Was the Samsung Galaxy S21 release date just teased by Samsung itself?

If you've been waiting patiently for the Samsung Galaxy S21 launch - rumored, but not confirmed, to be on January 14 - Samsung is throwing you a bone, because you can now reserve the company's next smartphone.

On the Samsung US website, you can now sign up to reserve 'The Next Galaxy', as the page teases. This is almost definitely the Galaxy S21, though perhaps the S21 Plus and S21 Ultra are included too.

This isn't a binding pre-order, so you don't have to pay anything right now - actual pre-orders will likely open immediately after Samsung Unpacked when the phones are shown off.

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There is a bonus to reserving though - not only will Samsung notify you when the phone launches, you'll get an extra $50 off accessories in the Samsung store (cases, battery packs, perhaps an S Pen if rumors are right and the Samsung styli are compatible with the S21 phones), and also $10 credit in the Samsung Shop Android app (for downloading apps).

So if you're dead set on buying a Samsung Galaxy S21, it'd make sense to sign up to make the most of this free cash.

And a Galaxy S21 release date?

The reservation offer runs out at the end of January 28, one minute before January 29 begins, and for this reason we think it's possible that could be the release date of the Samsung Galaxy S21 series.

After all, Samsung wouldn't let you reserve a phone if it had already been on sale for a while, and similarly it wouldn't end reservations if the phone wasn't fully available to buy.

However, the small print stipulates you have to have pre-ordered by this date, making it seem that pre-orders will begin before then.

So, if we were to guesstimate a timeline based on this, the phones could launch January 22 or January 15 (one or two weeks before this release date), with pre-orders running from the event until January 29, when the phone officially releases.

We'll have to wait for any more word from Samsung before seeing if this release date is correct, but if so, we don't have long to wait until Samsung's newest phone could be in our hands.