After the early leaks back in April 2021 and then the back-and-forth of production stopping, starting and stopping of the Galaxy S21 FE, Samsung finally officially announced the device.
Like the previous S20 Fan Edition from 2020, this year’s watered-down flagship seeks to offer flagship-level specs for a midrange price. This isn’t making it any easier to pick a phone, Samsung.
Introducing #GalaxyS21FE 5G, the newest addition to Galaxy S21 series.
Made for the epic in everyday.
— Samsung Mobile SA (@SamsungMobileSA) January 4, 2022
Can the S21 FE stand out enough for you to notice?
Aside from the slightly larger screen of 6.4in on the S21 FE over the 6.2in on the S21, the S21 FE shares many of its specs with the S21. The slightly smaller screen uses the same 1080p 120Hz OLED panel as the S21 and the design of the newer device is largely unchanged except for the plastic camera bump instead of metal.
The S21 FE also shares the same 5nm chipset as the S21, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 in the US or Samsung’s Exynos 2100 for the rest of the world. The main camera sensor was also carried over to the new device along with fast 25W charging, 15W wireless charging, the IP68 water and dust resistance rating and full 5G capabilities.
So what’s the difference? Well, the 4,500mAh battery of the S21 FE comes from the S21’s bigger brother, the S21+. Other than that, specs have been cut back to reach that lower price point.
The S21 FE uses an 8MP telephoto lens instead of the 64MP lens in the S21. The S21 also comes standard with two more gigabytes of RAM. Don’t expect all the same software bells and whistles in the FE either. Although it does ship with Android 12 and One UI 4.0.
With the S21 FE, Samsung is surely looking to repeat the success it saw with the S20 FE launch. But in the time since, it’s released the A52s 5G and dropped the price of the base S21 and Galaxy Z Flip 3, making it slightly harder to find the right mix of features at a comfortable price point. Then there’s the whole S22 launch that’s around the corner.
While Samsung was eager to share the news of the new device, it was less eager to share info on local pricing and availability. When we know more we’ll update this article.
UPDATE: Samsung South Africa has announced that the Galaxy 21 FE will be available from 11 January 2022 and will cost R15,000.
Looks like the R16 999 pricetag is the cost of the bundle. @SamsungMobileSA have just confirmed that the #S21FE5G will be available on 11 January and will cost R14 999. https://t.co/70uA1T9smo
— Brendon Petersen (@BrendonInCT) January 6, 2022