Samsung has unexpectedly confirmed what we've all known for a while — the Samsung Galaxy S21 range will be launched on Thursday, January 14th, 2021, the final day of this year's (virtual) CES. The much-anticipated device will come in three variants — the Samsung Galaxy S21, Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus, and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.
The confirmation comes from Samsung's biggest mobile experience store in India, courtesy of an inquiry from Android Authority and a separate reaffirmation from SamMobile. The Opera House store in Bengaluru has said that it will start sales of the devices from January 29th, as stock won't reach India until the week after the launch. It also says it has begun taking preorders with an ₹2000 ($27) deposit, in return for which it will keep customers updated on availability via WhatsApp. Those leaving a deposit will not need to decide which variant they want until the official announcement. After all, technically, these devices "don't exist" yet.
The store also confirmed that Indian devices will be powered by the still-unannounced Exynos 2100 chipset, rather than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 believed to be under the hood in some other markets. They also confirmed the colors seen in teaser videos — gray, pink, purple, and white for the Galaxy S21, pink, purple, silver, and black for the Galaxy S21 Plus, and silver or black for the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Yesterday, we got our first look at what's believed to be the camera array for the range, suggesting a main sensor at 12MP, along with a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 64MP telephoto lens. The Ultra has a quad-array with a 108MP main shooter, 12MP Ultra Wide lens, and not one, but two telephoto lenses, one of which offers up to 10x optical zoom and the other 3x zoom. One thing that hasn't been confirmed or denied is the rumor that Samsung won't be bundling a charger with this year's flagships, at least in some countries. That's a surprise yet to come.