Samsung is making microSD card support exclusive to the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
What you need to know
- Reports suggest that the Galaxy S21 and S21+ will not support expandable storage.
- The Galaxy S21 Ultra will reportedly be the only model with a microSD card slot.
- Each Galaxy model will come with a starting base storage of 128GB, while the S21 Ultra will feature as much as 512GB of storage.
Samsung seems to be throwing all its eggs into the Ultra basket, betting on its premium Galaxy S21 model to make waves by giving it exclusive features over the other two flagship models. It’s already been highly rumored that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra will be the first and only S21 model to support the S-Pen, a feature that was previously exclusive to the Galaxy Note series. Another rumor suggests that the Ultra will receive yet another exclusive feature, but this time it’s one that Samsung is removing from its other models. According to a tweet by Roland Quandt from WinFuture, Samsung is withholding microSD card support from the Galaxy S21 and S21+.
About them Micro SD memory card slots on the Samsung Galaxy S21 series:S21: nopeS21+: nopeS21 Ultra: YES!Disclaimer: this is from 2 different sources, but still not from an official spec sheet. I’d give this info a 9/10 confidence rating though.
— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) January 4, 2021
It’s unsure if this is a cost-cutting measure to ensure the S21 hits a lower price than its predecessor, but it’s an interesting move nonetheless. The Galaxy S21 and S21+ are likely to come with a base 128GB of storage, and while that may seem like a lot, the growing needs of consumers continue to push the base storage size up throughout the years. Users who will need more storage will likely have to rely on the cloud or set their sights on the 256GB models. According to Quandt, the information is specific to the European models but is likely to be true for other regions as well.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is also likely to start at 128GB, but will also come in 256GB and 512GB sizes, so putting a microSD card slot on this model alone is a little confusing. It may have to do with the massive 108MP main camera module that will also be exclusive to the S21 Ultra, but given the extra storage option, the decision to cut off the other models from supporting some of the best microSD cards for Android seems questionable.
We recently asked users if expandable storage is still a must-have feature, and we’d love to hear from you on whether or not Samsung removing microSD card support would be a deal-breaker for upcoming Galaxy smartphones.
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