Samsung Galaxy S11: Release date, price, specs, features, news, and rumors

It has been only a few months since Samsung launched Galaxy S10, the latest installment in its flagship Galaxy S series of smartphones. While the phone has received immense acclaim from users and critics alike apart from being a hit in the market, all eyes are now set on the next installment in the Galaxy S series – the S11. So far, Samsung has released an impressive fleet of phones this year, including the S10 series, the Note 10 series, the Galaxy Fold, and quite a few other budget models. Tech enthusiasts are now already talking about the Korean brand’s lineup for 2020. If the rumors are to be believed, then the upcoming Galaxy S11 will be the most coveted Samsung phone of the year.

The biggest leaks so far

Given the popularity of the Galaxy S series, it comes as no surprise that there have already been several significant leaks on the upcoming Galaxy S 11, nearly a year before it is due to come out. So far, one of the most significant talking points about the phone has been its camera, which is being claimed to be the most revolutionary by Samsung yet. The Korean company recently announced that the production of a new 108MP camera sensor is in the works, which will be done in partnership with Xiaomi. (Whether the camera will make its way to the S11 is not confirmed yet, but more on that below.) An exciting aspect of the camera on the phone will be the 64MP Isocell Bright GW1 sensor from Samsung if recent leaks are to believed.

Another highly anticipated feature on the phone will be the Snapdragon 865, the benchmarks for which were leaked only recently. Given Samsung’s track record of keeping up with the latest SoC’s in the flagship series, it will come as no big surprise if the Galaxy S11 comes with the newest power processor from Qualcomm.

Galaxy S11 release date

There’s approximately a year left for the release of S11, but Samsung’s release date patterns for the last few years can be our guide. Samsung held the launch for the S10 in San Francisco a few days before the 2019 Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona. Similarly, the S9 debuted during MWC in 2018, as did the Galaxy S7 in 2016. The only exception to the trend so far has been the Galaxy S8, which was launched in 2018, a month after the big smartphone trade show in Spain.

So, it’s safe to say that the S11’s launch can be expected in a time window that surrounds the Mobile World Congress 2020, if not at the event itself. It’s being reported that the dates for the MWC 2020 have been set during the last week of coming February. This means users won’t have to wait for long for the S11 once we’re in 2020.

Complete full-screen display

The full-screen display technology has seen some dramatic changes in the last few years. Although we are still a bit far from a 100% screen only, no edges phone, brands like Samsung and Vivo are pushing the boundaries (both literally and figuratively) with their ‘Waterfall’ screen designs. If the rumors from some South Korean reports are to be believed, Samsung may have very well achieved the feat at last, with the upcoming Galaxy S11. It’s being reported that the phone will have a full edge to edge, bezel-free display. It may also get rid of the notch/punch-hole front camera design setup that Samsung has been using so far. It’s not clear whether Samsung will go with the pop-up front camera or an under-screen one, but the latter seems to be a preferable choice.

A Qualcomm 5G chip

Samsung has already entered the 5G spectrum and maintained a strong foothold in the 5G supportive smartphone realm. This year, Samsung launched two flagship models – the Galaxy S10, and the Galaxy Note 10, in 5G variants with Verizon. Now the next big step in 5G connectivity technology is the much talked about Qualcomm 5G chip that was announced at Mobile World Congress 2019. Qualcomm had announced that it would be integrating the 5G modem chips with its Snapdragon processors. The technology is supposed to come next year, according to Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon. Samsung Galaxy S11 will be one of the first flagship phones to roll out with it in all likeliness.

The new Qualcomm integrated 5G chip is truly going to be a giant leap in the 5G Internet connectivity world since it will allow phones to work on 5G networks without rapidly losing power as they do now. This would mean that the S11 would be able to run in 5G much longer than S10, or Note 10. This will also have an impact on the phone’s ergonomic design, but that’s yet to be seen. With the likes of the new Oppo Waterfall display coming into the competition, it’s safe to say that Samsung will leave no stones unturned.

Snapdragon 865

The Galaxy S11 will be powered by the Snapdragon 865 SoC, Qualcomm sticks to its standard numbering conventions. (The Galaxy S10 and Note 10 are powered by Snapdragon 855, and the 2018 flagship models of Samsung run on Snapdragon 845.) Qualcomm will be announcing the new processor in a couple of months, so stay tuned to check out what will be in store for S11.

However, the leaked benchmarks (shown above) that appeared on Geekbench in August show a multi-core result of 12,946 for something code-named Qualcomm Kona, which hints at the new chip coming in December.

Camera improvements

Finally, Samsung is going to make some significant changes to the camera with the Samsung Galaxy S11. The brand had received a lot of backlash from users and critics earlier this year for continuing to use the same 12MP sensor on S10 for the fourth year in a row since it came out on the Galaxy S7. Since then, it has been rumored that Samsung has been working on a new primary camera sensor that will entirely change the way mobile photography is conceived.

Given the fierce competition, it is going to face from the likes of iPhone 11 Pro Max, a much better camera is likely to be on the way with the Galaxy S11. Samsung introduced a new 64-megapixel image sensor earlier this year called the Isocell Bright GW1, which is its reply to the industry-leading 48-megapixel sensor in the Huawei’s P30 Pro. Moreover, reports out of Korea in May revealed that Samsung had successfully tested a new ultra-slim optical 5x zoom camera module, which could dramatically improve the 2x zoom found in Samsung’s current phones. Given the big promises made for the next S11, users can expect the new sensor along with the 5x zoom to make a debut on the phone next year.

Some initial images were shared on Twitter by the leaker Ice Universe, which was reportedly shot by the new image sensor. Although the images were compressed on Twitter, they still showed astonishing detail. Given normal daylight conditions, the sensor could capture photos in a resolution of 9,216 x 6,912-pixels.

Samsung also revealed a brand new 108MP camera sensor designed in partnership with Xiaomi in August this year, which we have talked about earlier. This new sensor, called the Isocell Bright HMX sensor is pretty similar in technology to the 64MP Isocell Bright GW1, and will likely go into production this month. Now that Samsung has quite a few tricks in its bag to pull out, it’ll be interesting to see which of these finally makes it to the Galaxy S11, as users are desperately waiting for the major Camera update they were promised. However, it seems more likely to go with the 64MP Isocell Bright GW1 sensor, since the Isocell Bright HMX may not be ready for use by 2020.

Going With USB-C — and no headphone jack

A surprising report in October 2018 hinted at what users can expect from Samsung’s Galaxy S11 in 2020. In the report by ETNews, it was stated that Samsung would go with USB-C exclusively in its Galaxy S11 phone. This means that the S11 will ditch the headphone jack, and users will have to pick between wireless earphones and a dongle in the box, into which 3.5mm headphones can be plugged. Moreover, the absence of the headphone jack on the Note 10 and Note 10 Plus makes it pretty much certain that we’ve seen what was likely to be the last of the 3.5mm jack on Samsung’s flagship phones.

Name change on the way?

And the biggest shocker in the list is here – Samsung Galaxy S11 may not even be called S11 if some sources are to be believed. Samsung has stuck to the Galaxy S branding in its flagship for a decade now, and it seems that the brand is finally ready to do away with it.

Yonhap News Agency suggested in a new report that Samsung is considering changing the Galaxy S11’s name. The think tanks at the company are concerned that ‘eleven’ and subsequent versions, like ‘twelve’ and ‘thirteen,’ will be difficult for users to pronounce. This makes sense to a certain extent too, but unless the news is confirmed, we can’t say what the new names will be. Some tipsters have suggested that Samsung will go for standardized branding instead of numbers in the next Galaxy phones.