As expected, the Samsung Galaxy S21 series is the first major global launch of the year. Simultaneously unveiled in India today, they officially kick off the 2021 flagship smartphone season.
With a mid-January release, the new S series flagships are here an entire month earlier than usual, presumably done to establish a lead over the competition. This time, Samsung has three smartphones in the Galaxy S21 family — the S21, the S21 Plus and the S21 Ultra, along with the Galaxy Buds Pro earphones and the SmartTag location trackers. Here’s everything you need to know about them, along with Indian pricing and availability.
Along with the new 5nm Exynos 2100 chipset across the board, the phones also run on One UI 3.0 atop Android 11 out-of-the-box. Talking about the box, a charging adapter will not be included, but Samsung claims that it will be available at a lower price to whoever wants one.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro
The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro offer improved active noise cancellation compared to the last generation. On the inside, there are 11mm bass drivers and 6.5mm tweeters with dual coaxial speakers. You also get 3 mics and a dedicated pick-up unit. The new active noise cancellation implementation can cancel out external noise by up to 99%. There is also an ambient sound mode which allows environmental noise to pass through the buds so that you stay aware of your surroundings.
Each earbud pack in a 61mAh battery unit while the case is powered by a 472mAh unit. Samsung claims the Buds Pro can last up to 5 hours with ANC turned on and up to 8 hours with ANC turned off. With the case, the Buds Pro can get you three additional charge cycles. A quick 5-minute charge will get 1 hour of music playback. They are also IP78 rated for dust and water resistance. It harnesses Bluetooth 5.0 and supports AAC and SBC codecs.
Samsung Galaxy S21
The smallest and cheapest phone of the trio, the Samsung Galaxy S21 sports a flat 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED display with a Full HD+ resolution and adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. There’s a 10MP punch-hole selfie camera too. It opts for a glasstic back to achieve a weight of just 170 grams. The entire package is also IP68 water-resistant.
There’s a triple camera setup on the back with a 12MP f/1.8 primary camera, a 12MP ultra-wide shooter with a 120-degree field-of-view and an optically-stabilized 64MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. The S21 battery is rated at 4,000mAh battery.
Colour options include Phantom Pink and Phantom Violet.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
Sitting in the middle of the new series, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus offers a similar but bigger experience than its non-Plus sibling. The display now spans 6.7-inches diagonally, with the same 2400 x 1080 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. It weighs 200 grams but is only 7.8mm thick.
It carries the same camera system as the S21 with three sensors at different focal lengths on the back and one on the front. It can shoot 8K video as well as zoom as far as 30x digitally. It also gets a much bigger 4,800mAh battery with support for faster wired and wireless charging.
It will be available in Phantom White and Phantom Grey colourways.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the new top-of-the-line flagship from the Korean brand, offering a large curved 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen with a QHD+ resolution (3200x1440), and a refresh rate that goes up to 120Hz. It is also capable of HDR10+ certified, 1,500nits of peak brightness and is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus.
It also gets an entirely new camera system with an improved 108MP primary image sensor and f/1.8 aperture and 0.8μm pixel size (before pixel binning), along with a 12MP ultra-wide lens, a 10MP short telephoto lens with 3x magnification, a longer 10MP f/4.9 10x telephoto camera that can zoom up to 100x. The front camera also gets a higher resolution 40MP resolution.
Other features include a 5,000mAh battery, IP68 rating, 4K60 recording across all cameras, and most of all, S-Pen support (for the first time on an S series flagship).
Phantom Black and Phantom Silver finishes will be available.
Price in India and availability
| Model | Configuration | Price |
|---|---|---|
| S21 | 8GB + 128GB | Rs 69,999 |
| Row 1 - Cell 0 | 8GB + 256GB | Rs 73,999 |
| S21 Plus | 8GB + 128GB | Rs 81,999 |
| Row 3 - Cell 0 | 8GB + 256GB | Rs 85,999 |
| S21 Ultra | 12GB + 256GB | Rs 1,05,999 |
| Row 5 - Cell 0 | 16GB + 512GB | Rs 1,16,999 |
| Galaxy Buds Pro | - | Rs 15,990 |
The Samsung Galaxy S21 starts at Rs 69,999 while the larger S21 Plus is priced at Rs 81,999. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra price in India is Rs 1,05,999. HDFC Bank customers will be eligible for a cashback of up to Rs 10,000.
Pre-orders open on January 15 with shipping slated for January 25, with open sales starting on January 29. All pre-orders will get a free Samsung Galaxy SmartTag and a Rs 10,000 voucher that can be redeemed on the Samsung eShop and can be redeemed on the Galaxy Watch Active 2 or the Galaxy Buds Plus and travel adapter combo.
Along with Flipkart and Amazon, the phones will also be available at Samsung's retail partners across the country.
- Protect your Samsung devices with these cases for Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra
