Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro may be a stellar smartphone, but it must face stiff competition from the Samsung Galaxy S21. And new leaks suggest price cuts for Samsung’s next flagship, which could hurt Apple’s high-end iPhone.
Prices for the Galaxy S21 series were revealed prematurely by the Belgian mobile operator Voo, which published European price tags for the entire line. The company quickly removed the listing, but not before the Twitter user Jordan82 took some screenshots and posted them online, revealing some good news.
The starting prices for the three available models are € 849, € 1,049 and € 1,399 respectively. These versions have 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage in the Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus case, and 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage in the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Comparatively, in Belgium, the iPhone 12 Pro starts at € 899, which means that the basic Galaxy S21 is lower, as long as the prices disclosed are accurate.
This gained more credit for a report from ETNews, which noted that the starting price for the Galaxy S21 in South Korea will be 990,000 won. That’s about $ 904, which not only lowers the price of the iPhone 12 Pro in the U.S. by $ 999, but the Galaxy S20’s launch price of $ 999.
Leaked prices for Samsung Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, S21 Ultra
| Model | RAM / storage | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Galaxy S21 | 8GB / 128GB | € 849 or about $ 904 |
| Galaxy S21 Plus | 8GB / 128GB | € 1,049 or about $ 1,095 |
| Galaxy S21 Ultra | 12GB / 256GB | € 1,399 or about $ 1,399 |
Converting these prices into dollars or pounds sterling will not take into account regional price differences, so let’s compare them to Belgian prices for Galaxy S20.
The MSRP for the Galaxy S20, S20 Plus and S20 Ultra is € 999, € 1,099 euros and € 1,399, respectively. This shows that Samsung may be reducing the price of its new phones, as previous rumors claim, but only for the two cheapest models.
On the South Korean side of prices, the Galaxy S21 Plus is set to cost 1,199,000 won, which is about $ 1,095, cheaper than the $ 1,199 Galaxy S20 Plus. It is important to note that these conversions are not accurate, so we need to consider them with a pinch of salt, but they follow the previous rumors of a price drop for the Galaxy S21 Plus and S21 Plus.
The price drop makes sense given that Samsung has decreased the screen resolution and the amount of RAM between the Galaxy S20 and S21. However, users will have a powerful Snapdragon 888 processor, triple rear cameras and a 4,000 mAh or 4,800 mAh battery.
The top-of-the-line Galaxy S21 Ultra would be the only model to start with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. The S21 Ultra should also offer a sharper Quad HD screen, as well as dual telephoto lenses (3x and 10x).
A little confusing, the Flight leak for the S21 Ultra has its European price higher than the Galaxy S20 Ultra, which started at € 1,349. But South Korea’s price is set at 1,450,000 won, about $ 1,324, which is cheaper than the 1,595,000 won S20 Ultra’s price and $ 1,399.
Regional differences may be at play here, and we’ve heard other reports that the S21 Ultra will be priced higher than its predecessor, as it will have even more premium features, including support for the Galaxy Note series S Pen.
Samsung Galaxy S21 with more color options
Another leak revealed more colors for the Galaxy S21 series. These are post-launch options according to the spill Ishan Agarwal. This means that they can be colors unique to the region or potentially the colors that Samsung will reveal in the usual mini-update it does with its main phones a few months after they were released.
You can expect some of these extra color options for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Series after launch. Galaxy S21 + / S21 Plus: RedGalaxy S21 Ultra: Blue, Bronze, Titanium Of course, you never know if they end up being exclusive to the region or have a rollout based on the country. # GalaxyS21January 6, 2021
There is an extra color for the Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus, which Agarwal simply describes as “red”. The S21 Ultra has three more options: blue, bronze and titanium. The bronze sounds particularly attractive, given the beauty of the Mystic Bronze version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S21 does not come with charger
Something that the Galaxy S21 will lack, however, is a charging block in the box. Ice Universe confirmed this arguably frustrating rumor again on Twitter, apparently inspired by Apple’s recent decision to do the same with the iPhone 12 series.
Samsung will cancel the S21 series of chargers. What do you think?January 7, 2021
There are some convincing arguments for discarding the charger. Making more chargers is bad for the environment, especially when many users already have a functional charger at home. It also makes phones a little cheaper to sell, with the Galaxy S21’s missing pad perhaps being the reason for the Galaxy S20’s small price cut.
The downside of this approach is that users can feel that they are being cheated on a standard and crucial piece of a new smartphone package. In addition, although users may already have some compatible chargers, they may not be able to provide the specific power to quickly charge the Galaxy S21; 25W for the S21 and S21 Plus and possibly up to 45W for the S21 Ultra.
As of today, we are officially a week away from the Samsung event on January 14th, where the Galaxy S21 will be launched. Once we get a chance to test it, our review of the Galaxy S21 will determine if it deserves a place on our list of best phones.