14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung is preparing some pretty big announcements in 2021, but up to this point, the company has remained completely tight-lipped on everything, despite so much information surfacing through unofficial channels lately.
TM Roh, Samsung's President of Mobile, has posted a cryptic message on the company’s website, and despite the executive not sharing a lot of information about what’s to come in 2021, the text includes lots of hints about what’s to come.
First of all, it looks like Samsung is indeed planning big changes concerning the Galaxy Note lineup.
People familiar with the matter said the Note series could be discontinued rather sooner than later, and one step in this regard is bringing the S Pen to the Galaxy S range. In other words, Samsung wants to add stylus support to the Galaxy S, essentially making the Note more or less redundant, after which the Note as a whole should be ditched.
This is supposed to happen next year, people close to the matter said, as the Galaxy S21 Ultra is likely to come with S Pen support.
Samsung hasn’t commented on this plan until now, with Roh finally dropping some hints in his post.
“We’ve also been paying attention to people’s favorite aspects of the Galaxy Note experience and are excited to add some of its most well-loved features to other devices in our lineup,” Roh said (emphasis is ours).
In other words, the S Pen is coming to the Galaxy S21, and it’s all but confirmed now.
As for when the whole thing is supposed to happen, there’s a good chance the S21 would be unveiled earlier than usual, with the rumor mill speculating January could be the month to witness the debut of the smartphone. This is approximately one month earlier than usual, as Samsung wants to address the slow demand for the Galaxy S20 and bring an iPhone competitor to the market as soon as possible.
And while Samsung has never confirmed the January release date, Roh dropped a hint this is indeed the timing the company has in mind for its next flagship.
“Thank you to everyone who supported us in 2020. I look forward to sharing more in January!” he said (again, the emphasis is ours).
One ambitious project that Samsung has teased today concerns the foldable smartphones, with the South Koreans planning to bring these devices to the market at lower price points. In other words, Samsung is working on a more affordable foldable device, and this one could be announced as soon as the next year, though no other specifics have already been disclosed.
“True to our heritage of staying ahead of the curve with trailblazing mobile tech, we’ll be expanding our portfolio of foldables, so this groundbreaking category is more accessible to everyone. And while we’re already known for our revolutionary cameras, we’ll never stop trying to outdo ourselves — so be on the lookout for super-intelligent, pro-grade camera and video capabilities in 2021,” Roh said.
At this point, the Galaxy S21 is the next Samsung flagship to see daylight, while foldable devices and the Galaxy Note21 (possibly the last Note in history) are expected in the summer.
Samsung hasn’t confirmed all timing details for these smartphones, but it’s pretty clear a big announcement is coming in January anyway. If this is indeed true, then we should expect more information to surface in the next few weeks, with Samsung likely to publish more teasers and details about its first Unpacked event of the year.