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Samsung's Galaxy S21 phones could launch as early as January, says report

The South Korean electronics giant is reportedly gearing up for an early launch of its flagship handset in an attempt to grab market share from Huawei.

Sareena Dayaram Senior Editor
Sareena is a senior editor for CNET covering the mobile beat including device reviews. She is a seasoned multimedia journalist with more than a decade's worth of experience producing stories for television and digital publications across Asia's financial capitals including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mumbai. Prior to CNET, Sareena worked at CNN as a news writer and Reuters as a producer.
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Sareena Dayaram
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Samsung launched its Galaxy S20 Fan Edition (FE) line in September.

Angela Lang/CNET

Samsung is reportedly gearing up for an early launch of its next-gen Galaxy S smartphone line. 

The South Korean electronics giant is preparing for a January launch of the Galaxy S21 in an attempt to grab market share from Huawei , according to a Reuters report published Monday. Samsung launched this year's Galaxy S20 line in March and 2019's S10 family in February. The report gives more momentum to rumors that three S21 phones are expected to be unveiled in January, along with reports saying Samsung has begun production of the S21 line.

In the second quarter of this year, Samsung lost the title of world's largest smartphone producer to Huawei but regained that position in the third quarter as China's Huawei grapples with the consequences of tighter US sanctions. But Samsung faces tough competition from other Chinese rivals including Xiaomi , Oppo and Vivo, all of which are aggressively expanding to countries in the West a bid to grab market share. 

Read more: The best 5G phones of 2020

The next phone lineup is expected to come after the recent launch of the . Samsung declined to comment on the prospect of a January launch.