I looked seriously at a GS7 before I bought my Note 7 and I didn't see that much of a similarity to make the statement you just made above. I also don't believe that the Note 8 will be a GS8+ with a pen... but we'll see!
The stand out feature of the Note 7 was the iris scanner. It also only had the curved display, which some might see it as a great feature. Aside from that, I really didn't see any difference between the more comparable GS7 Edge and the Note 7. Same camera sensor, same SoC, just the few extra features that are included with the Stylus. Not enough time passed to see how performance was going to be in the long run. But aside from that, I really couldn't see anything that made the Note 7 stand apart from the GS7 Edge, it was similar to the GS6 and Note 5.
Unlike the GS4 and Note 3. Slightly different designs, but noticeable. The GS4 had the S600 while the Note 3 had the S800 SoC. GS4 maxed out at 1080p 30fps video recording and playback, while the Note 3 had 1080p at 60fps and introduced 4k recording at 30fps. 2GB of RAM vs 3GB RAM. VoLTE,
Then it was the GS5 with the S801, 2GB RAM, improved display quality over the Note 3, questionable ISO Cell Camera imo, but at least they tried something new. The Note 4 came with the S805, 3GB RAM, a 1440p display, another new sony camera sensor, and some other changes.
See, there were a lot of changes made on a hardware level between the S Line and the Note Line and the S. In this case, the Note 5 is pretty much the same as the GS6, and the Note 7 was pretty much the same as the GS7 Edge, yet all the changes and new hardware were brought into the GS7 over the Note 5 and the GS8 over the Note 7. The iris scanner was the stand out feature.
Their focus has mainly been on the design and the Note line is really an after thought. At this point, I'll be surprised if they introduce even a new camera sensor to the Note 8. I don't see many changes from coming to the Note 8 that aren't already on the GS8.
I'm still using my Note 4 because it serves me really well, but I've had zero reason to upgrade to a newer Note. It's not the same as it use to be imo.