Samsung Galaxy S21, Plus, Ultra 5G Philippines Price and Launch Date Guesstimates, Leaked Specs and Design

It's the start of the year again -- and as expected, in the tech world, details about the latest iteration to the renowned Samsung Galaxy S Flagship Smartphone Series are now surfacing online.

According to various insiders, the 2021 high-end Galaxy line will follow the familiar nomenclature of the Korean Giant for this category. As such, it will simply be called Samsung Galaxy S21 Series coming from S20 in 2020.

Like last year, Samsung is predicted to release three new models in the 2021 series right off the bat, including the Samsung Galaxy S21, Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus, and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, in ascending order in terms of size, power, and price.

Leaked Designs of Samsung Galaxy S21 and Samsung Galaxy S21+

Design

Based on leaked press photos of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Series, it seems that all of them will have similar sizes and footprints as their counterparts from 2020. Likewise, their faces will feature extremely thin bezels on all sides as well as a small O-notch in the upper middle part of the display.

In terms of looks, insiders say that what makes the new models largely different from the S20 Series is that they will have a metallic camera module that's reminiscent of what we see on the Galaxy Note20 Series - a rectangle with two rounded corners - instead of the S20's squircle.

As for colors, it is believed that the Galaxy S21 and S21 will be available in four colorways, namely Phantom violet, Phantom Gray, Phantom White, and Phantom Pink

The most premium variant, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra will only be out in two colors, Phantom Black and Phantom Silver.

Display

Rumors have it that Samsung Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus will flaunt 6.2-inch and 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED screens with FHD+ 2,400 x 1,080 pixels resolution, which is oddly lower than that of the S20 and S20 Plus.

On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is expected to have a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED panel with a higher QHD+ 3,200 x 1,440 pixels.

Leaked Design of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

Cameras

Numerous sources claim that Samsung Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus will feature a similar set of cameras at the back and that, on paper, the primary and secondary shooters will have specs that are largely the same as what's on the S20 and S20 Plus. The main one will have a 12 MegaPixel resolution with 1/1.76-inch sensor, f/1.8 aperture, and 26mm equivalent lens with optical stabilization. The second one has 12 MegaPixel resolution and ultra-wide angle lens for capturing scale.

It is said that the tertiary telephoto camera of the S21 and S21 Plus has lower specs compared to what you'll find on the S20 and S20 Plus. To be specific, the new models will have a 64 MegaPixel telephoto camera with a slightly smaller 1/1.76-inch sensor (versus 1/1.72-inch sensor on the 2020 counterparts), optical image stabilization, and "folded optics" enabling lossless 3x optical zoom.

Of the three Samsung Galaxy S21 Series models, the Ultra has the most powerful set of cameras, making it the best option for mobile photographers. In fact, it appears to have at least four rear shooters made up of the following: a 108MP main camera, 10 MegaPixel periscope camera enabling 10x optical zoom, 10 MegaPixel telephoto camera enabling 3x lossless zoom, and 12 MegaPixel ultra-wide-angle cam.

As for the selfie cam, the Samsung Galaxy S21 and S21+ will both have a 10 MegaPixel f/2.2 PDAF front shooter while the Galaxy S21 Ultra comes with a ultra-high-resolution 40 MegaPixel f/2.2 self-portrait snapper.

Video Recorder

All models in the Samsung Galaxy S21 Series are believed to be capable of recording 8K videos at 24 and 30fps, 4K videos at 30 and 60fps, FullHD 1080p clips at 30, 60, and 240fps, and 720p videos at up to 960fps using their rear camera set-ups. Videos also benefit from HDR10+, Stereo Sound recording, OIS and gyro-EIS.

For vloggers and Youtube content creators who prefer using their smartphone's front-camera to shoot videos, all Galaxy S21 Series models - insiders say - can shoot 4K videos at 30 and 60fps or FullHD Videos at 30fps using their selfie cam.

Internal Hardware

Insiders say that all Samsung Galaxy S21 Series models will be powered by either Exynos 2100 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 flagship level processors, which are both expected to deliver industry-leading performance across the board. The Exynos version is the one that will most likely be released in the Philippines.

As for the RAM and UFS 3.1 internal storage combo of each model, Samsung Galaxy S21 will be available in two options (8GB + 128GB and 12GB + 256GB) while Samsung Galaxy S21+ and S21 Ultra will be out in three versions (12GB + 128GB, 12GB + 256GB, and 16GB + 512GB). All phones feature a microSDXC memory expansion slot that's shared with hybrid secondary nanoSIM card slot.

Battery and Fast Charging

It's rumored that the Li-Po battery capacities of Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra are 4,500 mAh, 4,800 mAh, and 5,000 mAh, respectively. All models support 25W Wired Fast Charging via USB Power Delivery 3.0.

Connectivity

All Samsung Galaxy S21 Series models will most likely support Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, Bluetooth 5.1, 4G LTE-A, and 5G - the latest generation in mobile data connectivity. As such, we can expect all of them to be eventually offered by both Smart Communications and Globe Telecom as bundled handsets with their new 5G-enabled postpaid plans.

Official Announcement

The international tech blogging community is expecting the Samsung Galaxy S21 Series to be formally introduced at the Korean Giant's Galaxy Unpacked Event scheduled on January 14, 2021.

I've already gotten an invitation for this virtual event from Samsung Philippines' CRM. In our country, the online launch will start at 11PM on the abovementioned date. I believe that this will be a public launch, which means that all Samsung fans can watch it at the same time via the company's official social media accounts.

Samsung Mobile Philippines will most likely start getting pre-orders for the Galaxy S21 Series right after the virtual launch. Currently, prices are not yet available but I'm guessing that they should be very close to that of S20 Series from 2020. That is, more or less PHP 50,000 for the Samsung Galaxy S21, PHP 56,000 for the Samsung Galaxy S21+, and PHP 70,000 for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. These are just must guesstimates.

Like in previous years, since all information presented in this post - apart from the official Unpacked event invitation - didn't come directly from Samsung, we would all do well to take them with a grain of salt. Although - really - based on my experience, I believe most of them could actually turn out pretty accurate.