Samsung is fast-tracking Galaxy S21 production in a quite unprecedented manner and may even be ready to announce it before the end of the year, according to a new report out of the company's home country. Insiders from the tech giant's supply chain claim many key Galaxy S21 components will enter mass production next month, which is about six weeks earlier than usual. An earlier-than-anticipated product announcement is by far the most logical reason for the change.
After all, it's not like Samsung has to fear a shortage of components, especially given how much the mobile industry suffered throughout this year. Yet that is precisely the point, Korean sources argue.
Early bird gets the Galaxy S21 – or the other way around
Namely, following a rather poor commercial showing from the company's 2020 flagships, Samsung may be looking to revive some of its momentum by beating the competition to the market by an even larger stretch than usual, as per the same report. Then again, that was also the reasoning applied to the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition's very existence.
The only problem with that theory is that Samsung can't magically conjure up the brains of its next-gen Android flagships. Namely, there is no indication that Qualcomm will begin mass-manufacturing the Snapdragon 875 any earlier than it usually would.
Of course, samples of the chip should already be in the hands of pretty much every major OEM out there by now. So, that technically doesn't stop Samsung from announcing the Galaxy S21 in December. Yet it's unlikely the company will be able to release its next high-end smartphone family much earlier than it usually does, i.e. March. And even in a next-to-impossible scenario in which it ends up relying entirely on its Exynos silicon, there are thankfully no reports suggesting the successor to the underwhelming Exynos 990 is being fast-tracked in a similar fashion.