We’ve barely started 2021, but already Samsung has unveiled its first phones of the year in the S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra. And although the series isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel, there are enough improvements and new features to entice owners of older devices to upgrade.

This year’s phones are a little more affordable than last year’s, with Samsung appearing to deliberately coax those who have been out of contract for a while to finally bite the bullet. In 2020 the 5G base model started at $1499, while this year the base S21 starts at $1249, and there’s 5G across the entire range.

The larger S21+ starts at $1549, adding a bit more screen and a glass back rather than the S21's plastic. But compared to last year's phones, the only real improvements for the standard and plus models are in the cameras.

Things get more exciting with the high-end S21 Ultra, which adds S Pen support to the Galaxy S range after years of it being exclusive to the Note phones. Though, unlike the Note, the S21 Ultra doesn’t have a spot to store the pen within the body of the phone; users will need a special case with such a spot to avoid losing the $59 pen, which is sold separately.