August usually is the second most anticipated month for Galaxy flagship fans. While the Galaxy S-series has been floating through different months over the past few years, we’ve got used to seeing new Galaxy Note smartphones in August’s Galaxy Unpacked event. Well, the event will be there on August 11, but the Galaxy Note series won’t. After certain hesitation, Samsung confirmed its Galaxy Unpacked event for August 11. It will go under the slogan “Get ready to unfold”. It basically confirms what will be the big star of the show – the company’s next foldable smartphones. However, Samsung will also present new wearables and new TWS earbuds.
Although the Galaxy Note series won’t be returning this year, its most iconic partner, the S-Pen will. For the first time, Samsung will bring an S Pen that works with a foldable smartphone. Users will benefit from the larger and more resistant screens. The device will have improved multitasking and certain features that have been implemented in collaboration with Microsoft.
For those who are unaware, Samsung will present two new foldable smartphones, two smartwatches, and a new TWS headset. Without further ado, let’s have a closer look at each product.
Galaxy Z Fold3
Samsung won’t be bringing a Galaxy Note21, so the big star of the show will be the Galaxy Z Fold3. The company prepared the terrain for Note’s absence by adding S Pen support for the S21 Ultra. Now, the Z Fold3 will play the role with a larger 7.6-inch internal display. It certainly will be a better option for multi-tasking and we assume that S Pen will be quite useful in such a large screen. Worth noting, however, that the S Pen will not be integrated with the smartphone as well as it does with the Note models.
The new S Pen Pro will charge over USB-C, instead of having it charge when you sheat it into the phone. The reason for not having a slot in the phone is that there’s basically no room for it. There are already many challenges in doing a foldable smartphone, just imagine having to put an S Pen slot here. To keep the stylus safe, there will be a special S Pen case that allows you to carry the stylus together with the handset. For now, it’s unclear if the external 6.2-inch display will support the stylus or not.
The device is expected to support two styluses – The S Pen Pro and an S Pen Fold Edition.
As per the reports, the Galaxy Z Fold3 inner display will be Samsung’s very first smartphone to sport under-display cameras. After ZTE, Xiaomi unveiled the Mix 4 earlier today with such technology. Now, it’s time for Samsung to definitively kick this trend forward. The camera will shoot 4 MP photos, however, it probably offers pixel binning for 16 MP shots. The external display will pack a typical punch-hole cutout with a 10 MP camera. As for the main camera setup, the device should stick with a triple 12 MP camera setup with wide, ultrawide, and telephoto modules.
Under the hood, the Z Fold3 will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC and Exynos 2100. Of course, the availability of each platform will depend on the region. As per reports, this time around, Samsung is providing better cooling and thermal management. In terms of battery capacity, the device will pack a 4,400 mAh battery. It will be the first foldable smartphone to come with an IPX8 rating which allows water resistance at 1m depth and 30 minutes.
The Z Fold3 with 256 GB will cost €1,900/€2,000 whereas the 512 GB model will come at around €120/£110 more. The company will allow users to trade in two devices when buying Z Fold3 or Z Flip3 in the United States. As for India, the device’s price should start around INR 1,35,000.
Galaxy Z Flip3
The next foldable smartphone to steal the lights at Galaxy Unpacked stage is the Galaxy Z Flip3.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 packs the clamshell-like form factor. This time around, the device will have a smaller body but will keep the battery capacity at 3,300 mAh. It’s not the biggest battery out there, so users need to take this in consideration when picking this handset. Samsung will equip the device with 25W fast-charging which is 10W more than the last year’s model.
The Z Flip3 will come with a 6.7-inch internal screen, the external display gets an upgrade to 1.9-inch. The camera setup, however, will remain the same with dual 12 MP cameras at the back and a 10 MP snapper inside.
Under the hood, the Z Flip3 will also come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC. For now, it’s unclear if there will be an Exynos variant, especially when Samsung never released a Flip series smartphone with an Exynos chip.
The company will introduce interesting cases for the Z Flip. One of which, comes with vegan leather, there are also silicone and transparent options.
The new Galaxy Z Flip3 will start at €1,100 for the 128GB model. However, with the 256 GB coting just €50 more it certainly fits as a better option. In India, the device’s price will start at INR 80,000.
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Samsung Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Watch4 Classic
In addition to the new foldable smartphones, the Galaxy Watches are making a comeback to this year’s Galaxy Unpacked. There will be two new smartphones, the regular Galaxy Watch4 and a new Galaxy Watch4 Classic. The latter will come with a hardware rotating bezel and a classic design. The former has a sportier design and is free of bezels. Both wearables will come in large and small sizes with 1.36-inch and 1.19-inch displays. Both offering 450 x 450 pixels resolution. The battery life should be up to 7 days with a 361 mAh battery and a 247 mAh unit in the smaller versions.
The Classic variants will come with stainless steel and will measure 46 mm and 42 mm in diameter. The vanilla models, on the other hand, will come with aluminum and will be a tad smaller at 44 mm and 40 mm. Both models will come with Gorilla Glass DX over the display, an IP68 dust and water resistance.
Interestingly, the Watch4 series means a big change and major departure for Samsung. After all, after years of running with the in-house Tizen OS, the company will now adopt WearOS. More precisely, the devices will be running the One UI Watch 3.5 skin on top. For that reason, while retaining Samsung’s exclusive visuals and features, the OS will support Google apps like Maps as well as Google Assistant. Worth noting that Samsung has been working closely with Google in the new WearOS version that debuts with this new watch.
For that reason, the OS should remain exclusive to the Galaxy Watch series until the end of this year. Hopefully, the poor battery life of WearOS will be finally addressed.
In terms of health-related features, the devices will come with a pedometer, heart rate sensor, SpO2 sensor, and there will be an ECG feature. The watches will also be able to read the wearer’s body composition. Unfortunately, no blood glucose reading as this seems to be a couple of years away.
In terms of hardware, the new Watches will come with Exynos W920 SoC. According to Samsung, this processor is 1.25x faster than the last model and offers almost nine times smoother graphics performance. The device will be paired with 1.5 GB of RAM and 16 GB of Internal Storage.
European prices for the Watch4 are expected to start at €280 for the 40mm model and €310 for the 44mm one. The Classic version will go for €380 for a 42mm watch and €410 for a 46mm one.
Samsung Galaxy Buds2
The next device to mark presence at the Galaxy Unpacked event is Samsung’s new TWS headset.
This year, the company will introduce the Galaxy Buds2 which will come with Active Noise Cancellation and 3 Mics per earbuds. As per the rumors, the buds will offer 5 hours of battery life with ANC, 8 hours without. When you pair it with the case constantly, then the battery will expand to 13/20 hours more.
Thankfully, they will come with fast charging. Therefore, 5 minutes of charging ensures 1 hour of listening time. The case comes with a USB C port and also supports Qi wireless charging.
Galaxy Buds2 will come with two drivers per bud. There’s an 11nm “woofer” and a 6.5mm “tweeter”. The wearables come with a glossy finish and boast IPX7 water resistance.
The most intriguing fact is that the new Buds2 will come with a new pairing method. It does not require the user to take the buds out of the case. Perhaps this will be exclusive to the Galaxy smartphones. For conventional use, there will still be Bluetooth 5.2 support. The Samsung Galaxy Buds2 will be available for €160. And should still be positioned below the Galaxy Buds Pro in Samsung’s hierarchy.
Conclusion
That’s pretty much everything we expect for this year’s Galaxy Unpacked event. The new Foldable smartphones should be stealing attention, especially the Galaxy Z Fold3. After all, everyone will be looking at Samsung’s under-display camera implementation. Rumors suggest that the Korean firm’s implementation will be better than anything we currently have in the market. Those are bold words, and we are excited to see if they are true.
As for the new wearables, the Watch4 series will come with the objective of surpassing the very succesful Galaxy Watch3 series. They will also represent a major change for users now that it’s WearOS that will be running the show. As for the Galaxy Buds2, ANC is a sweet addition. Especially now that even “budget” earphones are starting to support it. Samsung needs to keep its premium true wireless earbuds relevant against the competition.
The company will also launch the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE soon. However, the device will not be present at this Galaxy Unpacked Edition. Rumors suggest that it will go official between the end of September and the beginning of October. The device should absorb the demand for the Galaxy Note series as well as the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
