Samsung Electronics on Thursday evening launched its latest flagship series of smartphones; Samsung Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+ and Galaxy S21 Ultra. 

Samsung said the latest smartphones have the latest and most advanced smartphone chipset yet in a Galaxy and this will enhance speed, energy efficiency and advanced computing to support the 5G connectivity and on-device AI.

The Galaxy S21 is smaller and cheaper than the S21+ but both share features apart from size and S21 has a plastic back case as the S21+ dons a glass-back case.

Both Samsung phones have 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and offer 128GB and 256GB options of internal storage.

The firm has however dropped the SD card slot barring users from expanding the internal storage on S21 and S21+.

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The S21 boasts of a smaller 4000mAh power pack while the S21+ has a bigger 4800mAh battery with Samsung saying the two devices come with enhanced wireless charging speeds with Fast Wireless Charging 2.0.

The two devices come with a dynamic AMOLED screen with an adaptive refresh rate of 48Hz to 120Hz to ensure smoother scrolling experience for the user.

The screen of the S21 is 6.2-inches while that of the S21+ is 6.7 inches.


In the camera department, the S21 and the S21+ both don a triple camera setup of an ultra-wide 12MP camera, a 12MP dual pixel wide angle camera and a 64MP telephoto camera as well as a 10MP dual pixel front camera.

The camera software includes features improved 8K Snap which lets the user grab clear images from 8K video footage, Super Steady video at 60fps, a new Director’s View that lets the users see, switch and select the best shot and Single Take feature which allows the user to capture a variety of still and video formats with one tap.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, the most expensive of the trio, has a quad camera setup comprising of an ultra-wide 12MP camera, a wide-angle 108MP camera with face detection autofocus, a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and 10MP telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom.

The device also comes loaded with a laser autofocus sensor at the rear for better focus as the front camera wears a 40MP sensor with phase detection autofocus.

Samsung says the S21 Ultra can shoot in 4K resolution at 60fps across all lenses as well as an improved Bright Night sensor for enhanced low-light photography, improved Night Mode, noise reduction and 12MP Nona-binning technology to enable users capture challenging shots.

Galaxy S21 Ultra buyers have a choice between a 12GB RAM with 128GB or 256GB internal storage or a maxed-out version of 16GB RAM with 512GB internal storage but all don’t come with SD card slot.

The S21 Ultra comes with a 6.8-inch AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of between 10Hz and 120Hz and Samsung says this gives the user the best image while staying power efficient to stretch the 5000mAh battery life further.

The S21 Ultra has introduced the S-pen popular with the Note series.


“Samsung is bringing the fan favourite S Pen experience to the Galaxy S21 Ultra with Wacom’s technology. From drawing to note-taking to editing photos and signing documents, now you can unlock the power of the S Pen on the Galaxy S21 Ultra,” Samsung wrote on its blog.

All the S21 mobile devices will not ship with a charger, joining Apples in its move to ditch the charger on iPhone 12, which Samsung widely mocked at the time of the launch by Apple.

The three S21 devices include Ultrasonic Fingerprint sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, Proximity sensor, Ambient Light Sensor, 5G connectivity, Android 11 operating system and IP68 water resistance among other fancy features.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 will retail for Sh100,999, Galaxy S21+ Sh154,999 and Galaxy S21 Ultra Sh169,999.