The Samsung Galaxy S21 series is sure to be one of the biggest smartphone launches of 2021, and this weekend several spec details for the upcoming flagships have leaked out ahead of the phones’ expected January release.
The design of the Galaxy S21 phones is said to line up with those CAD renders that leaked a month ago. Android Police has viewed official images of the S21 series and confirmed that they will have a new camera bump design that wraps around to the side of the device. The Galaxy S21 (above) is said to have a plastic back while the S21 Ultra’s (below) rear is made of glass, but there’s no info yet on the materials used on the Galaxy S21+.
Samsung has reportedly chosen new “Phantom” color options for the S21 phones, like Phantom Violet, Phantom Pink, Phantom Gray, and Phantom White for the S21. The S21+ will be available in silver, black, and violet colors and the S21 Ultra will get black and silver hues. The frame and camera bump of the phones will be a different color than the rest of the phone, like the Phantom White having a subtle blue tint with a bronze bezel.
Packed inside of each Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra will reportedly be Qualcomm’s still-unannounced Snapdragon 875 chipset. The Galaxy S21 purportedly have a 4000mAh battery, the same as in the S20, while the S21+ will get a slightly larger 4800mAh cell and the S21 Ultra will have a 5000mAh battery. All three models are expected to support at least 25W fast charging.
When it comes to the display, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is said to have “one of the best displays on any smartphone.” It’s tipped to be a 6.7-inch WQHD+ LTPO panel with an adaptive refresh rate of 1-120Hz and a peak brightness of 1600 nits, up from 1400 nits on the S20 Ultra. The Galaxy S21 is expected to have a 6.2-inch FHD+ 120Hz display while the S21+ will have a 6.7-inch FHD+ 120Hz panel.
Another area where the Galaxy S21 Ultra has been tipped to stand out from its siblings is the camera department. The S21 Ultra will reportedly come equipped with a 108MP main cam with a Gen 2 sensor, a 12MP ultra wide cam, and two 10MP telephoto cameras, one with 3x optical zoom and one with 10x. Samsung is expected to include 100x Space Zoom support with the S21 Ultra as well as a laser autofocus to help avoid the focus issues the S20 Ultra previously had.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S21 and S21+ are both said to have a 12MP main camera, 12MP ultra wide cam, and a 64MP telephoto camera. All the cameras on the Galaxy S21 series are expected to support 4K 60fps video recording, an upgrade from the S20 series that only supported that feature on the main camera.
Today’s report also claims that the Galaxy S21 Ultra will include S Pen support, which would be a first for the Galaxy S series. However, Samsung won’t be including an S Pen in the Galaxy S21 Ultra box, with the company reportedly planning to sell cases that’ll let you store the S Pen on the outside of the phone’s body rather than in a special slot like on the Note phones.
All three Galaxy S21 series models will reportedly support 5G and the S21 and S21+ will both include Wi-Fi 6, too, while the S21 Ultra will get Wi-Fi 6E which Samsung says is around twice as fast as regular Wi-Fi 6.
Finally, Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra with Android 11 below the One UI 3.5 interface.
While the Galaxy S21 series isn’t looking like a huge change from the Galaxy S20 lineup, it does sound like Samsung will be making some nice upgrades here and there. The bigger battery in the Galaxy S21+ is good to see, for example, and the improvements that Samsung is making with the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s display and cameras could make it a compelling device for folks who like phones.
Another improvement that Samsung might make with the Galaxy S21 series is pricing, with rumors saying that they could have lower pricing to help make them more competitive. The good news is that with a January launch expected for these Galaxy S21 models, we’ve only got a couple months to wait before all is officially revealed.
Based on what we’ve heard of them so far, are you interested in any of the Galaxy S21 phones?
Source: Android Police