After all this time, the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S21 is not as far in the future as you might expect. Samsung usually announces its Galaxy S series flagship models in March, but the S21 could be announced as early as January. In fact, we have already received details on the Galaxy S21 Ultra's specs.

Tipster Ishan Agarwal and 91mobiles have confirmed that the S21 Ultra will have a 6.8-inch display, possibly with a high refresh rate of 144Hz, a 5,000mAh battery, a 108MP primary rear camera and a 40MP shooter for selfies, and that it may be equipped with a 40MP shooter for selfies.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra is believed to launch with Android 11-based One UI 3.0, which, according to Agarwal, Samsung's internal codename is O3. [If the S21 Ultra's display is indeed 6.8 inches, it will be a tenth of an inch smaller than the Galaxy S20 Ultra's 6.9-inch screen.

Of course, a fraction of an inch doesn't make much difference in the world, but it's odd to assume that Samsung would back away from its current form factor, or at least keep it.

Supposedly Samsung will increase the device's peak refresh rate to 144 Hz, but if it does so, at least the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra's LTPO dynamic refresh technology will be used and the S21 Ultra will always be 144 Hz to display at 144Hz and not drain the battery very quickly.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro both feature 60Hz displays. Apple reportedly considered a 120Hz display for the iPhone 12 Pro lineup, but may have backed out due to power concerns.

Speaking of batteries, one may recall that last year's S20 Ultra featured a 5,000mAh power pack, as the S21 Ultra is said to use. That device lasted 9 hours and 13 minutes with data communication when set to 120Hz mode in Tom's Guide's custom web-surfing battery test. But at 60Hz, it lasted a full three hours longer, 12 hours and 13 minutes. It is hard to believe that if Samsung increases the refresh rate of the S21 even more, the battery life will not suffer.

91mobiles report suggests that Samsung will again opt for the Infinity-O center-mounted hole-punch front-facing camera design in the S21 series.

At this point, one might have expected Samsung to announce a true under-display camera solution. Nevertheless, it appears that this technology is not yet ready for primetime, and the next smartphone design revolution may be at least another year away.

After all, the Galaxy S21 series is expected to consist of three models: the base model S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra. If these phones do indeed arrive in January, that would mean only three more months until their debut.