Samsung Galaxy S30 series - Everything we know so far (Updated - Oct. 19) - Android

Update: October 19, 2020 (01:30 AM ET): We’ve updated the rumor hub below with leaked renders of the Samsung Galaxy S30 and S30 Ultra. Read on for all the latest.

Believe it or not, we are in the final quarter of 2020. That means we’re only a few months away from the launch of the next entry in Samsung’s flagship smartphone line, tentatively known as the Samsung Galaxy S30 series.

Since it’s early, there aren’t too many solid rumors about the devices to find. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t have at least a few credible rumors. We also can make confident assumptions about certain aspects based on the history of the line. What we know so far is chronicled in our roundup below.

As usual, be sure to bookmark this page so you’re always up-to-date on the latest info surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S30 phones!

Samsung Galaxy S30 series: Name and release date

In 2020, Samsung upended its naming scheme for the Galaxy S series in multiple ways. It jumped from 10 to 20 for its numbering and also introduced the Ultra moniker. These big changes make it tricky to deduce what the company could call the next iteration of the series.

Related: Samsung Galaxy S series: A history of the biggest name in Android

Our money is on the company using Samsung Galaxy S30 as the branding in 2021. Some will argue that Samsung might instead use Galaxy S21, but we are doubtful. Our four biggest reasons for thinking so are:

• Samsung already jumped from S10 to S20. It likely won’t go back to single point launches for this release.
• S30 is a far more marketable name than S21.
• The S21 branding would cause confusion with the Galaxy A and Galaxy F series which use “XX1” numbers (A01, A51, F41, etc.).
• Huawei set the precedent when it jumped from the P10 to the P20 and then continued on to the P30 and P40.

As of now, there is no concrete information proving it’s going to be one name or the other.

As far as a release date goes, we naturally assumed Samsung would announce the Galaxy S30 series in mid-February 2021. That’s the timeframe in which the company has launched every iteration of the Galaxy S series since the Galaxy S9. However, rumors are popping up that Samsung could push that date forward by a significant margin. According to one source, the phones could launch as early as the beginning of January. Stay tuned as we’ll likely have a better idea about launch dates in the coming weeks.

Models and designs

As mentioned, this year saw the introduction of the Ultra moniker with the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. With the successive launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, we are going to go ahead and assume that Samsung intends to launch a Galaxy S30 Ultra, too.

There will also be a vanilla Samsung Galaxy S30. The question remains, then, of whether or not there will be a Galaxy S30 Plus. Samsung didn’t release a Plus model in the Note 20 line so it’s possible the company could sunset it in 2021. However, there are rumors suggesting Samsung will stick with three variants of the 2021 Galaxy S phones (see the next section for more on that).

Related: Samsung Galaxy S20 buyer’s guide

If we assume that there will be three models in the Galaxy S30 series, we can also assume that they will all look very similar to one another. In fact, leaked renders of the Galaxy S30 and S30 Ultra show two phones that look almost identical, albeit for a few minor differences.

The standard Samsung Galaxy S30 is rumored to measure 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9mm. It could feature a 6.2-inch flat display with a centered punch hole. There are three cameras on the back of the phone as pictured in the renders.

Meanwhile, renders of the Galaxy S30 Ultra show a quad-camera setup fitted inside a much bigger housing. The phone could come with a 6.7-inch-6.9-inch display with a single punch-hole camera.

You can see the renders for both the Galaxy S30 and S30 Ultra below.