The Galaxy S21 series is finally here and it's available for pre-order before it starts shipping on January 29. The lineup consists of three models with the Galaxy S21 Ultra reaching the pinnacle of flagship engineering.
Samsung's new Galaxy S21 Ultra was the highlight of Unpacked 2021 for more than one reason. The new design around the back panel looks gorgeous and this has been mentioned time and again, but beyond the attractive exterior, the device boasts a handful of significant upgrades over Samsung's previous generations. Here are the best Galaxy S21 Ultra features and the main reasons why you should be excited about the new flagship:
A new era in mobile processing: The Exynos 2100
Samsung had to kill its own custom CPU project in order to even attempt to breathe life back into the Exynos platform, and that's exactly what the company did. The new Exynos 2100 found inside the Galaxy S21 Ultra (and its smaller siblings) promises to revitalize the Exynos chipset family with a bit of help from ARM.
The custom Mongoose CPU cores are no more. In their stead, the Exynos 2100 chipset uses a combination of ARM Cortex-X1, Cortex-A78, and Cortex-A55 cores under license. In practice, the Exynos 2100 SoC should be able to keep up with the Snapdragon 888 alternative, performance and efficiency-wise. The Exynos and Snapdragon platforms haven't been on a more equal footing in years, so the launch of the Exynos 2100 SoC is a pretty big deal.
Adaptive refresh rate with support for 120Hz at QHD+ resolution
The Galaxy S21 Ultra has the best (non-flexible) AMOLED display to date. Specifically, it's of the Dynamic AMOLED 2X variety with an Infinity-O cutout for the selfie camera. The resolution sits at a respectable 3200 by 1440, and the panel is HDR10+ certified.
More importantly, the 6.8-inch Edge display has an adaptive refresh rate of 10-120Hz, and even more impressive is that it can run at maximum QHD+ resolution and 120Hz simultaneously. The Galaxy S21 Ultra is Samsung's first smartphone capable of this performance.
Dual-telephoto camera system with incredible zoom potential
The Galaxy S21 Ultra has a unique camera system that does away with the conventional single-telephoto camera. It has two telephoto sensors, each with a resolution of 10MP, and they can achieve up to 100x Space Zoom.
More specifically, one of the 10MP telephoto shooters has an f/2.4 aperture, 35-degrees FOV, and 3x optical zoom. The other 10MP unit has an f/4.9 aperture, 10-degrees FOV, and 10x optical zoom. Both cameras take advantage of optical image stabilization (OIS) as well as Dual Pixel autofocus.
This combination should lead to a higher-quality zoom compared to any other mobile camera system Samsung has released so far. And the two telephoto lenses are accompanied by a brand-new 108MP shooter with Phase Detection autofocus and OIS, a 12MP ultra-wide camera with Dual Pixel AF, and a laser autofocus module.
A Wacom digitizer ensuring compatibility with S Pens and more
Along with a new display comes a digitizer capable of reading S Pen inputs. The Galaxy S21 Ultra can be paired with an optional S Pen, and later this year an S Pen Pro variant with added Bluetooth connectivity will be available.
What's more is that the Galaxy S21 Ultra is also compatible with existing S Pen models from the Galaxy Note and Tab series, as well as third-party styluses including: Hi-uni DIGITAL, Staedtler Noris Digital, Wacom One Pen, and LAMY AL-star black EMR.
UWB (Ultra-wideband) is poised to make your smart life smarter
Samsung made a long-term commitment to UWB a few months ago and the company has now released two new phones — the Galaxy S21+ and the Galaxy S21 Ultra — boasting this technology. They join the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, both of which were released in autumn.
UWB is a low-energy radio technology that enables precision location and the use of location-tracking devices such as the Galaxy SmartTag Pro. It also allows for nearby file sharing, and UWB will soon enable your Galaxy S21 Ultra to act as a digital key for cars equipped with the technology. Car brands including Audi, BMW, Ford, and Genesis have already partnered with Samsung to offer this functionality.
These are some of our favorite Galaxy S21 Ultra features but perhaps you have other reasons to love Samsung's latest flagship phone. Feel free to share them in the comment section below.
