- The Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus are officially here

and Samsung has brought all the latest improvements

that you'd expect from a flagship Galaxy design.

New specs, better designs, the works.

But the biggest thing about this year's new phones

isn't actually the phones themselves,

it's that after years of prices

that have been steadily creeping upwards,

Samsung has reversed course on this year's flagships.

They start for $200 less

than last year's Galaxy S20 models.

The S21 starts at just 799

and the S21 Plus at 999.

Now that's a big change

and that's despite the fact that these phones

are actually more advanced in some ways

like the new Snapdragon processor.

So what's the catch?

(bright music)

Well, there are a couple of changes that Samsung has made

to help hit those lower price points.

For starters, that base Galaxy S21,

it's back is made out of polycarbonate plastic

instead of aluminum.

And both phones have shifted from the curved screens

that Samsung has been using for years down to a flat panel.

Now, I happen to personally like flat panel phones

but if you're a fan of the old curve designs

it's something that you wanna be aware of.

There are a couple of bigger changes to specs though,

that Samsung has made here.

Both panels are lower resolution than last year's models.

Down to 2400 by 1080 resolution instead of 3200 by 1440.

They also come with less RAM,

just eight gigabytes instead of 12.

Now, does any of that actually make a difference

in daily use?

I don't know, but we will definitely have an answer for you

when we're able to fully review these devices soon.

Of course, there's still a lot of new things to like.

There's the new design which we'll talk about in a minute,

there's the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor

which promises to be even faster than last year's

and there's improvements to the already really good cameras

from last year.

(gentle music)

Now, at least head-on the S21's

do broadly resemble their predecessors

with edge-to-edge OLED dispalys,

hole-punched cameras

and the same 6.2 inch and 6.7 inch screen sciences.

Although again, they're flat panels not curved.

Flip it over though, and you'll see some differences.

Gone is the back piece of glass.

Now it's just either aluminum or polycarbonate

depending on which model you get.

Which in theory should be less fingerprinty

but for some reason isn't,

but the biggest design change on the S21 models

is the camera bump.

Now for years, as long as smartphone manufacturers

have been trying to cram in better lenses

and bigger sensors into our phones,

we've been stuck with these big ugly protruding camera bumps

and last year's S20 lineup was particularly egregious

with that massive squircle thing

that just stuck out of that otherwise beautiful glass back.

Now, the S21 and the S21 Plus still have a camera array,

but instead of jutting out,

Samsung has made it this seamless piece of metal

that smoothly flows from the metal rails of the phone

onto the back and a spiffy two-tone design that looks great,

especially on that purple and gold model.

Look, it's not perfect.

No camera bump ever will be,

but if I do have to get stuck with a camera bump,

and if you want good pictures on your phone,

you probably do.

I'd really love it to keep looking like this.

As for those three cameras, there's a 12 megapixel wide

a 12 megapixel ultra-wide and a 64 megapixels telephoto lens

along with a 10 megapixel selfie camera

in that hole-punch on the front display.

Now, if those sounded a little familiar to you,

it's because that these are virtually identical,

at least hardware-wise to the cameras on last year's S20

and S20 Plus.

That said, Samsung says that it has made improvements

to things like AI processing

and added some new camera features,

so there are some things to look forward to.

(bright music)

As for the phones themselves,

they're really polished pieces of hardware,

which again, this is Samsung's big flagship.

So it's sort of what you would expect from that.

Of the two, I prefer the S21 size,

but unfortunately that plastic back

just has it feeling cheaper than the S21 Plus,

which is a shame

because it's just a little too big for my taste.

Both phones are also surprisingly light,

possibly because there's no slab of glass on the back.

Those lighter weights are despite the fact that the S21

has a 4000 milliamp hour battery

the same as last year's model.

And the S21 Plus actually has a bigger

4800 milliamp hour battery.

As for ports,

they're what you would expect from a 2021 smartphone

which is to say, limited.

There's a USB-C port.

There's also a power button and volume buttons

no weird Bixby buttons here, no headphone jacks

although there is wireless charging.

If you need another way to charge your phone.

If you're getting the base Galaxy S21

you'll have a choice of four colors, white,

grayish black, pink, and my personal favorite

the purple and gold, which looks fantastic.

The S21 Plus has three colors which are slightly different

and in my opinion, a little better.

There's the same purple and gold

and the same black and gray

but the S21 Plus's silver option

is this really nice almost pearlescent silver,

that shimmers in different colors in the light.

It looks really good.

Both phones fully support 5G

with support for both sub-6 and millimeter wave 5G,

thanks to the integrated Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor.

So it should work

with basically whatever phone network you have.

The Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus

are different type of flagship for Samsung,

instead of just chasing the absolute best phone

that they can make,

and don't worry,

they're also doing that with the Galaxy S21 Ultra,

which check out our other video on that,

but it really speaks to a different philosophy

that Samsung has taken here.

One that we started to see with last year's Galaxy S20 FE

which is to say

that they're looking to make these great phones

a little more affordable to the average consumer

which in a world of $1000 flagships

or $2,000 foldables is a really appealing prospect.

Now, whether or not the trade offs

that Samsung has made here

are something that we will definitely have to get into

and definitely have to see

but at least on paper, the S21 is exciting

and at least compared to last year,

far more affordable flagship

than we've seen from Samsung in a long, long time.

To the ones on last year's, dear God!

(indistinct)

Our video producer, Becca has told me that I'm wrong

and that the flat white one is better

but I'm on the camera right now.

- [Becca] It's true!