We’re barely done with the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 launch, but Samsung Galaxy Unpacked Part 2 is already official. The event is scheduled 7 a.m. PT/10 a.m. ET on October 20, and Samsung says we’re all invited to watch the livestream on Samsung’s YouTube channel. All that’s left to do is wait and wonder what they have planned.
Samsung holds events a few times each year. A new lineup of Galaxy S21 phones was announced in January, and the event in March was all about laptops. The most recent Unpacked event introduced several new products, including a new Galaxy Watch 4, Galaxy Buds 2, and the much-anticipated Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3. Since all that happened in August, what’s left to announce? It’s hard to say.
Samsung
There probably won’t be a Galaxy S21 FE
Last year’s late-September launch event featured the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition (FE), but we’re not expecting to see a new one this year. The Galaxy S21 FE was originally going to launch in mid-October, but the launch was reportedly canceled due to a chip shortage affecting the mobile market.
While the chip issue could have been resolved, a report from Korean news site Digital Daily makes a launch of this device seem unlikely. It quoted a Samsung official as saying: “We are reviewing the smartphone launch itself.”
Evan Blass
How about a Galaxy Note 21? Don’t get your hopes up
It’s probably not going to be a Galaxy Note 21, either. Aside from rumors of it also being canceled, foldable devices are a natural replacement for Note phones. Foldable smartphones are as small as a regular smartphone, and they have as much room for productivity as a tablet. Now that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 supports the S Pen, how can the Galaxy Note compete?
Wait and see
This year, users are invited to Galaxy Unpacked Part 2 “to see how Samsung is opening up new experiences for self-expression through technology.”
That doesn’t fuel much speculation, but at least we know what not to expect. The wait will end when the event starts at 7 a.m. PT/10 a.m. ET on October 20 . You can watch the stream on YouTube and follow along with the news being posted in Samsung Newsroom. We’ll be doing our own coverage as well, of course.