Report: Samsung is hedging its bets on the cheaper Galaxy S21 model

Samsung Galaxy S20 Rear Camera 2

Samsung will reportedly focus on the base Galaxy S21 rather than its more expensive siblings.
It has dedicated 60% of its production capacity to the vanilla model.
It will also reportedly drop the pricing of the Galaxy S21 series in South Korea to below the Galaxy S20 line.

After years of steadily increasing the price of its flagships and pushing its higher-end models, Samsung may finally be turning a corner with the Galaxy S21 series. According to a report from Korea, the company is dropping the local pricing of its next flagship line considerably while betting on the most affordable contender to lead the line.

ETNews reports that Samsung is hoping that the Galaxy S21 model will be its biggest seller. It will also apparently pour most of its factory resources into the base model, assigning 60% of its production capacity to the cheapest S21 device. Samsung is also said to be dropping the price of this model to 990,000 won (~$909) — a fair decrease over the 1.248 million won (~$1,146) Galaxy S20.

This price decrease strategy will seemingly continue through the rest of the series. The Galaxy S21 Plus will also be cheaper in South Korea than the Galaxy S20 Plus and will be priced at 1.199 million won (~$1,104) according to the report. The Galaxy S21 Ultra will retail at 1.595 million won (~$1,469). Both models are set to be around 100,000 won cheaper than their predecessors.

Galaxy S21 production: Base is best?

Samsung Galaxy S20 rear in the hand

The reason behind the adjusted pricing and production push is to contain the iPhone 12 series and fill the gap in the market left by Huawei, per ETNews. Samsung may also be encouraged by the popularity of the Galaxy S20 FE — an important device in the company’s cheaper flagship smartphone push.

One could argue that Samsung’s new focus on its cheaper model highlights the irrelevance of the Plus and Ultra models, but both variants still have their own features to offer. Samsung’s Ultra model will likely be the only option in the Galaxy S21 series with a 108MP camera, a 5,000mAh battery, and S Pen support. The Plus model will also boast a battery improvement to 4,800mAh, according to rumors. Both of these models also make the base Galaxy S21 an attractive offering if price, not features, is a chief concern.

It’s unclear if the company will drop the prices of the Galaxy S21 series in a similar manner across other global markets, but more will be revealed come the device line’s launch on January 14, 2021.