences. The S8 and S8 Plus have basically the same sensor as last year’s Galaxy S7 phones, while the Note 8 actually has a totally new dual camera setup that sets it apart. The Note 8 has a 12MB wide angle f/1.7 sensor as well as a telephoto f/2.4 lens, and these lenses can be used together to get some cool image effects. The S8 line does not have this, and is essentially running the same sensors as last year.

And then there’s the S Pen, Samsung’s most distinctive hardware feature, which is exclusive to the Note 8 this year. This has always been the case, but it seems purposely restrictive to make the pen not work on the S8 phones. Why won’t Samsung make the S Pen work on the S8? We know there isn’t a technical reason they can’t, it just feels like a money grab to make upgrade.

And that brings us to the main question, why do the S8 and S8 Plus phones even exist in 2017? The Note 8 is superior in every single way, so I don’t understand why Samsung is selling lesser-than phones that are frankly just boring. The new screens are nice, but many apps and games are not optimized for it yet and display in letterbox, and the speed increases are hardly noticeable. So why does the S8 line exist? I don’t really know. I’m a blogger who always wants the top of the line everything, and I don’t see any reason to choose the S8 over the Note 8.

The Note 8 starts at $929 and the S8 starts at $724.99.