The Samsung Galaxy S21 is almost official, and the company is hosting its own event today to unveil its rumored handsets alongside a variety of other gadgets.
Leaks and rumors heavily suggest the Samsung Galaxy S21 is paired with a Galaxy S21 Plus and a Galaxy S21 Ultra handset. Other sources have also suggested we’ll be hearing about the Samsung Galaxy SmartTags and Galaxy Buds Pro headphones.
The keynote starts at 10am EST / 7am PST / 3pm GMT (or Friday, January 15 at 3am AEDT). This year it’s a virtual event, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but you can tune in live and we’ve put together this live blog to give you all the latest information as it happens.
Samsung Galaxy S21 launch live blog
All times in Pacific Standard Time (PST)
7:08am: When designing the Galaxy Buds Pro, Samsung was inspired by speakers, being influenced by the woofer and tweeter design. Funny thing is, we’re listening to this live stream to live blog the event (no in-person attendance) and Samsung is uses the stereo speakers to simulate moving on-screen subjects using the left and right channels of my (non-Samsung) headset.
7:06am: The Buds Pro come in a violet color and have a rounded case. Samsung calls this its “Most immersive sound experience”. Intelligent Active Noise Canceling confirmed, so this is Samsung’s way of competing with Apple’s AirPods Pro. “The goal is sound experience. Period.”
7:04am: Samsung says it’ll introduce “Groundbreaking ways to personalize your devices.” First up? The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro – yet another pair of earbuds. These aren’t shaped like little beans like the last pair (the Buds Live).
7:00am – The Samsung Galaxy S21 live blog is officially on, and we’re ready for the first announcements. Of course, it begins with a recap of how Samsung is helping change the world through its technology. “Samsung gives freedom to live life without borders, without boundaries…” From this video, you’d think Samsung has the best, most enjoy software ecosystem. It is getting better, we’ll say that.
06:50am – Right, couple of minutes left to go. What are you most excited to see? It’s highly likely you’re here to learn about new phones, and we’re hoping Samsung has some surprises up its collective sleeve.
After all, 2020 did see Samsung unveil the Galaxy Z Flip in a surprise move at the end of its Galaxy S20 launch. Could we see a similar move this year? Perhaps it’ll be the Galaxy Z Flip 3, or maybe something totally different.
06:40 – Time to grab yourself a drink and get prepared to watch Samsung’s big launch, or at least follow along here with exactly what is happening directly at Unpacked. If you do want to watch, you’ll find a live stream below:
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06:26 – Olivia Tambini, Audio and Music Editor for TechRadar, says “The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro have been rumored for a while now, and we’ve seen a few leaks that suggest they could be the brand’s best wireless earbuds yet. Those rumors include support for Dolby Atmos and active noise cancellation, putting them in direct competition with the Apple AirPods Pro.
“We’ve also heard that the new buds will come with AKG-tuned audio, a longer battery life than their predecessors, support for Bluetooth 5.1, and USB-C charging. Those specs all certainly sound promising, but Samsung has a somewhat mixed history when it comes to audio devices, so we’ll have to wait and see what the company pulls out the bag later today.”
05:45 – What is the most exciting element of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra camera? Mark Wilson, Camera’s Editor for TechRadar, says “I’m particularly excited about the rumors of dual telephoto cameras for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. We’ve seen similar setups on the Huawei Mate 40 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra, but neither of those phones have been widely available – and Samsung’s bound to sprinkle some extra software stardust on that camera hardware.
“Last year, the S20 Ultra launch was all about resolution, but for me optical zoom (rather than ‘Space Zoom’) is the most exciting thing in smartphone photography right now. So the S21 Ultra could be a big moment for camera phones.”
04:55 – We’re going to take a quick look at the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and the rumors we’ve seen so far. As Samsung did in 2020, we’re expecting the Galaxy S21 Ultra to be the company’s top-end handset.
The rumors so far suggest you’ll even be able to use an S Pen stylus on the phone’s display, which until now has been an exclusive feature to the Galaxy Note series of smartphones.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra was a solid smartphone, but it was remarkably expensive. The rumors suggest the Galaxy S21 Ultra will be a touch cheaper, but it still looks expensive with that price leak we saw today suggesting it’ll be £1,200 in the UK. It’s not long until we know for certain though as we hope to hear about prices alongside specs and features at Samsung’s big event.
03:50 – So what else can we expect today alongside the new smartphones? Samsung is likely to reveal its new Galaxy Buds Pro headphones that have leaked multiple times from a variety of different sources.
We’ve also seen lots of rumors about Samsung making its own rival to Tile trackers that you can attach to your car keys and other belongings so you can track them down when you can’t find them.
They’re rumored to be called Samsung Galaxy SmartTags, and if you press on that link you’ll find everything we know about them so far ahead of the launch.
02:55 – Leaks of the Samsung Galaxy S21 don’t stop just because it’s launch day. Even Samsung has leaked the products itself today with the company posting a press release on one of its websites.
You can read about the three final big Samsung Galaxy S21 leaks here.
02:12 – Want to watch Samsung’s big launch as it happens? You can do so, and the good news is that it’s easy to tune into the event this year. It’s being hosted on YouTube below:
01:44 – Launch day is almost always the most exciting day for leaks. One of the few things we hadn’t heard for the Samsung Galaxy S21 series – the UK price – has now leaked ahead of the big launch.
What do you think about the pricing below? If this leak is correct, that means the Galaxy S21 will be much cheaper than the Galaxy S20. It’s a similar situation through the entire series of devices, actually.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Price List for the UK 🇬🇧 (Don’t Convert)Galaxy S21:128GB- £769256GB- £819Galaxy S21+ /Plus:128GB- £949256GB- £999Galaxy S21 Ultra:128GB- £1,149256GB- £1,199Galaxy Buds Pro: £219Galaxy SmartTag: £29Do you guys like these prices? #SamsungUnpacked pic.twitter.com/3ZHOLmep93January 14, 2021
01:30 – The Samsung Galaxy S21 isn’t the only phone Samsung will have unveiled this week; it also has a brand new cheap phone called the Samsung A32 5G. It arrived on Wednesday, January 13, just before the big launch event day.
Will it be for you? The specs aren’t as impressive as what we’re expecting for the S21 series, but it’s also likely to be much cheaper. It features a MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset, starts with 4GB of RAM, and there’s a 6.5-inch 720p display.
01:02 – It’s Samsung Galaxy S21 reveal day, and welcome to the start of our coverage for the big event. Leaks suggest we’ve got a lot to see from Samsung, which only just unveiled a whole bunch of new technology and gadgets at CES 2021.
Now it’s the mobile division of the company’s turn with the Galaxy S21 series set to be unveiled at 10am EST / 7am PST / 3pm GMT (that’s 3am AEDT on Friday for those in Australia).
Stay with us here throughout the day while we run you through all the last minute rumors as they come in, and when the event officially starts we’ll be talking you through everything here.
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