Home
News
You are here

Samsung's Galaxy S11 will come with a refined design snubbing a big new trend

By Adrian Diaconescu

Updated: Nov 18, 2019, 8:06 AM

9comments

Samsung Android

Samsung's Galaxy S11 will come with a refined design snubbing a big new trend

Galaxy S11 concept

Samsung radically changed the appearance of its ultra-high-end smartphones this year, significantly narrowing the screen bezels of the Galaxy S9 and Note 9 to achieve the super-premium design of the S10 and Note 10 families, but if you were eagerly waiting for a similarly drastic transformation from the Galaxy S11, you may well end up feeling disappointed in a few months.

As suspected all the way back in August, the company's next big thing will greatly resemble the Galaxy Note 10 in a number of key areas, according to a well-connected insider who recently claimed the S11 design had been finalized. Twitter tipster Ice Universe "warned" us late last month that meant the floodgates were open for material leaks of the upcoming phone's design, and although the pictures and renders are yet to come, it's not very hard to envision the five Galaxy S11 models reportedly in the pipeline.

No "waterfall" screen, but pretty much no bezels either

Samsung doesn't always adhere to the newest cosmetic mobile industry trends, sometimes snubbing a particular movement and constantly trying to find a middle ground between utility and appearance. The tech giant, for instance, is selling many different "notched" mid-rangers nowadays, but instead of following Apple's (and Essential's) example with a flagship handset sporting a screen cutout, its high-end lineup included models with conventional bezels followed by the hole punch transition.

The Mate 30 Pro is one of the world's earliest waterfall screen adopters

Now that that's completed, Samsung plans to stick with hole punch displays for at least another year, shunning the pop-up camera current (as far as flagships are concerned) until under-display shooters will finally make an "all-screen" design feasible. In the meantime, the Galaxy S11 is expected to borrow the centered hole punch from the Note 10 duo, while further reducing the size of the bezels and ignoring yet another divisive trend.

We're talking about the so-called waterfall screen design, which Oppo first showcased back in July before Vivo and Huawei quickly jumped on the bandwagon. This is basically a more aggressive version of Samsung's signature dual edges on high-end phones released in the last few years, further extending the curves around some of the hottest devices available today.

While cool in theory, this looks... divisive in real life, creating convenience concerns as it makes the integration of side-mounted volume buttons impossible, also causing problems with unwanted touches. All in all, it's hardly surprising to hear Samsung will be sitting this trend out, although there's always a chance the Note 11 gets a waterfall screen next fall.

Three display sizes, the usual speed upgrades, and a camera revolution

No, Ice Universe doesn't have any new information to share on the expected specs and features of the Galaxy S11 family. But we already know from rock-solid sources that said family will include no less than five members. Two of these are tipped to cap off at 4G LTE connectivity, with the other three supporting 5G. Screen sizes will range from a massive 6.4 to an absolutely gargantuan 6.9 inches, with a huge 6.7-incher squeezed in between and no more flat-paneled models in the Galaxy S10e vein.

This is the expected triple lens setup of the Galaxy S11

In keeping with tradition, Samsung will probably unveil the S11 lineup by the end of February and implement the typical geographic separation of Snapdragon and Exynos variants, both of which are likely to offer notable but customary raw power improvements.

That leaves us expecting the camera performance and battery life to be the greatest GS11 upgrades compared to their predecessors. At least in theory, that main 108MP snapper sounds mind-blowing, and not just due to its insanely high megapixel count. Meanwhile, even the "budget-friendly" Galaxy S11e could pack a large 4,000mAh cell, likely to be upgraded to a 5,000mAh or so size on the S11 Plus.

If all this very credible speculation pans out, even those disappointed to hear Samsung doesn't plan to embrace waterfall displays or rush to implement an under-display camera that's certainly not ready for primetime will have to admit there's more to a flagship phone than an eye-catching or uniquely modern design.

View Full Bio

Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.