According to noted leaker Ice Universe (@UniverseIce), the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra will be able to turn on both WQHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate simultaneously. This is different from the Galaxy S20 Ultra, where users were forced to choose one of the two, as enabling both would have greatly hindered battery life.

As we noted in our Galaxy S20 Ultra review last year, "The Galaxy S20 Ultra's display operates at 120Hz, which comes with some pretty heavy caveats. In this high refresh mode, you only get full HD resolution, not native QHD resolution."

However, if we are to believe the latest leaks from Ice Universe, Samsung has made great strides in battery performance and can now confidently deploy 120Hz WQHD+ without hesitation.

It has already been reported that Samsung may have opted for a lower-resolution display for the base S21 and used Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 (in the US) and Exynos 2100 (outside the US), a more efficient processor. Qualcomm's chip improves battery life by 15%, while the Exynos improves it significantly, by 25-35%. These advantages are so great that engineers will have greater leeway in deciding which features to enable.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has other major upgrades planned based on leaked information. These include support for the S Pen (though it will require a separate case for the stylus) and two optical zoom lenses (one 3x, the other 10x).

At the moment, Samsung has announced a January 14 Unpacked event where it expects the S21 line to be fully announced, along with the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro and possibly a new Samsung Galaxy Smart Tag product tracker. The phones should begin hitting store shelves later this month.