Welcome to January 2021, and Samsung has performed a daring ‘reset’ on its flagship line. The Galaxy S21 is a 169g technical powerhouse that introduces the ‘Contour Cut’ camera design, where the metal frame flows seamlessly into the camera housing. While it moves to a high-quality ‘Glasstic’ (polycarbonate) back and a flat display to hit a more competitive price point, the internals remain bleeding-edge. In the UK, it has arrived as a fast, vibrant, and future-proofed device that marks the beginning of the integrated 5G era.
The technical headline is the 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. It features an ‘Adaptive Refresh Rate’ that can switch between 48Hz and 120Hz depending on your content, saving battery while keeping animations buttery smooth. Under the hood, the UK model is powered by the 5nm Exynos 2100, a massive technical leap over the S20, and 8GB of RAM. The camera system remains a versatile triple-array: a 12-megapixel wide, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide, and a 64-megapixel telephoto. It introduces ‘Director’s View,’ which allows you to record from multiple cameras simultaneously, a technical feat enabled by the massive processing power of the 5nm chip.
Connectivity is total, with integrated 5G sub-6 and Wi-Fi 6 support. The 4,000 mAh battery is intelligently managed to provide all-day endurance, and the device retains its IP68 water resistance and fast wireless charging. While the loss of the microSD slot and the ‘in-box’ charger remains controversial, the S21 is a masterclass in modern trade-offs. It prioritises the screen, the silicon, and the software (One UI 3.1) to create a device that is more accessible but no less powerful than its predecessors. It is the definitive ‘everyman’ flagship of 2021.