Samsung has confirmed the date of its next Galaxy Unpacked event, where it is expected to unveil its 2021 flagship phones in the Samsung Galaxy S21 family.

The event is scheduled to take place on 14 January, bringing the event forward by about a month compared to previous years. The date corroborates with earlier leaks which has suggested the launch would take place on this date. It will begin at 10:00 EST, 15:00 GMT.

Samsung's tagline for the event appears to be "make your everyday life epic", while the teaser images show an obscured rotating camera module. The design matches what we've seen from leaks and early renders of the phone.

Samsung is likely to focus on the camera as has become the trend for smartphone launches. While Samsung has offered great camera performance for a number of years, its premium play on the 2020 Galaxy S20 Ultra drew criticism for chasing big numbers without delivering a big performance.

The company has also become more sensitive to price inflation, with many rumours suggesting that the Galaxy S21 will see the prices of the handsets moved down slightly, leaving a premium model in flagship position, the S21 Ultra, but making the Galaxy S21 and S21+ slightly more affordable by making some design changes, like a plastic back and flat display.

The hardware that will be powering many of the devices - the Exynos 2100 - is expected to be announced on 12 January, while US and Korean models are expected to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, making this one of the first announced devices to be powered by the new hardware.

Samsung's aim appears to be to get the new devices to market earlier in the year in 2021, with many suspecting that a bumper launch later in the year will focus on foldable phones, with new Z Fold and Z Flip models expected.