Samsung has, at last, announced the Galaxy S21 FE the predecessor to the 2020 Galaxy S20 FE (the FE stands for Fan Edition). This is supposed to be a device that sits between midrange phones and high-end flagship-level specs of the Galaxy S21. It comes with a Snapdragon 888 chipset and 120Hz display, at a starting price: $699 for the 128GB base model.
The Galaxy S21 FE offers a 6.4-inch display, slightly larger than the S21’s 6.2-inch panel. Outside of that size difference, the S21 FE has a whole lot in common with the S21. Its screen is a 1080p OLED panel with 120Hz like the S21’s. Even the design language is consistent, with the camera bump blending into the phone’s side rails.
The Galaxy S21 FE includes a flagship-worthy 5nm chipset (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 in the US, Samsung’s own Exynos elsewhere) and a 12-megapixel f/1.8 main camera with optical stabilization, same as the S21. It even does one better on battery capacity, with a 4,500mAh cell compared to the S21’s 4,000mAh (though its slightly bigger screen likely evens out battery performance). Fast 25W wired charging, 15W wireless charging, an IP68 weather-resistance rating, and both flavors of 5G (sub6-GHz and speedy mmWave) are all carried over from the S21.
Paying more for the S21 gets you more RAM — 8GB in the base configuration versus the Galaxy S21 FE’s 6GB — and a higher-res telephoto camera. Aside from the previously noted screen and battery size differences, that’s about it. The Galaxy S21 FE will sell for $699 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or $769 for 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It ships with Samsung’s Android 12-based One UI 4.0 installed. There’s no charger in the box, which is a flagship thing now, too.
Samsung introduced the S20 FE last year as a lower-cost, full-featured alternative to the S20. Also priced at $699, there was a bigger gap between it and the $999 base model S20, which made it a heck of a deal. Things are a little different this time around, with the S21 coming down in price to $799, the expected launch of the S22 in February, and the Google pixel costing less than the Galaxy S21 FE. There is a need to think twice before you buy one.
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