In September 2020, we got the first Fan Edition smartphone from Samsung under the ‘S’ series named the Galaxy S20 FE 5G. The phone started at $699 (£699), and for that price, it offered the Snapdragon 865 5G SOC, a 120Hz AMOLED, and a solid set of cameras. We heard a lot about the S21 FE last year, and delay after delay, the phone finally launched today. The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is the latest upper mid-range phone from the brand, which succeeds the S20 FE of 2020. Interestingly, the phone starts at £699, the same price tag as that of the S20 FE 5G.
Design-wise, the Galaxy S21 FE takes design notes from the Galaxy S21 series. There is a similar design with a camera module on the top left corner and a flat panel with a hole punch in the center. Now, the back of the phone is made of polycarbonate but has a matte finish, and there is a metal frame. The phone comes in four colors to choose from named Olive, Lavender, White & Graphite. It is IP68 certified too. The phone is just 7.9mm thick and weighs around 177 grams.
Perhaps the biggest upgrade over the S20 FE is the performance. Compared to the Snapdragon 865 5G, the S21 FE gets the Snapdragon 888 5G, which was one of the flagship chipsets from Qualcomm for 2021. This same chip also powered the Galaxy S21 series of phones. There is either 6GB or 8GB RAM that is paired with 128GB or 256GB of storage.
Speaking of the panel upfront, the Galaxy S21 FE has a 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a Full-HD+ resolution and up to 120Hz refresh rate. The display also gets Gorilla Glass Victus protection. Now, size-wise, the display on S21 FE is bigger than on the S21 (6.2 vs. 6.4). But, it is still smaller than the 6.5-inch panel of the S20 FE. The fingerprint scanner sits under the display, but unlike the Ultrasonic Fingerprint scanner of S21, the one on the S21 FE is an optical scanner.
The phone gets a 4,500mAh battery and support for 25W fast wired charging as well as 15W wireless charging, the same as S20 FE.
Coming to the cameras, Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has a triple camera setup on the rear where there is a primary 12MP shooter with an f/1.8 aperture lens, OIS, and Dual Pixel AutoFocus. The second camera has a 12MP sensor for ultrawide shots with a field of view of 123-degrees. Finally, there is an 8MP camera for zoom shots, and this lens offers up to 3X Optical Zoom. There is a 32MP camera for selfies.
Now, this is the same camera system as the Galaxy S20 FE, so the battery & charging are not the only things that remain unchanged.
Finally, the phone runs Android 12 out of the box with OneUI on top.
The phone will go on sale starting January 11, and as mentioned in the beginning, the price for the 8GB + 128GB variant is £699 for the UK and $699 for the US.