Samsung‘s upcoming affordable smartphone, the Galaxy M12, is nearing its market introduction. A report last month had claimed that the device has already entered mass production in India, suggesting an early 2021 launch. Now, the same source has got hold of some of the key specs of the new phone along with a tentative launch date.
According to the report, the Galaxy M12 may launch on February 6, 2021, in India. The device may arrive with a 6.5-inch HD+ TFT LCD panel featuring a centered punch-hole cutout. Under the hood is an Exynos 850 processor paired with 3GB/4GB/6GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 32GB/64GB/128GB of eMMC 5.1 storage. Samsung is also offering a MicroSD slot that can support cards of up to 1TB capacity.
3D CAD renders of the purported Galaxy M12 were leaked way back in November. The images showed a quad-camera setup on the back of this phone. The square-shaped camera bump on the top left corner of the back panel reportedly houses a 48-megapixel primary sensor, a 5-megapixel ultrawide camera, a 2-megapixel depth sensor, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The front-facing camera is an 8-megapixel sensor.
The leaked renders also revealed a side-mounted capacitive fingerprint sensor. The latest report does confirm the presence of a fingerprint scanner on this phone. However, the positioning of the sensor is not clear yet.
An earlier report from the same source had claimed that the Galaxy M12 will pack a massive 7,000mAh battery. However, the newer report drops that to a 6,000mAh battery instead. There’s no word yet on the fast charging capabilities of this phone. It should be safe to assume a maximum of 15W fast wired charging though.
Android 11-based One UI 3.x software, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.0, and a USB Type-C port should also be part of the package.
Galaxy M12 may launch as Galaxy F12 in some markets
The Galaxy M12 may launch as the Galaxy F12 in some markets as the device goes by multiple model numbers: SM-M127F, SM-M127G, SM-F127F, and SM-F127G. Early in November last year, leaked live images of the purported back panel for the phone showed the model numbers M127F and F127G both etched on it.
Either way, the Galaxy M12 or Galaxy F12 is seemingly just around the corner. The phone may debut at around ₹10,000-₹11,000 (approx. $137-$150) in India. It remains to be seen whether Samsung plans to bring this affordable smartphone to markets outside the Indian sub-continent.
The latest report also claims that Samsung is working on the Galaxy A82 5G as well. This device will likely succeed the Galaxy A80 launched in 2019. It was an all-screen phone featuring a sliding rotating camera mechanism. Its successor won’t likely retain that technology as it’s pretty much obsolete now. The Galaxy A82 5G may launch in South Korea in the coming weeks. We will likely hear more about it as we inch closer to its launch.