Alleged Leaked Samsung 2021 Roadmap

[EJMB]

Summary

A 'leakster' Evan Blass has released, a few days ago, the alleged Samsung Roadmap (partial) for this year.

 

 

Quote

"

.....another Unpacked event, this one for computing devices like the company's Chrome-powered Galaxy Chromebook line and Windows-equipped Galaxy Book laptops. It's tentatively scheduled for April 14th.

Nothing is listed for May, but June should see the release of a more affordable version of Samsung's current flagship Android tablets, the Galaxy Tab S7 Lite.... "

"...Finally, in August -- a month usually reserved for Galaxy Note launches -- there appears instead to be a Galaxy S21 FE Unpacked event,..."

 

 There is a lot to take in if this roadmap is true given that it does point to a few things for me. 

One, I think Samsung still makes too many models of phones every year which precludes them from focusing on providing the best software experience/support among other things (similar as to how Apple does or how OnePlus used to). They have currently released at least 10 models this year already and with more coming later this year...I just think it would mean too much fragmentation. I understand that they are trying to appeal to all the price points but I do believe that they do it too far sometimes. I'm no expert, just an opinion on it.
from the GSMArena website

Two, the upcoming laptop event is making me curious as to how Samsung is going to package and present it given that should it run on the alleged Exynos 2200 (will apparently come out this year as claimed by Ice Universe and will be used to power the alleged upcoming Samsung laptop in the 2nd half of the year as claimed by ZDNet Korea) because if it just going to be an "Android" Laptop/Chromebook with some Samsung software on top of it then it would also cut in into their sales of the Tablets (which for the moment is the best non-apple tablet you can purchase) or it could be trying to do too much all at once without excelling at any one thing. I hope I'm wrong at this though.
 

Quote

Leakster Ice Universe reports that Samsung will unveil three Exynos chipsets this year – a mid-range 800-series chip, a high-end 1200-series and a flagship 2200-series. The latter two should feature GPUs based on AMD’s RDNA architecture.
-GSMArena

Quote

"According to major component suppliers and partners on the 24th, Samsung Electronics is preparing to launch a Windows 10 PC equipped with a new AP product'Exynos 2200' to be released in the second half of this year....
-ZDNET Korea (referring to the laptop to be released in the 2nd half of the year which coincides with alleged roadmap and the Q3 claim by )

I'm basically hoping that eventually
1) Samsung focuses on making at most 10-12 models for the whole year (just A, S, Note and Foldables/Flexible Display phones) which would allow them to focus on software optimization, support and capability for each device.
2) Samsung can produce chips that are better than Qualcomm's because it would introduce proper competition in the mobile space which would prevent prices of smartphones/mobile devices from skyrocketing...hopefully. 
I do have other thoughts on it but will edit this segment in the near future.

 

Sources

https://www.voice.com/post/@evan/samsung-miniroadmap-tips-several-upcoming-devices-1615997480-606041677
https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_will_unveil_three_exynos_chipsets_this_year_claims_leakster-news-48014.php
https://www.gizchina.com/2021/03/03/the-upcoming-exynos-2200-with-amd-gpu-targets-smartphones-and-laptops/
https://zdnet.co.kr/view/?no=20210224162744
https://www.bgr.in/news/samsung-exynos-2200-chip-with-amd-gpu-could-power-windows-10-laptops-in-2022-944826/
 

 

[TetraSky]

I'm quite interested in either the A32 or A52... After my phone screen literally cracked by itself while it was on my desk earlier this month. Just too bad the A32 doesn't have an IP rating and the A52 is only IP67 and not IP68 while the more expensive A52 is IP67.

 

Edited : to reflect my stupidity thinking IP67 was just about rain and not submersion like IP68.

 

[Brooksie359]

I doubt product segmentation is the reason for bad software support. Samsung is a huge company and they could easily improve it if they wanted to but tbe fact of the matter is they are essentially the apple of Android so they really don't have to try that hard as alot people will buy their phones regardless. Also some of the reason why Samsung makes so much money is the fact that they have phones at lower price tiers as they are usually what sells the best. 

[Doobeedoo]

Well, as far as Note series, maybe they're aiming for a bigger jump aside with all the current factory situations for it. For S series and in general for a flagship I'd expect a longer software update cycles really.

[Commodus]

7 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

I doubt product segmentation is the reason for bad software support. Samsung is a huge company and they could easily improve it if they wanted to but tbe fact of the matter is they are essentially the apple of Android so they really don't have to try that hard as alot people will buy their phones regardless. Also some of the reason why Samsung makes so much money is the fact that they have phones at lower price tiers as they are usually what sells the best. 

If Samsung were the Apple of Android, it'd guarantee five years of OS updates for every phone and release them the millisecond Google had them ready!

 

Mind you, Samsung is getting better about that by promising at least four years of security updates for every new phone. Many Android vendors still have that weirdly classist approach (which Samsung used to take) where the update policy is dictated by how much you spent.

[RejZoR]

26 minutes ago, Commodus said:

If Samsung were the Apple of Android, it'd guarantee five years of OS updates for every phone and release them the millisecond Google had them ready!

 

Mind you, Samsung is getting better about that by promising at least four years of security updates for every new phone. Many Android vendors still have that weirdly classist approach (which Samsung used to take) where the update policy is dictated by how much you spent.

If just one Android phone vendor made 5 years of OS and security updates as standard, I'd become their loyal customer. Instead I was jumping between brands for almost 10 years while using Android (and it's what most users do anyways). Now on Apple, it's the first time I don't feel like being forced into buying new phone after 2 years just to get latest OS version.

[williamcll]

How different the S21 FE would be compared to the S21?

[dizmo]

I don't think having fewer models would help them, and they have that many models to cover the base they want. They've done their research. They know what they need to make to hit all the markets they want. Samsung is a massive company, if they wanted to provide more software support, it'd be easy.

12 hours ago, TetraSky said:

I'm quite interested in either the A32 or A52... After my phone screen literally cracked by itself while it was on my desk earlier this month. Just too bad the A32 doesn't have an IP rating and the A52 is only IP67 and not IP68.

I can't tell if you're joking The chances of you ever noticing the difference between those two is next to nil.

8 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

I doubt product segmentation is the reason for bad software support. Samsung is a huge company and they could easily improve it if they wanted to but tbe fact of the matter is they are essentially the apple of Android so they really don't have to try that hard as alot people will buy their phones regardless. Also some of the reason why Samsung makes so much money is the fact that they have phones at lower price tiers as they are usually what sells the best. 

Pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

36 minutes ago, Commodus said:

If Samsung were the Apple of Android, it'd guarantee five years of OS updates for every phone and release them the millisecond Google had them ready!

 

Mind you, Samsung is getting better about that by promising at least four years of security updates for every new phone. Many Android vendors still have that weirdly classist approach (which Samsung used to take) where the update policy is dictated by how much you spent.

It's not really that weird, it makes perfect sense if you look at it from a business perspective.

Cheaper phones, less support because your margins drop substantially if you have a team working on longer software updates for them.

IIRC it also comes down to Qualcomm supporting the chips.

4 minutes ago, williamcll said:

How different the S21 FE would be compared to the S21?

If it was like the S20 FE, very.

[TetraSky]

41 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I can't tell if you're joking The chances of you ever noticing the difference between those two is next to nil.

I'm dumb and totally thought 67 was only for things like raindrops and not submersion in water until I looked it up after your post to make sure I had it right. I did not.  Yeah it's good enough.

[dizmo]

Just now, TetraSky said:

I'm dumb and totally thought 67 was only for things like raindrops and not submersion in water until I looked it up after your post to make sure I had it right. I did not. 

I thought you'd come back saying you swim with your phone and need the extended immersion

[Commodus]

40 minutes ago, dizmo said:

It's not really that weird, it makes perfect sense if you look at it from a business perspective.

Cheaper phones, less support because your margins drop substantially if you have a team working on longer software updates for them.

IIRC it also comes down to Qualcomm supporting the chips.

Oh, I know why they do it... I just think it's unfair to customers and hurts business in the long run. The people who can only afford the $150 phone are often the ones who can least afford to replace a device in a timely fashion. If it's too expensive to support those phones throughout their useful lifespans, then subsidize that cost through the prices of your higher-end models — don't punish people just because they were born in the 'wrong' country or otherwise can't afford the latest flagship.

[dizmo]

Just now, Commodus said:

Oh, I know why they do it... I just think it's unfair to customers and hurts business in the long run. The people who can only afford the $150 phone are often the ones who can least afford to replace a device in a timely fashion. If it's too expensive to support those phones throughout their useful lifespans, then subsidize that cost through the prices of your higher-end models — don't punish people just because they were born in the 'wrong' country or otherwise can't afford the latest flagship.

Kind of. You're falling into the same mentality most people do on a tech forum. Truth is, the vast majority of consumers simply don't care about updates.

[Commodus]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

Kind of. You're falling into the same mentality most people do on a tech forum. Truth is, the vast majority of consumers simply don't care about updates.

They'll certainly care about the security of their phones. It's not right that someone in, say, Johannesburg should have their phone compromised simply because they couldn't afford a model with a better update policy.

[dizmo]

Just now, Commodus said:

They'll certainly care about the security of their phones. It's not right that someone in, say, Johannesburg should have their phone compromised simply because they couldn't afford a model with a better update policy.

Actually, not really. Most don't even know what updates are.

[Commodus]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

Actually, not really. Most don't even know what updates are.

Yes really. I mean security on a basic level — I'm pretty sure most people don't want their phones hacked or infected with malware. They might not fully grasp that a good security update policy is key to preventing those attacks, but they do care.

[EJMB]

18 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

I doubt product segmentation is the reason for bad software support. Samsung is a huge company and they could easily improve it if they wanted to but tbe fact of the matter is they are essentially the apple of Android so they really don't have to try that hard as alot people will buy their phones regardless. Also some of the reason why Samsung makes so much money is the fact that they have phones at lower price tiers as they are usually what sells the best. 

 

8 hours ago, dizmo said:

I don't think having fewer models would help them, and they have that many models to cover the base they want. They've done their research. They know what they need to make to hit all the markets they want. Samsung is a massive company, if they wanted to provide more software support, it'd be easy.

I agree with both of you that Samsung is a HUGE company but for me at least when you compare them to Apple who release at most around 4 phones per year......it just seems that it would be easier for them to provide software support compared to having too many models with different chipsets. 

They have released more than 50 different models (different chipsets plus you have Qualcomm and Exynos variants) in 2019-2020; I'm sure they are very much capable in providing proper support to all those models over a span of 3-5 years but it would seem it to be rather more difficult as compared to Apple who released a total of 7 models I think over that same time span.

Then again, not an expert here but it's just my opinion anyway.

[EJMB]

10 hours ago, williamcll said:

How different the S21 FE would be compared to the S21?

It will most likely sacrifice on build quality, cameras, speed of on board storage and the like to hit a price point in between their A range and S/Note Lineup.