Samsung 'Galaxy S21' design and January 2021 launch leaked
New renders and details of Samsung's rumored "Galaxy S21" flagship smartphone lineup have leaked, and they indicate the device could launch much earlier than usual in 2021.
Credit: OnLeaks
Unlike Apple's fall iPhone launches, Samsung typically unveils new Galaxy devices in the first half of the year. The past two Galaxy S-series devices, for example, hit store shelves in March.
This year, according to prolific leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer of OnLeaks, the Galaxy flagships are set to debut in January 2021. Hemmerstoffer also published CAD renders of both the "Galaxy S21" and the "Galaxy S21 Ultra" on his Voice page, and also added some details about both of the Android devices.
The Galaxy S21. Credit: Steve Hemmerstoffer, OnLeaks
The standard "Galaxy S21," for example, sports a 6.2-inch OLED display with a hole-punch camera, a more uniform bezel design, and a new camera bump style. OnLeaks says the device will measure 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9mm.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra. Credit: Steve Hemmerstoffer, OnLeaks
Samsung's higher-tier "Galaxy S21 Ultra" will be larger and will feature four camera sensors in a much larger camera bump on the rear. Unlike the "Galaxy S21" flat display, Hemmerstoffer says that the Ultra model will feature a slightly curved screen. It'll measure 165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9mm, but won't have a separate compartment for an S pen stylus.
Those features are largely in-line with expectations, and the earlier release date is the more interesting detail. A Korean-language MTN report from Thursday suggests that the Galaxy lineup in 2021 is entering production much earlier than expected. Hemmerstoffer corroborates that, and indicates that the new Galaxy devices will launch in the first month of 2021.
Apple unveiled its iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro lineup in October, with the largest iPhone 12 Pro Max device due to launch in mid-November. That means that new iPhone models and Galaxy models will launch closer together than ever before.
It isn't clear why Samsung is pushing up the launch date for its new handsets, though it may be partly due to the later-than-usual launch of the iPhone 12 lineup. The South Korean phone maker could be attempting to steal some of Apple's typical market share in the post-holiday shopping season.
Credit: OnLeaks
Unlike Apple's fall iPhone launches, Samsung typically unveils new Galaxy devices in the first half of the year. The past two Galaxy S-series devices, for example, hit store shelves in March.
This year, according to prolific leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer of OnLeaks, the Galaxy flagships are set to debut in January 2021. Hemmerstoffer also published CAD renders of both the "Galaxy S21" and the "Galaxy S21 Ultra" on his Voice page, and also added some details about both of the Android devices.
The Galaxy S21. Credit: Steve Hemmerstoffer, OnLeaks
The standard "Galaxy S21," for example, sports a 6.2-inch OLED display with a hole-punch camera, a more uniform bezel design, and a new camera bump style. OnLeaks says the device will measure 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9mm.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra. Credit: Steve Hemmerstoffer, OnLeaks
Samsung's higher-tier "Galaxy S21 Ultra" will be larger and will feature four camera sensors in a much larger camera bump on the rear. Unlike the "Galaxy S21" flat display, Hemmerstoffer says that the Ultra model will feature a slightly curved screen. It'll measure 165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9mm, but won't have a separate compartment for an S pen stylus.
Those features are largely in-line with expectations, and the earlier release date is the more interesting detail. A Korean-language MTN report from Thursday suggests that the Galaxy lineup in 2021 is entering production much earlier than expected. Hemmerstoffer corroborates that, and indicates that the new Galaxy devices will launch in the first month of 2021.
Apple unveiled its iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro lineup in October, with the largest iPhone 12 Pro Max device due to launch in mid-November. That means that new iPhone models and Galaxy models will launch closer together than ever before.
It isn't clear why Samsung is pushing up the launch date for its new handsets, though it may be partly due to the later-than-usual launch of the iPhone 12 lineup. The South Korean phone maker could be attempting to steal some of Apple's typical market share in the post-holiday shopping season.
Comments
”Customers ignored our new lineup... quick, leak next year’s phones to find out now if anyone likes them before we go into production!”
The S series phones are typically released around MWC in Barcelona.
We still don't know if that will even go ahead and its biggest rival has an estimated 10 million new 5nm chips ready to go. That stock could be gone by January leaving Samsung to reap the rewards (potentially) but it would also need something to better the 2020 Huawei P series flagships from around the cancelled MWC this year.
It would pose a direct challenge to both Apple and Huawei. Apple probably wont have another flagship unti the end of next year and We don't know what Huawei's short term plans are.
It would make very good sense to release a product in January. There is also a more conservative case against a January release but that is just another option that would have to be weighed up.
Not the reason at all. Samsung has always preferred to release phones in January/February. They released the S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite in that time frame earlier this year and both did quite well. The problem has been Qualcomm, or more accurately TSMC. TSMC can't make the Apple Ax and Qualcomm Snapdragon chips at the same time because of capacity constraints, meaning that the Qualcomm chips have to wait. This year, however, TSMC also has to make PC chips for Apple, AMD and Intel. So TSMC told Qualcomm that they would either have to pay a premium to jump ahead of AMD and Intel or wait even longer. This allowed Samsung to offer to make the Snapdragon 875 and 750 for Qualcomm cheaper and faster than TSMC was able to. Qualcomm had little choice but to accept. Not having to wait on the Apple chips to be done and being able to source the components from their own foundries allowed Samsung to be able to make the S21 much faster. Samsung actually could have launched the S21 in December 2020 and briefly considered it but decided to wait a month.
Going forward, it is going to be curious whether Qualcomm goes back to TSMC or sticks with Samsung. If the former happens, that would allow Samsung to make major shifts to their release schedule.
Why would it be relevant that it won't have a separate compartment for an S pen stylus? The Note series has S Pen's, not the S series. It's like saying the iPhone Pro Max won't have a separate compartment for an Apple pencil stylus.
I'm guessing M. Peterson may have been referencing the rumored S Pen support for the S series, but with no mention of that possibility in the article it's just a random tidbit that has no reason for being.
So the S21 will have the Qualcomm 875 made by Samsung for North America and the 5 nm Exynos 2100 for everyone else. Both the 875 and the 2100 are going to do the 1-3-4 thing: 1 Cortex X1 super core, 3 Cortex-A78 cores, and 4 Cortex-A55 cores. Also, both are going to integrate the X60 5G modem. Further, the 875 is rumored to have minimal Qualcomm customization due to the need to adopt the Cortex X1, and Samsung paid ARM to help them design the Exynos 2100. Because of this, rumor states that the Snapdragon and Exynos chips are going to perform similarly again.
So when you add that to the Google-Samsung CPU that will be released in 2021 and Qualcomm entering the smartphone market with their own branded device (made with assistance by Asus) and next year may be pretty interesting. If Samsung is able to retain Qualcomm's business, the shift to releasing the S21 in January may be permanent.
Only Huawei knows how many S21 killers it can bring to market but the Mate 40 series will be announced this Thursday and rumours say China alone might be able to swallow most of the range - whole. Is it unreasonable to think that Samsung might step right in as Huawei literally runs out of processors? Not at all.
The question is if Huawei will really run out of those phones or not by January. That depends on Huawei and market forces but timing will be key here as Samsung would be the sole major player with something new in the rumoured timeframe. The other major Chinese brands will probably wait for the traditional MWC window (whether that event actually happens or not). Most of them are dependant on Qualcomm chipsets and unlikely to get them before Samsung.