Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2021: How to watch the Aug. 11 event

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Samsung is promising big things to come at its annual August product reveal. If you're a fan of foldable smartphones, you should definitely plan to tune in; here's how to do it.

Samsung's annual Galaxy Unpacked event is just around the corner, with its official date scheduled for Aug. 11 at 10 a.m. Eastern time. Samsung fans, and those interested in the evolution of smartphones, should definitely tune in if the rumors are true.

From the trailer video that Samsung released, the theme of the event appears to be "is 'good' good enough?" The video and its narration point to Samsung planning a massive change in its design priorities that, in all likelihood, points to folding phones as the future, at least for Samsung.

SEE: Samsung Galaxy S21 Series: A cheat sheet (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Additional Samsung event rumors highlighted by ZDNet don't explicitly validate claims that folding devices will take center stage, but they do lend a lot of legitimacy to the possibility. In one example, Twitter user @evleaks (who was correct in his purported leak that the event would be Aug. 11) also shared an animated image reported to be the one of the new folding devices Samsung would announce at the event.

Evleaks also shared images of additional devices, putting the number of potential new devices at five: A new Galaxy Z Flip, Galaxy Z Fold, Galaxy Watch 4, Galaxy Buds 2, and potentially an S21 version of the Galaxy Fan Edition (FE) budget device.

As usual, these rumors are hearsay until the event actually happens. Look around at the event's page on Samsung's website and you get even more implicit validation that folding phones are the future for Samsung, at least for this event.

Based on a July 27 blog post written by Samsung Mobile president T.M. Roh, the Galaxy Note line won't be getting a new device at the Aug. 11 event, and it's possible its key feature, the built-in S Pen stylus, may be coming to new Samsung devices. Roh did say that an S Pen for Samsung's folding devices will be premiered at the event, which ZDNet's Jason Cipriani said could mean the Note line is ending as Samsung shifts focus.

How to watch the Aug. 11 Galaxy Unpacked event

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is happening this year on Aug. 11 at 10 a.m. Eastern/ 7 a.m. Pacific time. There are two ways to tune in: By visiting Samsung's event website, where you can also pre-register and download an ICS file to add the event to your calendar, and on Samsung's YouTube page.

SEE: Electronic communication policy (TechRepublic Premium)

As is often the case with YouTube events, a page will be created several days before the event to serve as a countdown space. This page isn't up for Galaxy Unpacked 2021 yet, so be sure to check often and update your bookmark or save the stream page as a YouTube favorite to be sure you don't miss it.

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