When the cat’s away the mice will play, or at least throw a Galaxy S21 party. Not that we are equating the world’s largest phone maker with a mouse, but that title was recently conquered by Huawei, only to see it slip away when US sanctions began to bite.
Still, Samsung is apparently planning to capitalize on Huawei’s troubles as much as possible, reports Korean media The Elec today, and is gearing up for an early Galaxy S21 and Buds 2 release date.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Buds 2 launch
- Galaxy S21 release date: February 5, 2021
How early exactly? Well, “Galaxy S21 smartphones will likely start official sales a month sooner than its predecessors,” claim the report’s sources, which would put the Galaxy S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra release date in early February, with Unpacked event scheduled for late January.
The Galaxy S20 series was announced in February and went on sale March, but in 2021 the Galaxy S21 will do the skits in the January/February timeframe, it seems. Given that the S20 line hit the shelves on Friday, March 6, the S21 could be released on Friday, February 5, 2021.
This prediction dovetails with what we heard yesterday from another Korean industry source, that the Galaxy S21 part suppliers will start shipping components to Samsung way earlier than usual. The Elec’s report confirms this, and pegs mid-December as the supplier production start and shipping plans en masse, instead of mid-January as was the schedule for the S20 models.
Why is the Galaxy S21 series being released early? Well, there is a new Samsung Mobile chief, who already shattered the established schedule by outing an S20 Fan Edition with a dedicated Unpacked event, something unseen for a $700 Samsung phone so far, and also held a third for the Z Fold 2 back in September.
He is apparently accelerating the S21 development, production and launch process as well “to take advantage of Huawei’s absence, people familiar with the matter said.” Huawei will be having trouble procuring the latest and greatest processor chips now because of US sanctions, even the fruits of its own research, as the sanctions are also on the foundries, so Samsung could try and carve as much of a market share from Huawei as possible while the Chinese juggernaut figures it out.
Moreover, Apple’s iPhone 12 supercycle will go deep into Q4 this year, and perhaps even Q1, given that the iPhone 12 Pro Max will be released as far out as November 13, ditto for the other interesting iPhone this year, the 12 mini. Thus, if it releases the Galaxy S21 in early Q1, Samsung will both capitalize on Huawei’s presumed absence in the 2021 flagship realm, and counter the iPhone 12 series sales somewhat.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Buds 2 colors at launch
- Galaxy S21 colors: White, Gray, Pink, Violet, and Silver
- Galaxy Buds 2 colors: Black, Silver, Violet
Another interesting leak in the early Galaxy S21 series release report is the colors that will be. For comparison, the S20 series come in Cosmic Gray, Cosmic Black, Cloud Blue and Cloud Pink (Aura Red or Cloud White are special editions), depending on the model.
Samsung will apparently release the Galaxy Buds 2 together with the Galaxy S21 phones as well, and the big upgrade will be a new level of water resistance for those. The Galaxy Buds 2 are reportedly codenamed Attic, and will come in Black, Silver, and Violet colors.
“Samsung used the name Plus or Live because they couldn’t improve the water resistance of these,” tip insiders for this year’s Galaxy Buds+ and Buds Live bean-shaped models with active noise cancellation, but, evidently, it has figured out how to supply both ANC and a higher waterproof rating. Usually, Samsung is giving the Buds away with an S-series purchase, at least in the pre-order stage, so we hope it will do the same when the Galaxy S21, S21+ and Ultra get priced for a release in early February.
Source: Phonearena
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