Spoiler Alert: If you are a loyal Samsung fan and want to cherish Samsung’s launch event on January 14, you should skip this article immediately. There’s everything here that you need to know about the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 Plus before you make up your mind as to whether you want it or leave it. If you seek the early insight into these S series flagships, then read on. The Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus have leaked in their entirety before the official announcement.
Thanks to a detailed report from WinFuture.de, we now know everything about the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 Plus, including the version that is likely headed to India in the coming months. The regular Galaxy S21 is expected to start at a price of Euro 849 for the base variant while the Galaxy S21 Plus could end up costing Euro 1049. All the variants are expected to support 5G this time. The S21 is said to come in Gray, White, Purple, and Pink while the Galaxy S21 Plus could come in Silver, Black, and Purple.
Galaxy S21 series leaked specifications
Let’s begin with the most important bit we consider for these phones, i.e. the chipset. The Galaxy S21 series is said to use the Snapdragon 888 chip in the US while other markets will get the Exynos 2100. The leak says that the Exynos chip is closer to this year’s Snapdragon 888 in terms of performance. The architecture of the chip is similar two, with an octa-core processor comprising of a super core and three high performance scores, with a maximum clockspeed of 2.9GHz.
Both these models will get 8GB RAM as standard while the storage will be available either in 128GB or 256GB. The phones will run on OneUI 3.0 based on Android 11. The display on the Galaxy S21 will measure 6.2-inches whereas the S21 Plus will measure 6.7-inches, both with a punch-hole cutout for the front cameras. A Dynamic AMOLED panel with a pixel resolution of 1080p and refresh rate of 120Hz will be used on both these phones. Yep, no more QHD+ resolution on the Galaxy S21 lineup. There’s Gorilla Glass Victus protection on these displays.
The cameras are mostly the same, with some minor changes. On both these phones, the main camera is using a 12-megapixel Sony IMX55 sensor with a size of 1/1.76-inches and a pixel size of 1.8 micrometer. The telephoto camera will use the same 64-megapixel sensor with the same 1/1.76-inches sensor size. Both these cameras have OIS available for stabilization. The ultra-wide camera is still the same 12-megapixel sensor with a size of 1 / 2.55-inches, 1.4 micrometers pixel edge length and an f/2.2 aperture.
The cameras rely on PDAF system and will come with hybrid optic zoom feature. In terms of videos, you can expect up to 8K videos shot at 30 fps, 4K videos at 60 fps, and 1080p videos and 240 fps. The front camera is still using the 10-megapixel sensor for selfies. The phones have a stereo speaker setup as well as IP68 water and dust resistance.
The battery capacities differ for these models. The regular Galaxy S21 comes with only a 4000mAh battery whereas the Galaxy S21 Plus will come with a 4800mAh battery. The phones are said to support up to 25W fast wired charging but this year, Samsung won’t ship the charging adapter in the box. You will still get wireless charging and reverse wireless charging on these phones.
Lastly, the design is the same what we have seen in previous Galaxy S21 leaks. However, the Galaxy S21 Plus will have a rear panel made of glass while the vanilla Galaxy S21 will only get a plastic rear panel — something similar to the last year’s Galaxy Note 20 lineup.
