Galaxy S27+ could lose a feature Samsung has offered for years

According to leaks about Samsung’s next lineup of flagship non-foldable smartphones, the Galaxy S27 series, it will offer four models: the Galaxy S27, Galaxy S27+, Galaxy S27 Pro, and Galaxy S27 Ultra. Now, a new leak about these phones sheds light on their connectivity options, and there's some disappointing news.

All four upcoming smartphones have reportedly appeared on China’s MIIT certification platform (via Abhishek Yadav). Interestingly, the listings indicate that the Galaxy S27 Pro and Galaxy S27 Ultra will feature ultra-wideband (UWB) connectivity, while the Galaxy S27 and Galaxy S27+ will lack it.

The base model missing UWB isn’t surprising, as its predecessors have also lacked the feature. However, the Galaxy S27+ missing out on it would be unusual, as Samsung has included UWB in its Galaxy S2x+ series since the Galaxy S21+. It is also possible that these are preliminary documents and mistakenly don't mention the presence of UWB.

UWB enables precise location tracking of compatible devices and accessories. If the Galaxy S27+ lacks UWB, it may not be able to locate accessories such as the Galaxy SmartTag 3 as precisely as UWB-equipped Galaxy phones. However, that depends on whether the phone supports Bluetooth 6.0, which introduces Channel Sounding for more precise distance measurement and could offer an alternative to UWB for compatible devices.