Foldables! Two, most likely! Those are your headliners. Samsung tipped its hand with the occasion invite, which contains a pair of geometrical objects that fairly clearly symbolize the brand new Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip.
The different headliner is what we received’t be seeing on the occasion (Deadliner? Endliner?). The firm already confirmed through company weblog that we received’t be seeing the subsequent model of the Galaxy Note subsequent week. That’s an enormous break from the gadget’s long-standing annual refresh cycle.
We nonetheless don’t know if that is the end-end of the road for the phablet. Samsung informed TechSwitch, “We will not be launching new Galaxy Note devices in 2021. Instead, Samsung plans to continue to expand the Note experience and bring many of its popular productivity and creativity features, including the S Pen, across our Galaxy ecosystem. We will share more details on our future portfolio once we are ready to announce.”
Image Credits: Samsung
Rumors surfaced previous to this revelation that the corporate could have been pressured to place the gadget on maintain, as world provide chain points proceed to hamstring producers. There’s additionally an argument to be made, nonetheless, that Samsung has step by step made the Note redundant over the previous a number of Galaxy S updates.
It appears telling that the corporate referred to a forthcoming “flagship” in its official Unpacked copy. With the Note out of the image and the Galaxy S about six months out from a refresh, this seems to confer with the Galaxy Fold gaining the (admittedly ceremonial) title. Whether meaning two or three flagships within the firm’s Armada stays to be seen.
What we do know, nonetheless, is that — just like the Galaxy S earlier than it — at the least one of many forthcoming foldables shall be blurring that Note line.
“I hope you’ll join us as we debut our next Galaxy Z family and share some foldable surprises — including the first-ever S Pen designed specifically for foldable phones,” the corporate’s president and head of Mobile Communications Business, TM Roh wrote. The govt additionally promised “even more refined style, armed with more durable, stronger material” on the brand new Galaxy Z Flip.
Previous — and subsequent — leaks have given us attractiveness at each the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 3. Hell, it wouldn’t be a Samsung occasion if just about every part didn’t leak out previous to the occasion.

A sequence of tweets from EVLeaks has given us practically each angle of the upcoming foldable smartphones, together with (European) costs that put the Fold and Flip beginning at €1,899 and €1,099, respectively. Both mark a large lower from the earlier era. That’s good — if not fully stunning. Samsung’s plan all alongside has clearly been a chronic drop in pricing as foldable expertise scaled. We’re nonetheless a protracted methods away from low cost right here, however maybe nudging our method towards the realm of chance for extra customers.
Other leaked particulars for the Fold/Flip embody a 7.6/6.7-inch inner show, a Snapdragon 888 processor (each) and 12MP triple/twin cameras, respectively. Interestingly, water resistance can be reportedly on board right here.
With a 12 months of digital occasions below its belt, the corporate appears to have a greater concept of pacing. Samsung — together with many different firms within the house — took liberties when occasions went extra from in-person to on-line, meting out bulletins occasion by occasion. Thankfully, subsequent week’s Unpacked is a a lot greater, self-contained occasion.
The different anticipated highlights are each wearables. First is the long-awaited fruits of the partnership between Samsung and Google that was introduced at I/O. We didn’t get loads of information on the time, past the truth that it’ll probably be a boon for customers and builders, with the flexibility to collectively create apps for each the beleaguered Wear OS and Samsung’s customized model of Tizen.
Image Credits: Samsung
“Samsung and Google have a long history of collaboration, and whenever we’ve worked together, the experience for our consumers has been dramatically better for everyone,” Google SVP Sameer Samat stated at a June follow-up to the I/O information. “That certainly holds true for this new, unified platform, which will be rolling out for the first time on Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch. In collaboration with Samsung, we’re thrilled to bring longer battery life, faster performance and a wide range of apps, including many from Google to a whole new wearable experience.”
The firm held an (admittedly disappointing) occasion at MWC targeted on the forthcoming watch. There was, nonetheless, one key factor lacking: the watch. Based on pure hypothesis, I’d counsel that the wearable simply didn’t come collectively on the timeline Samsung was anticipating, however the firm went forward and did a digital presser on the (largely digital) commerce present.
The firm did, nonetheless, introduced One UI Watch — a wearable model of its streamlined OS interface. Samsung notes in a press launch:
One UI Watch along with the brand new unified platform will create a wholly new Galaxy Watch expertise. As a part of the brand new expertise, as soon as you put in watch-compatible apps in your smartphone, they are going to be swiftly downloaded onto your smartwatch. If you’ve custom-made your clock app in your cellphone to point out the time in numerous cities across the globe, this shall be routinely mirrored in your watch as properly. And for those who block calls and messages out of your watch, they may now be blocked in your smartphone, too.

Leaks have additionally revealed the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic fashions together with (once more) European pricing. They’re reportedly set to begin at €279 and €379, respectively, with every that includes a number of sizing choices. That final bit was at all times a sticking level for me with Samsung watches, which have historically been pretty huge, knocking out an excellent variety of potential consumers within the course of.
The final huge piece of the puzzle are the Galaxy Buds 2. The newest improve to the corporate’s entry-level buds are stated to be gaining energetic noise canceling.
Will there be surprises as soon as issues kick off at 7AM PT/10AM ET on August 11? Little, ones, most likely. These leaks generally tend to seize issues in broad strokes however miss a number of the key nuances within the course of. And whereas the corporate is greater than somewhat accustomed to pre-show leaks, it’s nonetheless managed to shock us previously.