Samsung has reportedly lowered its Galaxy S21 shipments expectations

The Galaxy S21 flagship series will start shipping to customers by the end of the week. The first month on the market will be decisive for the new lineup, as it will give Samsung a more accurate idea of what kind of demand it should expect in the first quarter. But for the time being and until a more accurate prediction can be made, the company has reportedly set its expectations a bit lower than last year.

Samsung is reportedly estimating that it will ship a total of 26 million Galaxy S21 flagships by the end of 2021. It seems as though the company has adjusted its expectations according to the Galaxy S20 series’ market performance, the latter of which registered 26 million shipments in 2020, down from the estimated 35 million shipments. This year, the company is apparently expecting to ship 10 million base Galaxy S21 units, 8 million Galaxy S21+ units, and another 8 million Galaxy S21 Ultra units.

Shipments might be lower but sales figures don’t have to

Shipment and sales figures are two different things, even though they are interconnected. A company can ship a whole lot more products to retailers than it will actually sell — sometimes, but not always to its detriment — and it’s why shipment figures are usually viewed only as a rough estimate of a product’s true market performance.

As far as Samsung and the Galaxy S21 series goes, the company may have adjusted its shipment figures as a way to prevent overproduction and oversupply. Samsung might no longer afford to flood the market as it used to, and back in November we heard about Samsung wanting to follow demand more closely and gradually increase the Galaxy S21 production capacity as needed. This will inevitably lead to lower initial shipment figures compared to previous years, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that Samsung is expecting to sell fewer Galaxy S21 models overall.

Galaxy S21

• Model: SM-G991B
• Dimensions: Bar: 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.2 inch / 157.48 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy S21+

• Model: SM-G996B
• Dimensions: Bar: 161.5 x 75.6 x 7.8 mm
  
• Display: 6.7 inch / 170.18 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy S21 Ultra

• Model: SM-G998B
• Dimensions: Bar: 165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.8 inch / 172.72 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

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Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong isn’t interested in getting out of jail sooner

Lee Jae-yong, the vice chairman and heir to the Samsung conglomerate, has been facing an unprecedented legal challenge for the past few years. There were allegations of bribes being paid to Park Geun-hye, the former President of South Korea, and her close friend Choi Soon-sil in order to obtain the government’s approval for a controversial merger which allowed the Lee family to cement its control over the conglomerate.

The allegations were fought in courts but Lee found himself going to prison for the first time in 2017. He was sentenced to five years in prison at that time. Lee had appealed the ruling and was able to secure his release while the Supreme Court order a retrial of the case. The retrial ended up in Lee being sent to prison once again. However, this time around, he’s not looking for an early exit.

Prosecutors could still ask for a longer sentence

An appellate court in South Korea sentenced Lee Jae-yong to 2.5 years in prison last week. It was expected that Lee would opt for an appeal in order to get the sentence overturned so that he may be released from jail. However, lawyers for the Samsung vice chairman have now confirmed that Lee has decided to “humbly accept” the court’s decision. He is not going to appeal and will serve out the sentence.

Lee will now remain in jail until his sentence is completed. Since he has already served a year in jail previously, he will be released in June 2022. That’s without parole for which Lee will be eligible by September this year. He could receive a presidential pardon or commutation which would allow him to be released ahead of time.

Samsung and Lee seem to be willing to put this matter behind them. The course of action they’ve chosen is to let the prison sentence run out so that Lee may finally be free of this legal headache once and for all. They just need to hope that the prosecutors don’t decide to appeal the decision.

While that might seem an odd thing for the prosecutors to do now that they’ve managed to send him to jail, don’t forget that they were pushing for a nine year prison sentence for Lee during the retrial. If they feel that the 2.5 year sentence isn’t enough, they can appeal the decision and try to get a longer sentence.

Monday is the deadline for filing of the appeal and if the prosecutors haven’t done that by the end of business today, this sword will no longer be hanging over Lee’s head.

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Galaxy S8 starts receiving January 2021 security update

The January 2021 security update has now started hitting select variants of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, Samsung’s popular flagship duo from 2017. More specifically, the new over-the-air release has reached the Exynos models across Latin America. These firmware revisions are identified by version numbers G950FXXSBDUA3 and G955FXXSBDUA3 for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, respectively.

Beyond the latest series of security patches from Samsung and Google, no other additions or changes appear to be part of the newly debuted software update.

How long will Samsung keep supporting the Galaxy S8 series?

If you aren’t keen on waiting for the rollout to reach your particular device, full system images containing the January 2021 security update are already available for download from our firmware archive.

Naturally, before going the tinkerer’s route of manually flashing the latest update onto your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+, you should try the more convenient option of triggering an OTA installation manually. To do so, open your Settings app, navigate to the Software update section and hit the Download and install prompt on the following interface.

Given how the Galaxy S8 series is almost four years old by now, it’s no surprise that it isn’t getting monthly security patches any longer. With that said, this popular pair of flagships should keep receiving quarterly updates from Samsung for a while longer. After all, it hasn’t even been a full year since the lineup was relegated to a quarterly update schedule. In the meantime, many future Galaxy devices even outside of Samsung’s flagship portfolio are nowadays launching alongside the promise of three generations’ worth of major Android upgrades.

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Looks like Samsung isn’t raising the Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72 prices

The Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72 are two of the most highly anticipated Samsung phones this year. Samsung’s Galaxy A series is one of its best-selling lineups and with good reason. These are feature-packed mid-range devices with great designs and reasonable price tags.

With every revamp, there’s always a chance that the price could be increased. A new report suggests that this may not be the case. Samsung may not increase the price of its new Galaxy A devices.

Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72 expected prices have surfaced

GalaxyClub has come across the Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72 prices that were collected by German price comparison portal Idealo.

Prices for the Galaxy A52 will start at €369 for the 4G variant with 128GB of internal storage. That’s exactly what Samsung sold the Galaxy A51 in the same configuration for last year. The 256GB model of the Galaxy A52 5G will cost €429.

There’s also going to be a Galaxy A52 5G that’s said to cost €449 and €509 with 128/256GB storage respectively. The Galaxy A51 5G wasn’t widely released in Europe but it was actually priced a bit higher at €479.

The 4G Galaxy A72 is reportedly going to cost €449 with 128GB and €509 with 256GB storage. The base variant of the Galaxy A72 was priced at €469 last year. There’s no information about the prices for the Galaxy A72 5G at this point in time.

These prices will be applicable in Europe. Samsung will likely stick to the same strategy in other markets. So you can be cautiously optimistic that these new devices won’t likely cost more than their predecessors did in your market.

Do keep in mind that these prices haven’t been officially verified but they provide us with an estimate nonetheless. Samsung is likely going to retain the same level of pricing for its new premium mid-range handsets. Will customers pay the price of not getting a charger in the box for this? We can’t count that possibility out just yet.

Samsung hasn’t confirmed when it will unveil the new Galaxy A series. We expect that to happen in the near future.

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One UI 3.1 brings more productivity features to Galaxy Tab S7, Tab S7+

Samsung released the Android 11 update to the Galaxy Tab S7 and the Galaxy Tab S7+ last week with One UI 3.1. The company’s flagship tablets became the first Galaxy devices to receive the One UI 3.1 update. The South Korean firm has now revealed all the new features that are a part of the One UI 3.1 update.

One UI 3.1 brings Auto Switch, Wireless Keyboard Sharing, and Second Screen

With One UI 3.1, Samsung’s focus is on enhancing productivity and streamlining the Galaxy ecosystem. Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S7+ users can now move across devices seamlessly by copy/pasting images and text with other devices running One UI 3.1 such as the Galaxy S21. They can also continue browsing the internet from where they left off on other devices, thanks to Samsung Internet. For example, after browsing a webpage on the Galaxy S21, they can continue browsing it on the Galaxy Tab S7 by clicking on the Samsung Internet icon on the bottom right corner of the multitasking menu.

 

With the Second Screen feature, users can connect the Galaxy Tab S7 or the Galaxy Tab S7+ with their WiDi (Wireless Display)-capable Windows 10 PC for more screen real estate. The Extend Mode allows the Galaxy Tab S7 to act as the second screen and move app windows there for enhanced productivity. With the Duplicated Mode, the laptop’s screen can be mirrored to the Galaxy Tab S7 series device.

The Wireless Keyboard Sharing feature allows users to use the Galaxy Tab S7’s Book Cover Keyboard to type and navigate on the Galaxy S21. The Auto Switch feature can be used to share the Galaxy Buds Pro between the Galaxy S21 and the Galaxy Tab S7, depending on which device is being actively used. Obviously, to use all these features, users would need to be logged into the same Samsung account on all their compatible Galaxy devices.

The One UI 3.1 update is rolling out to the Galaxy Tab S7 and the Galaxy Tab S7+ in various markets. Samsung could release the same update to other smartphones and tablets over the next few months. However, the company mentions that not all devices running One UI 3.1 would get all these features.

Galaxy Tab S7

• Model: SM-T870
• Dimensions: Tablet: 253.8 x 165.3 x 6.3 mm
  
• Display: 11 inch / 279.4 mm LTPS TFT
• CPU: Snapdragon 865+
• Camera: 5MP

More specifications

Galaxy Tab S7 Plus

• Model: SM-T970
• Dimensions: Tablet: 285 x 185 x 5.7 mm
  
• Display: 12.4 inch / 314.96 mm Super AMOLED Display
• CPU: Snapdragon 865+
• Camera: 5MP

More specifications

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Galaxy S21 doesn’t support seamless updates, but is that a bad thing?

Samsung is crushing it right now with the Android 11 update for its smartphones and tablets. However, its latest flagship smartphones—Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra—don’t support Android’s seamless updates. This feature has been present in Android smartphones since 2016, but Samsung is yet to implement it.

The Seamless Updates feature allows a new firmware update to be installed in the background while the device is being actively used. Upon the next reboot, the phone or the tablet boots the new firmware, offering users a seamless experience and not having to stare at the progress bar. This feature is implemented using virtual A/B partitions, and that takes up a lot of storage space. Samsung’s One UI software is already quite huge, so not having the Seamless Updates feature is an advantage as well.

Last year, the Android 11 Vendor Test Suite was spotted with Seamless Updates being a requirement for smartphone vendors. However, the latest version of the Android 11 Compatibility Definition Document doesn’t list Seamless Updates as a requirement. However, Google still tells smartphone brands to implement Seamless Updates, and brands like Google, Motorola, OnePlus, and LG smartphones come with the feature.

With the microSD card slot gone from its latest flagship smartphones, do you still think Samsung should implement Seamless Updates at the expense of lower usable internal storage? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Galaxy S21

• Model: SM-G991B
• Dimensions: Bar: 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.2 inch / 157.48 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy S21+

• Model: SM-G996B
• Dimensions: Bar: 161.5 x 75.6 x 7.8 mm
  
• Display: 6.7 inch / 170.18 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy S21 Ultra

• Model: SM-G998B
• Dimensions: Bar: 165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.8 inch / 172.72 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

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Exynos processors with AMD GPUs could come sooner than expected

Samsung had announced earlier this month that its next-generation flagship Exynos processors would feature AMD GPUs. It was being expected that those upcoming processors would be launched sometime in the first quarter of 2022 with the Galaxy S22. It is now being rumored that Exynos processors with AMD GPUs could come much sooner.

AMD and Samsung had announced their strategic partnership back in 2019. According to @UniverseIce, Samsung will launch its next-generation Exynos chipsets with integrated AMD GPUs in the second or third quarter of 2021. So, we could see them inside the Galaxy Z Fold 3. Moreover, he also mentioned that the next Exynos 2xxx and Exynos 1xxx chipsets would use AMD GPUs. However, he also mentioned that the launch time frame of the upcoming Exynos processors could change in the future.

The South Korean tech giant’s Exynos processors have been criticized a lot in the past for their poor power efficiency and thermals. Since then, the company disbanded its custom CPU core development team and went with ARM’s Cortex-X1 and Cortex-A78 CPU cores. To improve its graphics performance, the company will use AMD’s mobile Radeon GPUs.

The recently released Exynos 2100 processor appears to perform similar to Qualcomm’s latest flagship processor, the Snapdragon 888, in CPU, AI, and image processing. However, its GPU is somewhere in between the performance of the Snapdragon 865+ and the Snapdragon 888. Samsung is trying to sell Exynos chipsets to other smartphone brands. Vivo has already used the Exynos 1080 in the X50 and the X50 Pro.

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