We are gearing up for the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, which is expected to be announced in mid-January 2021. So far, the devices are shaping up to be quite exciting, with an improved camera on the rear facing the phones something of its own personality, although you may lose the charger out of the box. There is more in store though, as the Galaxy S21 series will also come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 in some regions, and you may see an update to the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor as well.
Galaxy S21 and Snapdragon 888
Earlier last week, Qualcomm announced the new Snapdragon 888 SoC, a top-of-the-line mobile platform that will make its way into Android flagships through 2021. The company also announced the names of 14 OEM partners that will build a smartphone with this new SoC. The Samsung name was missing from this list, but this was not entirely unexpected. Many took this omission to mean that Samsung will not be using the Snapdragon 888 in any of its smartphones in 2021 and will presumably opt for only its own flagship Exynos processor worldwide.
However, this omission isn’t very surprising if you’ve been following Qualcomm’s list in recent years. The list should not be read as a complete list of partners and products. Instead, it only names the partners who have agreed to be named and the products they have agreed to be named for. There may be other partners working with the new platform who have chosen not to appear in such future projects. So even at the Qualcomm announcement stage, Samsung (or any other OEM) could have gone either way with the Snapdragon 888.
Now, evidence has emerged that Samsung is actually packing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 into the Galaxy S21 series, at least for the US region.
FCC filing for the US Samsung Galaxy S21 (SM-G991U) confirms that it will have Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. H / T @ Cstark_27 https://t.co/aOrS4IDUvC pic.twitter.com/AjI21QSvUW
– Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) December 9, 2020
Samsung’s flagships in the US (and a few other select regions) come with a Qualcomm SoC, while the same flagship in other regions of the world comes with an Exynos SoC. In 2021, the US model is expected to be a Qualcomm phone again, while the word is still open on whether Samsung adopts Snapdragon for all other regions (considering the feedback Samsung received against its flagship chips. Exynos).
Samsung Galaxy S21 Forums
Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor
The following set of new information comes from @IceUniverse, so please treat this as a leak and not as confirmed information. According to them, the Galaxy S21 will come with an update to the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. Samsung has used its first generation of the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S10, Galaxy Note 10, Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Note 20 series. If the leak turns out to be true, this is the first sensor update since the Galaxy S10.
Also, according to them, the area of the Galaxy S21’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is 8mm x 8mm (64mm square), compared to 4mm x 9mm (36mm square), marking it as a substantial increase.
While the leak does not mention what exactly Samsung has chosen as the new sensor, but we presume it could be the Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max sensor announced last year. This is Qualcomm’s second generation sensor and it will mark a significant upgrade for Samsung from the first generation that it has used thus far.
What do you think of the Samsung Galaxy S21? Let us know in the comments below!
