Samsung Galaxy S21 leak just confirmed design — here's your first look

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
(Image credit: OnLeaks)

The Samsung Galaxy S21 is seeing a lot of leaks at the moment, and this latest one shows us what we can expect from the display.

Ice Universe posted on Twitter two images of what looks to be a pair of screen protectors, which the leaker labeled as the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 Plus.

Providing these images are legitimate, we see that Samsung's is sticking with using punch-hole cutouts for the selfie camera, a design we're now very familiar with thanks to the Galaxy S20 and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Some earlier leaks tipped that Samsung was going to give the Galaxy S21 an under-display front camera, but that doesn't look to be happening. 

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The sizes are as you'd expect, with the Galaxy S21 Plus larger than the basic S21. But we don't know what their actual sizes are at this point.

The current Galaxy S20 has a 6.2-inch display, while the Galaxy S20 Plus is 6.7 inches, so we could assume these two S21 panels are the same, or are at least within a tenth of an inch or so of their size.

It's thought that the display itself will be subtly curved on both the Galaxy S21 and the Galaxy S21 Plus, although that's not something we can confirm from these images. The Galaxy S21 Ultra, on the other hand, has been rumored to have fully curved edges to its display, likely to help users comfortably hold the large handset.

It's worth looking at the corners of the display, too. The Galaxy S20 series has rounded corners, while the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series had sharp ones. These are somewhere in between, which is interesting because a recent leak claims that the S21 Ultra will be compatible with the S Pen stylus, thereby hinting at a merging of the two phone lines. 

Aside from some tweaks in design, we're expecting the Galaxy S21 series to come with a new Snapdragon 875 chipset made using a 5nm process, similar to the iPhone 12's A14 Bionic. And we're expecting at least one camera upgrade for the S20 Ultra, notably the inclusion of two optical zoom lenses in the form of a 3x lens and a 10x periscope lens

We'll likely see the Galaxy S21 series debut in January according to recent rumors, so we expect many more leaks in the coming weeks as we get closer to launch.

Richard Priday
Assistant Phones Editor

Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.