There have been rumors swirling that the Samsung Galaxy S21 series of smartphones will get support for S Pens, Samsung’s styli it uses on the Galaxy Note series.
Depending on how you interpret a new quote from the head of Samsung mobile, TM Roh, the company may have just confirmed the feature.
In a vaguely-worded Samsung newsroom post speculating on 2021, Roh wrote “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.”. That seems nonspecific, but when you think about it, it really seems like a tease for the Galaxy S21.
Firstly, what’s the “favorite aspect of the Galaxy Note experience”? It’s hard to imagine that’s anything other than the use of the S Pen, as that’s the only real feature that sets the Note phones apart from the company’s other ranges.
The phrase “other devices in our lineup” is why we can’t out-and-out say Samsung ‘confirmed’ the S Pen is coming to the Galaxy S21 series, as the company didn’t specify it outright.
There’s enough ambiguity there to suggest Roh could be referring to the Galaxy Z Flip or Z Fold line, though the plural ‘devices’ implies it could be multiple phone series.
Another interesting morsel of information in the blog post is that Roh states “we’ll be expanding our portfolio of foldables” implying the company could launch a third line of the bending device, alongside the Flip and Fold.
Is this what the Samsung Galaxy S21 looks like?
Around the same time Roh was penning his letter, well known leaker @evleaks posted a leaked render of the front of the phone – this would likely be the kind of shot that’s used in store listings for the phone.
This is a real Galaxy S21, the bezel on both sides is larger than S20, but the chin is smaller than S20via @evleaks pic.twitter.com/5LyFpWeiAEDecember 16, 2020
Evleaks posted the image to their personal Voice, but retweeted it when another leaker posted it, so you can see the image above.
If you didn’t know better, it’d be easy to think this was a snap of the Samsung Galaxy S20 because by all accounts the new phones are set to look really similar to their predecessors.
The front-facing camera is in the same spot, the volume rocker and power button haven’t moved, and if the bezels and chin are different sizes, it’s hard to tell without having an S20 to compare it to.
This is just one of the many Samsung Galaxy S21 leaks we’ve seen so far – they’re coming thick and fast – but the two pieces of information today help us get ready for the rumored early-January launch.