Earlier this week, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ — the company’s most powerful Notes to date. There’s a lot to like about the Note 10 and Note 10+ — they pack big and beautiful displays, triple-camera setup, and oodles of storage. But what about an IR blaster? Does the Note 10 series mark the return of the IR blaster on a flagship Samsung device?

Sadly, the answer still remains no. Both, the Galaxy Note 10 and the Note 10+, lack an IR blaster. There were rumors of the bigger Note 10+ featuring an IR blaster but that’s not the case. The lack of an IR blaster means that one cannot use the Galaxy Note 10 series to control other home appliances around them.

Given the trend in the smartphone industry, it is clear that IR blasters on smartphones are on their way out. Right now, the only flagship smartphones which continue to feature an IR blaster are the Huawei P30 and Mate 20 series. Ironically, budget smartphones from Xiaomi do include an IR blaster like the massively popular Redmi Note 7 Pro or even the budget-oriented Redmi 7. I guess if you really want a smartphone with an IR blaster, its time you switch to a Huawei flagship or look at budget offerings from Xiaomi.

The Galaxy Note 10 series also ditches the headphone, with the smaller Galaxy Note 10 also missing out on a microSD card slot. Add in the missing IR blaster and the Note 10 series does not really seem aimed at power users anymore. What do you think?