Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is planning to announce its latest range of flagship smartphones in the new year as a teaser trailer for the devices leaked online.

The date hasn’t been officially announced, but Android Police, referencing unnamed sources, said the next Samsung Unpacked event that will debut the new S series range will be held Jan. 14, nearly a month earlier than the event revealing the S20 lineup this year.

The event will include the debut of the Galaxy S21 range. The leaked teaser video shows three devices, the Galaxy S21, S21+ and the S21 Ultra keeping with the same three variants that debuted with the Galaxy S20 range.

The immediate standout in the clip is a reduced number of cameras on some of the devices. The S21 has three cameras, as was the case with the S20, but the S21+ also appears to have three cameras as well, whereas the S20+ had four. The S21 Ultra appears to have four cameras versus the S20 Ultra’s five.

According to reports, the S21 and S21+ are expected to get a 12-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 64-megapixel telephoto sensor. The S21 Ultra is expected to have a 108-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide, a 10-megapixel three-times optical zoom camera and a 10-megapixel 10 times optical zoom camera.

The front camera on all three phones appears to be identical to the S20 lineup — a hole-punch camera at 10-megapixels. Rumors had previously suggested that the S21 lineup may include an under-display camera, but a report in October suggested that the technology had been delayed because of low production yield of the technology.

Under the hood, all three phones in the U.S. are expected to ship with the Snapdragon 888 mobile processor announced Dec. 12; Samsung ships the phone with its own Exynos chips in most markets outside of the U.S.

The phones appear to be the same size as the S20 line-up — 6.2 inches, 6.7 inches and 6.9 inches but the S21 Ultra appears to have curved edges.

Where there may be one large difference between the S20 and S21 lineup is what ships with them. According to GSM Arena, Samsung may follow in the footsteps of Apple Inc. and not ship its latest models with a charger or earphones in the box.

The cost of the phones is unknown at this time, but if they do ship sans charger and earphones, they may well be cheaper than the previous models. Korean Insider reported Dec. 1 that Samsung plans to ship the S21 in the U.S. at between $849 and $899; the S20 started at $999. Likewise, the S21+ is reported to be shipping at between $1,049 and $1,099, while the S21 Ultra may cost between $1,249 and $1,299.

That Samsung is launching the phones early this year could be indicative of the company attempting to maintain its market share versus Apple. In the third quarter, Samsung surpassed Apple to become the highest-selling smartphone maker in the U.S. for the first time in three years. Apple launched the iPhone 12 Oct. 13, likely boosting its numbers.

Image: Samsung