Leak Shows Off Samsung’s Redesigned Galaxy S21 Family
All the rumors point to an early 2021 announcement for Samsung’s next-generation Galaxy S21 family. With the announcement possibly just a month away, there’s no doubt things will leak. And sure enough, there are some juicy details about Samsung’s next-generation flagship phones today. Based on some new teaser videos, you can look forward to a whole bunch of cameras.
The leak includes a handful of demo videos that show the redesigned camera modules with contrasting colors. The smallest of the phones, the Galaxy S21 5G is shown below in “Phantom Purple” with gold accents. The shape of that camera module is carried through all members of the S21 family. There’s also a hole-punch front-facing camera in the same style as the S20 family.
According to the leak, the S21 (above) will have a 12MP main sensor, 12MP ultrawide, and 64MP telephoto. That 64MP telephoto might actually be sensor-cropped to 2x or 4x like the S20. That’s not optical zoom, but the high-resolution sensor is necessary for 8K video recording.
The S21+ (see below) will be a slightly larger version of the same phone — that means a bigger screen and battery. The teaser video looks almost identical, and the camera setup should be the same.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is where things get interesting. This phone will be the largest of the three, of course, and it’ll have a fourth camera module. We’re expecting a 108MP main sensor, 12MP ultrawide, and a 10x periscope telephoto camera — that’s a big boost compared with the 4x periscope in the S20 Ultra. The fourth camera is another telephoto, but this time at 3x for shots that are a bit less zoomed. This gives the phone four different focal lengths to use, depending on the photo you want to take. The S21 Ultra also has a laser autofocus sensor, which will address the autofocus issues from the S20 Ultra.
We expect the unveiling to happen on January 14th, and retail availability will be just a few weeks later at the end of January. The phones will all run on the just-announced Snapdragon 888 5G chip, a new generation of OLED tech, and Samsung’s customary superb build quality. These won’t be cheap phones, but Samsung might back away from the $1,400 price tag from last year’s S20 Ultra. It went down to $1,300 for the Note20 Ultra.
Continue reading
Third-Party Repair Shops May Be Blocked From Servicing iPhone 12 Camera
According to a recent iFixit report, Apple's hostility to the right of repair has hit new heights with the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.
Space Mining Gets 400 Percent Boost From Bacteria, ISS Experiments Show
We'll need lots of raw materials to sustain human endeavors on other planets, and a new project on the International Space Station demonstrates how we can make space mining over 400 percent more efficient.
Benchmark Results Show Apple M1 Beating Every Intel-Powered MacBook Pro
Apple's new M1 SoC can beat every single Intel system it sells, at least in one early benchmark result. We dig into the numbers and the likely competitive situation.
Massive ‘Kilonova’ Explosion Shows First Observed Birth of a Magnetar
We've never seen a magnetar come into being, but a new high-energy event several billion light years away might be the first — a kilonova that signals the merging of two neutron stars.