Highlights
- Samsung's Galaxy S21 could come with a plastic back despite its premium price.
- Galaxy S21 is tipped to feature a triple camera set-up at the back.
- The Galaxy S21 series in India is likely to get the Exynos 2100 chipset.
Depending on the rumour of your choice, the launch of Samsung's next flagship, the Galaxy S21 series is barely a few weeks away. Rumoured to go official in January, the Galaxy S21 series is tipped to bring three new phones with itself. Of these, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is expected to be the most premium with top-of-the-line specifications and a design to match.
The other two phones in the list, the Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus are tipped to be premium segment offerings themselves, however, if reports are to be believed, they would be premium only in name and price, and not in specifications and design. This is especially looking true for the regular Galaxy S21 which according to reports will feature slightly underwhelming hardware and pair that with a design that could be made from materials not exactly premium in definition.
This is because a new report from Android Police claims that the Galaxy S21 will come with a plastic back, with the Galaxy S21 Ultra set to be the only device to get premium materials for its design. There is no word about the Galaxy S21 Plus yet, but it has been suggested this third device could be relegated to getting plastic at the back.
The report suggests that the decision to go with plastic, instead of more premium ones like glass or ceramic on the high-end Galaxy S21 is because of Samsung's learnings of the consumer response to its glass-like plastic material, glasstic. The report adds that Samsung has found the consumer response to be more positive than the company expected. However, we're not entirely sure if that's a good enough justification for using cheap materials on an expensive device which will eventually be sold as a premium-segment flagship.
The new report also confirms the colours that the phones will be available in, with the report claiming that the Galaxy S21 will come in Phantom Violet, Phantom Gray, Phantom White, and Phantom Pink. The more expensive Galaxy S21 Plus will be available in Phantom Silver, Phantom Black, and Phantom Violet, while the top-of-the-line Galaxy S21 Ultra will only come in Phantom Silver and Phantom Black.
Samsung Galaxy S21 series: Specifications
In line with the previous leaks, the new AndroidPolice report also claims that the phone will pack either a Snapdragon 875 or the Exynos 2100 SoC depending on the region of purchase. Interestingly, it is claimed that the Exynos 2100 could actually be "on-par or better than the Snapdragon 875" chipset. However, for now, we recommend taking such claims with a pinch of salt as we're yet to see an Exynos chip which can equal, let alone better the performance of a latest-gen flagship Snapdragon chipset.
The other big highlight of the Galaxy S21 series will be the display, with the report claiming that both the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 Plus will feature 6.2-inch and 6.7-inch FHD+ 120hz displays respectively, while their elder sibling, the Galaxy S21 Ultra will get the advanced adaptive refresh LTPO panel which will be 6.8-inches in size. This will also offer support for higher WQHD resolution and refresh rate of 1hz to 120hz.
Another point of slight disappointment with the phones is the fact that the camera set-ups on the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 Plus are reported to be exactly the same as the Galaxy S20 phones. This is because the Galaxy S21 is said to feature a 12-megapixel main sensor sat next to a 64-megapixel telephoto and 12-megapixel ultrawide lens. However, these year-old cameras are being reported to be supplemented by new features to freshen up the user experience a little.