Discussion Samsung Galaxy S21 Series - S21, S21+, S21 Ultra - News and Updates

[Sparker0i]

[4] Own Exynos used, instead of costly SD888

At least this time they're going with normal ARM cores, and not building their custom Mongoose cores, so performance should be drastically improved... Specs for Exynos 2100 and SD 888 are similar as well...

 

[kanagadeepan]

@Sparker0i I am not complaining about performance of Exynos2100. I am saying that, home grown Exynos 2100 must be cheaper than usually costlier snapdragon -- SD888 and both are made by Samsung.

 

[Sparker0i]

@Sparker0i I am not complaining about performance of Exynos2100. I am saying that, home grown Exynos 2100 must be cheaper than usually costlier snapdragon -- SD888 and both are made by Samsung.

Exynos 2100 has 8K60 decoding. SD888 doesn't... That's a big differentiator, and hence unlikely to have cost below Exynos

 

[Siva]

The Samsung Galaxy S21 series — after months of leaks and rumors — has finally been announced. While there are a bunch of new features to be talked about, the one that stands out the most is the humbler pricing. Instead of the steep $1,000 tag that the S20 started with, the S21 starts at a relatively affordable price of $800. But, that's not the case in India; the S21 series is, in fact, more expensive than its predecessor here.

This is head-scratching at first, especially considering that the S21 and the S21+ have a few downgrades compared to last year's S20 and S20+ — no microSD card support, no charger or earphones in the box, and FullHD displays being a few of them. But there's more to it.

The Galaxy S20 series that was announced in India was powered by Samsung's in-house Exynos 990 SoC. Unlike the Snapdragon 865 that was used by its kin in markets such as the US, the 990 didn't have an integrated 5G modem. This gave Samsung the leeway to not bundle 5G modems in markets where 5G wasn't available yet. This is precisely why the Galaxy S20 variants in India could undercut the US variants' pricing — they didn't have 5G modems.

Things are different this year with the Exynos 2100. The latest flagship processor from Samsung has an integrated 5G modem, which means 5G isn't an option anymore, it's mandatory. And as we know, 5G comes at a price. This is the primary reason why the S21 series in India is more expensive than the S20 series.

Here's why the Samsung Galaxy S21 costs more than the S20 in India

 

[Siva]

S21 Ultra is available for 89999 (16000 discount) on Amazon. This includes a seller coupon discount of 6000 and 10000 instant discount on HDFC credit card. Coupon may not be available for everyone.

 

[Siva]

S21 Plus for 74999. 4000 coupon and 7000 HDFC discount.

 

[Siva]

S21 for 65999. 3000 coupon and 5000 HDFC discount.

 

[Bapun]

Coupon may not be available for everyone.

Correct. Looks like the coupon is user specific. It isn't available for me.

 

[Siva]

Samsung's various models for the S21 aren't all the same. If the price and physical size didn't clue you in, the spec sheets likely did. And nestled among the list of different named standards and numbers is a curious tidbit that escaped detection on launch day: While the lower-end Galaxy S21 and S21 Ultra support 960 fps super slow motion video (in bursts up to 0.5s), the ostensibly more premium S21 Ultra, with its upgraded cameras, doesn't — or least, it doesn't natively.

Samsung's smaller, cheaper S21 and S21+ beat the Ultra at slow-mo video

 

[Siva]

Samsung told us that the reason for the S21 Ultra's digitally upscaled slow-mo video has to do with the phone's larger image sensor, which operates at a lower shutter speed when recording video. Rather than artificially limit the smaller phones, which can reach a higher shutter speed, Samsung elected to give them the full 960fps recording capability and use its frame rate conversion tech on the bigger phone, implying that the difference between the two wasn't very perceptible.

Galaxy S21 Ultra's reduced slo-mo video performance is due to its bigger sensor, according to Samsung