Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
Leakers don’t get a break for Christmas, and the rumor mills have been happily churning during the festive season. Of prime importance is the impending release of the new Galaxy S11 range, which is expected to release in February 2020. Only, according to the latest rumors, it might not be called the “Galaxy S11” after all, and Samsung may instead adopt a naming scheme that matches the new decade.
While we’ve all been expecting the Galaxy S11 to follow the Galaxy S10, noted Samsung leaker Ice Universe has other ideas. On Christmas Eve, the leaker posted two simple words on their Twitter account: “Galaxy S20”. While not particularly cryptic, Ice Universe followed up with another tweet to clarify.
Next year is 2020, and 20 is a new beginning.
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) December 24, 2019
If true, this wouldn’t be the first time a phone company has made such a change. Huawei jumped from the Huawei P10 and Mate 10 to the P20 and Mate 20, so it’s not beyond the realms of comprehension for Samsung to do the same. However, unlike Huawei, Samsung may choose to then go up in single digits from there on, following the S20 with the S21 and so on. Why? Because then the current Samsung flagship’s number would match the year — making it even easier for consumers to know which Samsung flagship is the latest.
Samsung followed a similar strategy when it changed the Note range’s usual numbering, skipping the Note 6 name in favor of bringing the ill-fated Note 7‘s name up to speed with the Galaxy S7. As such, we would expect to see a “Note 20” if the Galaxy S20 turns out to be this year’s name.
However, it’s worth noting that Ice Universe is the only leaker we’ve heard this from. Max J., a leaker who specializes in Samsung news, has nailed his colors firmly to the mast and has roundly rejected Ice Universe’s whispers. So for the moment, it would be best to put your “Galaxy S20” bets on ice until more evidence emerges.
I haven't heared anything about that yet but in my opinion this rumour is not true https://t.co/tUnbVPvkqg
— Max J. (@Samsung_News_) December 26, 2019
But speculation about the name isn’t all we’ve had over the holidays — we’ve also had more rumors about the release date. Ice Universe claims there are two potential release dates for the next Galaxy S flagship — February 11 and February 18. Both of these dates tally with previous announcements in February, but February 18 would be closer to last year’s February 20 reveal for the Galaxy S10; hoever, it’s February 11 Ice Universe has their money on. It’s also worth pointing out, though, that Ice Universe refers to the range as the “Galaxy S11” in this tweet, casting further doubts on the prior Galaxy S20 rumors.
That’s all we’ve got for now, but we’ll make sure to keep you updated as we hear more.