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Samsung to Unveil New Smartphones at Galaxy Unpacked Event on January 14
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If Samsung wants to get ahead of Apple, they need to release the new phones without boxes.
Imo the S21 won't be a huge deal feature wise, but it's more of a comeback for Exynos. We already see that most of the spec, especially on the regular S21 and plus, are not that much different than the S20. But it will be a huge upgrade for Exynos market as for the past few years, Exynos chips used in most regions like Europe and Asia don't perform as well as the Snapdragon coutnerpart. Heck, even Samsung themselves ended up using Snapdragon for their own home market, S. Korea. Hopefully the Exynos 2100 delivers the hype, as it's long overdue that us in exynos regions to get the premium that we paid for.
Samsung S line has never been the volume seller. When you have products ranging from sub $100 models to $1000+ models, you are going to have more spread of volume vs companies like Apple. Even if we look into iPhones, the best seller is the regular 12, not the more expensive Pro models. It's the same thing, the S line will never be a volume seller, that part is taken by the A series.
And Samsung is actually doing better in markets where the Chinese are all out in force. Eg. in my country, Samsung managed to return as the top brand marketshare thanks to their re-strategized Galaxy A lineup. Asking around many retailers, they still say most people gravitate towards Samsung. Most people trust the Samsung brand more than the likes of Xiaomi/Oppo/Realme/etc. With Samsung having many Samsung service centers around, it also makes people wanting to get support easier. We tech literates might not think twice about support, but regular people really deem accessibility of support to be important.
Snooze fest for snapdragon markets, but huge gain for Exynos markets if the Exynos 2100 can deliver.
... but at the time they’re also rumoured to reduce their prices from $900 last year to $850 this time. It almost makes up for the removal of charging brick! OTOH Apple increased the prices ($699 to $829) on the iPhone 12 despite removing charger and EarPods.
What's interesting is that in camera tests there is a difference between the Exynos and Snapdragon models. Dxomark has tested both (at least the Note 20 variants) and they get different scores, Exynos being better even though in general computing it is slower. So they may have some custom image processing happening on the Exynos just like Apple does with their own chips.
Three years of guaranteed updates for Samsung phones now and in the fourth year you still receive security updates. The S7 is still getting security patches now.
It’s not as simple as quantifying it as 3 years vs 5. For a Samsung flagship it’s 3 years of major OS updates, 4 years of security updates. Also you have updates to google play services and core apps which goes on for many years, even beyond the 5 years that Apple provides. I have an old note 4 phone. It came out in 2014. It still gets updates to core apps and services. Google also make new features compatible with older devices which may not be receiving software updates. For example the nearby share feature which is Google’s answer to Airdrop which was released last year is compatible with all devices running android 6 or newer, which includes devices released in 2014.
The S line has been a volume seller in the past. Not so much now. It does about 40-50 million units per year but at its peak the S4 sold 80 million units.
Weird timing to launch - many people are just getting their credit card bills from the holiday shopping. I’m certainly not in a shopping mood in mid-January!
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That’s good then-if there’s one thing I’ve never liked about Android is releasing a decent handset and then deciding it’s not going to receive the latest update even though the hardware can likely handle it.
Yes. The market was completely different back then. I mean the flagship was only like $500-$600, and the lower end phones were totally garbage. As time progresses, The flagships grow more expensive, while the lower end are getting better.
There are brands in Europe, e.g. Nokia etc who haven't been including a charger with their phones for years, so the Apple moto could be ".... we copy and pretend to be first!"
yeah the chip set for exynos uses will be a big reason to upgrade. exynos 990 for me was a complete nightmare.
This is why, back when I used budget / mid range Android phones, I got a new phone every year. Some vendors may give you one OS update, but not many. Given I got the phones for a great price and they worked well for the year or so I had them, I can't complain. But I don't miss them now that I have an iPhone XR.
I don't actually care how fast the processor in my phone is. It just needs to be fast enough and they have been for the past 5 years or so. The A series is overkill because the power is largely overkill. The iPhone can't do split screen apps and cant be used as desktop like a Samsung phone with Dex can.
I haven't upgraded my phone yet from the 11 pro max and I usually upgrade every year so I'm ripe for an upgrade if anything catches my eye lol
Big agree with the top-voted comment here, competition is important, and Samsung is probably the biggest competing force relative to Apple in the smartphone world. Would go so far as to say Samsung is a big reason why Apple’s cameras are (lol, no pun intended) top-notch these days.
On that note…
God DAMN those cameras look TERRIBLE. Oh my GOD. If the flash were contained within the same notch that has the three lenses, that’d be one thing. But…just thinking ahead to pictures of this in a case…there is no way to make that look good. For all the complains people have made since the 6/6s days about a camera bump, at least Apple tries when it comes to making their phones’ camera bumps look good/flush in a case.
(Before anyone says anything: yes, I know the 12 Pro Max doesn’t sit flush, even in an official Apple case. Yes, I would agree this is a weak point. But I would also say the 12 Pro Max camera absolutely destroys every other smartphone camera currently on the market.)
EDIT: I guess I typed this comment out hours ago and just left it here, forgive me if someone has already typed out the exact same thing. Don’t care enough to look at all the comments 😂
On that note…
God DAMN those cameras look TERRIBLE. Oh my GOD. If the flash were contained within the same notch that has the three lenses, that’d be one thing. But…just thinking ahead to pictures of this in a case…there is no way to make that look good. For all the complains people have made since the 6/6s days about a camera bump, at least Apple tries when it comes to making their phones’ camera bumps look good/flush in a case.
(Before anyone says anything: yes, I know the 12 Pro Max doesn’t sit flush, even in an official Apple case. Yes, I would agree this is a weak point. But I would also say the 12 Pro Max camera absolutely destroys every other smartphone camera currently on the market.)
EDIT: I guess I typed this comment out hours ago and just left it here, forgive me if someone has already typed out the exact same thing. Don’t care enough to look at all the comments 😂
Leaked future Samsung Galaxy specs always seem so exciting. It's the other issues of Android that take away its shine
More wasted specs and poor implementation.