Samsung has finally taken covers off its latest Galaxy S21 series of smartphones. The smartphones feature an all-new design, upgraded internals, improved cameras, and a lot more.
Samsung, usually, launches its smartphone in late-February or early-March, but this time the company has introduced its flagship almost five weeks early. Samsung’s Galaxy S20 series didn’t really do well, with not only COVID-19 hindering its sales but also cause of the software and performance issues of the device. With Apple and OnePlus doing really well with their flagships, Samsung was bound to make a strong response. And this time, it’s even earlier.
Samsung Galaxy S21 series consists of three smartphones the Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra. The smartphones are a breath of fresh air, with their new design, faster (at least on paper) chip, improved cameras, and a lot more.
Display and Build
With the Galaxy S21, Samsung has introduced a new design. The camera bump looks a little less awkward now, with the bump melting into the side of the frame. The phone has a high-quality matt finish on the back and speaks of luxury overall. The displays on the three models are 6.2-inch for the normal S21, 6.7-inch for S21+, and a huge 6.8-inch display for S21 Ultra. All three models are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and back. It’s the same glass used on Samsung’s last Note — Galaxy Note 20.
All the variants feature the 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. Samsung says that the adaptive refresh rate kicks in based on the content display on the screen. The screen pushed to the maximum refresh rate when you’re, say scrolling, but comes down to only 48Hz when you’re typing for example.
Samsung has finally enabled the 120Hz refresh rate on WQHD + display, but this is limited only to Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra for now. Presumably due to the smaller battery size on the normal and Plus variant. Another thing that’s exclusive to the Ultra is the support for S Pen.
Internals
Samsung Galaxy S21 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, or the Exynos 2100 (depending upon the region you buy it in). Both the processor are based on a 5nm-node process, just like the A14 Bionic found on Apple’s iPhone 12 series. Though both the processors aren’t as fast as A14 Bionic, both offer great CPU and GPU speeds and are expected to breeze through any task you throw at them.
Exynos 2100 is an octa-core chipset with one Cortex X-1 core clocked at 2.9GHz, three A78 cores, and four power-efficient A55 cores. On the GPU side of things, Samsung has added a 14-core GPU to Exynos 2100 making it one of the powerful mobile chipsets. And for the folks looking for ML cores, the Exynos 2100 has a tri-core NPU architecture which has a clock speed of up to 26 TOPS.
There’s a 4000 mAh battery inside the base variant of S21, a 4800 mAh battery inside the S21+, and a whopping 5000 mAh battery inside the S21 Ultra. The flagship smartphones have a minimum of 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The Galaxy S21 and S21+ have a maximum of 12GB of RAM, while it tops at 16GB for S21 Ultra. 256GB will be available for all the variants, while 512GB stays exclusive to the Ultra. There’s no MicroSD card support though. The phones have an integrated 5G modem, with support for both mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G networks. The smartphone also boasts support for WiFi 6 and has an ultra-wideband (UWB) chip inside.
Camera
There’s no such upgrade to the sensors as such for S21 and S21+. Samsung is relying on the improvements it has made to the software, and the ISP of Exynos 2100 to show results. On the S21 Ultra, Samsung has stuck to the same 108MP wide-angle lens. S21 Ultra is the world’s first smartphone to feature two periscope telephoto lens, both with different zoom levels. Samsung says the sensors combine 3x and 10x images for razor-sharp images.
Samsung Does a Samsung, Again
After mocking Apple for removing the charging brick from the box of iPhone, Samsung has also decided to take away the charging brick from the box of its S21 series. The new smartphones don’t ship with a charging brick, and the buyers will have to purchase one separately. The phones support 25W fast wired charging, with the Ultra pushing it to 45W. There’s also 15W wireless charging support.
Pricing and Availability
Samsung Galaxy S21 series will be available for pre-order today, with the deliveries starting in two weeks. It will be available in-stores as well as online from 29th January 2021. Samsung is bundling the Galaxy Buds Pro, as well as an Apple AirTags like Galaxy SmartTag with all the pre-orders. The base variant of the Samsung Galaxy S21 starts at $799, while the mid-tier S21+ comes at a price of $999. The S21 Ultra 5G starts at $1,199 for the 12GB RAM, 128GB internal storage variant with the top variant maxing at $1429.
Our Take
With the Galaxy S21, Samsung’s showing some seriousness with its flagship. Buyers around the world (except for the markets like the United States and Korea) have been complaining about the sluggishness and the stutters Samsung’s flagship start to show up after some time due to the presence of its inferior Exynos chips. Samsung has fixed that with the Exynos 2100, with the chipset showing good results, at least on paper.
What are your thoughts on Samsung Galaxy S21? What’s your favorite feature of the flagship? Do you think Samsung’s going to hit the ball out of the park this time, or is it going to be the same story all over again? Do let us know in the comment section below!
