With the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series now on store shelves, all eyes can turn to the company’s next big flagship: the Galaxy S21. Going by past releases, we’d typically expect a new Galaxy S device to be unveiled in February or March time, and a new leak of a key component suggests the company is right on track.
As spotted by MyFixGuide, two new batteries have achieved 3C Certification, and these cells look destined to live inside the Samsung Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 Plus.
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While at a glance the listing says nothing of Samsung, let alone the S21, the model number contains a big clue. The Samsung Galaxy S21 has the rumored model number of G991, while the S21 Plus is G996 – and both of these are included in the batteries’ codes of EB-BG996ABY and EB-BG991ABY, respectively.
What does the certification tell us? The S21’s battery is listed as being a 3,880mAh cell, while the S21 Plus gets a 4,660mAh unit. Interestingly, while the S21 Plus is allegedly gaining an extra 160mAh on the S20 Plus, the S21 is getting 120mAh less than the S20.
On our web surfing battery test, the 4,500 mAh battery in the Galaxy S20 Plus lasted 10 hours and 31 minutes with the screen at 120Hz and 8:55 at 60 Hz. The iPhone 11 Pro Max lasted 11:54. So an increase in capacity should help the Galaxy S21 Plus.
As for the regular Galaxy S21, it's surprising that the phone is reportedly getting a smaller battery, and that indicates that the dimensions could be different. Maybe the S21 will be thinner, have a smaller display or both? The iPhone 12 is reportedly starting with a 5.4-inch model, so perhaps Samsung is prepping a more direct rival. Today's Galaxy S20 has a 6.2-inch screen.
Crucially, all the batteries mentioned above outdo the rumored cells in the upcoming iPhone 12 family, which range from a predicted 2,227mAh in the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 to 3,687mAh in the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max.
However, it's worth noting that iPhones have always had smaller batteries than their Android counterparts. Plus, the Apple A14 Bionic chip due to power the upcoming iPhone 12 family is manufactured using a 5nm process, and could be 30% more efficient as a result.
In other words, it remains anybody’s game on battery life, despite the S21 Plus’ apparent numerical advantage.
Other possible Galaxy S21 upgrades include a truly full-screen design with a hidden under-display camera, a whopping 150MP camera (for at least one model) and a new 5nm Snapdragon 875 processor to go up against the iPhone 12's A14 Bionic.
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