Just when we were starting to get properly excited about the Samsung Galaxy S21, with reports of advanced new components and camera systems on the cards, comes news that the 2021 Samsung flagship might not be as special as we thought it would be.
Previously, the lion's share of leaks had suggested Samsung was planning something very special indeed with its next flagship Android phone, with only an outlying rumour out of China indicating that is was, in fact, going to be something of an anti-climax.
According to that report, due to spiralling costs and meagre performance gains in Qualcomm's next flagship system on a chip, the Snapdragon 875, the South Korean phone maker was reportedly thinking of sticking with this year's Snapdragon 865 for its Galaxy S21.
That would mean that, at least in terms of processor performance, there would basically be no difference between the S21 and this year's S20. Which, for a flagship, isn't exactly something that will endear people to upgrade.
Well, now, that idea that the S21 (also referred to right now in some reports as the S21) isn't going to be much of an upgrade seems to have just had some weight thrown behind it, as a fresh leak from tech tipster Chun/@Boby25846908 states that:
As of now, seems like S21 next year won't have a significant upgrade like the S20. It's more like S20.5, S20s or S20TAugust 11, 2020
"Seems like S21 next year won't have an significant upgrade like the S20. It's more like S20.5, S20s or S20T", stands out clearly, and is worrying to say the least.
The S-series has always been a shining beacon of Android phone awesomeness, with each year delivering a new benchmark for rival phone makers to match or better. But if this leak is true, that means that beacon will have just got noticeably dimmer.
What is also very disconcerting is that Apple's incoming iPhone 12 has been reported to be setting new benchmarks in terms of processor performance thanks to its state-of-the-art A14 Bionic system-on-a-chip, so by not upgrading its handset's processor next year, Samsung's S-series flagship would fall even further behind.
A lack-luster S21 would, arguably, also see Samsung phone users' heads been turned toward rival 2021 flagships such as the Huawei P50 and OnePlus 9, which leaks so far indicate are both going to sport new, upgraded processors.
Hopefully this leak proves to be false, as here at T3 we absolutely love the Samsung Galaxy S-series of phones and have been blown away every year by the awesome phone experience it delivers, something evidenced most recently by us awarding the Samsung Galaxy S20 the Best 5G Phone award at the T3 Awards 2020.
What will the Samsung Galaxy S21 look like? This concept video gives us our best idea yet:
