We’re now in that part of the year where phone reveals are very rare as the industry takes a short break before the never-ending autumn and winter period.
This blissful quiet is set to be pierced very soon by Samsung, as the Korean brand is set to announce a feast of tech in the next month.
While Samsung’s August Unpacked 2021 event hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, there have been numerous leaks not only giving away the date of the show but the entire slate of tech set to be revealed.
An August event has become a tradition for Samsung over the past few years, usually as a place to unveil the next version of its Note series of devices. 12 months ago, for instance, we got the excellent Note 20 Ultra and the middling Note 20.
This year is going to be very different though and Samsung has a lot riding on it.
The biggest difference is that the Note 21 isn’t going to be there. With the S21 Ultra gaining support for the Note’s iconic S Pen, the original phablet has seemingly been shelved – at least for the time being.
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In its place looks to be the Z Fold 3, the latest iteration of the brand’s foldable series. Now, unlike some other members of the Trusted Reviews team, I’m all for the foldable future and think they’re one of the few genuinely interesting developments the mobile industry has taken recently.
The fact that Samsung is set to position the Z Fold as the second-most important series below the monumental Galaxy S series shows it thinks this new category is going to be big going forward.
Previously, the foldables have either been unveiled at smaller events or alongside more mainstream devices. If this August event happens as expected, the Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 will be the stars of the show.
Highlighting a foldable device, still a fairly new and unknown piece of tech, at a major event is a big deal for Samsung and it shows just how far it has improved the idea since the failures of the original Fold just a few years ago.
While Huawei has made a few scarcely available foldable phones and Google is rumoured to unveil a Pixel Fold, possibly alongside the Pixel 6 Pro, Samsung is marking itself out as the true leading in this new area.
The August Unpacked could also be the first time we really get to see the future of Wear OS in action.
Both Google and Samsung have previously teased the combination of Wear OS and Tizen, but aside from it featuring a new look and the possibility of Fitbit integration it’s something of a mystery.
Pair the interesting unveiling along with foldable taking centre stage and you have a very important day for Samsung.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
