The Galaxy S21 is official, gets an across-the-board $200 price drop

• from left to right, the Galaxy S21 Ultra, the S21+, and the S21. [credit:
  Samsung ]

Samsung’s new smartphones are finally official, so let’s meet the Galaxy S21 family. The design and specs line up with what was rumored, but the big news today is the price range, which is hopefully a sign that the sky-high prices in 2020 are coming down a bit.

The Galaxy S21 line is seeing an across-the-board $200 price cut compared to last year. Previously, (adding a penny for clarity’s sake) Samsung was charging $1,000, $1,200, and $1,400 for the S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra, respectively. This year, the S21 is $800, the S21+ is $1,000, and the Ultra is $1,200. The cheaper models are seeing some visible cost-cutting, but I wouldn’t say it’s enough to justify a $200 price drop—the price is genuinely lower. And there’s no arguing this for the Ultra model, which still seems every bit as “Ultra” as last year, with a lower price.

Samsung is now calling the base model S21 a “value-oriented” device and, like the Note20, is changing the S21 to a plastic back for a lower bill of materials. The other two phones are glass, and everything supposedly has a “matte finish,” which sounds great for fingerprint reduction.