Purported Samsung Galaxy S21 spec sheet reveals some surprising downgrades

Samsung is expected to release the Galaxy S21 series as early as January next year and now we get some interesting details for the next flagship trio. The folks at Android Police have published what is said to be exclusive information on the specs of the new Galaxy smartphone which claims to be confirmed through multiple sources.

Similar to the current S20, there will be three models which is expected to be called the S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra. The screen size for the S21 and S21+ remains unchanged at 6.2″ and 6.7″ respectively, while the Ultra’s screen is reduced slightly from 6.9″ to 6.8″.

Across the board, you get 120Hz screen refresh rate as standard, but disappointingly, the lower S21 and S21+ settles for a lower resolution Full HD+ panel. This is a significant downgrade from the current S20 series which offers Quad HD+ resolution across the range, except for the S20 FE. At least, the S21 and S21+ are still better than the current Note 20 (non-Ultra) which pushes a Full HD+ resolution with a standard 60Hz refresh rate.

Only the top of the line S21 Ultra offers a higher Quad HD+ resolution and it’s the only device among the trio to get an adaptive refresh rate which can switch from 1Hz to 120Hz. Hopefully, this time, it can push 120Hz at its highest resolution.

What’s impressive is that the S21 Ultra is said to offer a higher 3,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a maximum peak brightness of 1,600 nits. That’s 200 nits higher than the current S20 Ultra. It’s just a pity that Samsung is not delivering the same display tech across the range like its previous generation.

The speculation that the S21 Ultra will support an S Pen appears to have been confirmed by Android Police’s sources. Unlike the Note series, the S Pen will not be included in the same box and there’s no silo for you to store the stylus. It is likely that Samsung will offer special cases that come with a slot to keep the S Pen.

In terms of processor, the S21 is likely offered with either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 or Samsung’s very own Exynos 2100. Samsung could do a better job for the next release as the next flagship Exynos is expected to be better or at least on par with Qualcomm’s new flagship chip.

In terms of cameras, the Ultra will offer a more sophisticated quad-camera setup with a 108MP main, 12MP ultra-wide and two 10MP cameras for telephoto. According to the source, the telephoto cameras offer 3X and 10X optical zoom and Samsung will bring back its 100X Space Zoom that was first introduced on the current S20 Ultra.

Meanwhile, the two lower spec models use 12MP sensors for both main and ultra-wide-angle shooters, while the telephoto unit gets a higher-resolution 64MP camera. In terms of battery, the base S21 and largest S21 Ultra models will retain the same capacity as its predecessors, however, the middle S21+ is listed with a larger 4,800mAh unit.

Android Police also claims to have seen official press renders for the new devices but they can’t publish it in order to protect their sources. To get an idea of what the S21 could look like, you can check out the high quality CAD renders from OnLeaks.

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