The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has a strong argument for being the most delayed and hence most leaked phone of the epidemic, having eventually arrived half a year late and having had every specification leaked months early.
The phone was supposed to be released in August, but it was pushed back to October. The S21 FE was then scrapped outright, according to leakers, before new rumors claimed it would ship in 2022 after all. And so it has, with Samsung introducing the phone at CES 2022 and making it available for purchase this month.
What will you see here?
Specs at a glance:
- Body: 155.7×74.5×7.9mm, 177g;
- Glass front
- plastic back, aluminum frame;
- IP68 dust/water resistant
- 6.40″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X,
- 120Hz refresh rate
- HDR10+,
- 1080x2400px resolution,
- 20:9 aspect ratio
- Always-on display.
- Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888
- 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM.
- OS/Software: Android 12, One UI 4.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 12 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.76″, 1.8µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 123˚, 1/3.0″, 1.12µm; Telephoto: 8 MP, f/2.4, 76mm, 1/4.5″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom.
- Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/2.74″, 0.8µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS.
- Battery: 4500mAh
- Charging: 25W,
- Fast wireless charging 15W, Reverse wireless charging
- USB Power Delivery 3.0.
- Fingerprint reader , NFC; Bixby natural language commands and dictation
- LED flash, auto-HDR, panorama
Release Date
The S21 FE was ultimately unveiled at CES in early January, and it is now available for purchase. It will be followed shortly by the Galaxy S22, maybe alongside the Galaxy Tab S8. After a tumultuous few months for the phone, the introduction of the S21 FE appears to have been significantly delayed.
The phone was supposed to be released in August, according to early sources, but that certainly did not happen. We did have a Galaxy Unpacked event in August, but it only saw the introduction of the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, Galaxy Watch 4, and Galaxy Buds 2. It appears that Samsung was aiming for August but had to adjust its plans due to the global chip scarcity. According to later South Korean sources, Samsung scheduled and then canceled an October event. Similar to August, a Galaxy Unpacked event was held on October 20th. But merely to reveal new configurable colors for the Z Flip 3.
How much does the Galaxy S21 FE cost?
While some fans had anticipated a price drop compared to the S20 FE, especially considering the current model’s lengthy wait, Samsung has instead maintained pricing nearly identical.
The S21 FE starts at £699/$699/€749 for a 128GB device, increasing to £749/$769/€819 for a 256GB model. That’s the same price that Samsung charged for the S20 FE 5G last time around, with no mention of the cheaper 4G model that was released at the time. The S21 FE is available today through Samsung,
What are the Samsung S21 FE specs and design?
The S21 FE, like the S20 FE before it, is a distillation of the main S21 flagship’s design and features, seeking to deliver much of what that phone offered for a little less money.
The design obviously follows in the footsteps of the previous S21 line, although the contour cut camera bump rises out of the ‘classic’ back rather than the metal frame, as seen on the other S21 entrants. It also now comes in colors that complement rather than conflict with the phone’s body, with white, graphite, olive, and lavender models available at launch.
The 6.4 display, like the phone itself, falls between the S21 and S21+ in terms of size. It’s still 7.9mm thin and weighs only 177g, making it a relatively small smartphone. It also has an IP68 water-resistance rating, so it should last a long time. As expected, the display is still a Full HD+ AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh rate, so there’s no significant difference between this and the S21.
In terms of chipset, it’s powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 in certain areas (including the US) and Samsung’s own Exynos 2100 in others. You could have hoped for the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, the 888’s replacement, but the phone was in development long before the 8 Gen 1 was ready.
The chipset will be supported by two memory setups: 6GB RAM with 128GB storage or 8GB RAM with 256GB storage. The camera should also dazzle. On the front is a 32Mp selfie camera, which is, unexpectedly, the phone’s highest resolution sensor.
Specifications and software
A new smartphone model generally implies an SoC update, and the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G has the same Exynos 2100 SoC as the flagship S21 series. It’s a strong SoC that has performed well in previous Samsung models and also runs Android 12 well on the Galaxy S21 FE 5G. Some worldwide varieties of this phone are equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. Which is what we were hoping to see in the Indian devices. Because of this choice, there will be some unhappy supporters once again. The Exynos 2100 supports a considerable variety of 5G bands. This will be useful when 5G becomes available in India, as well as popular wireless protocols.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G has Dolby Atmos dual speakers, IP68 dust and water resistance, and wireless charging. The phone is powered by OneUI 4.0, which is based on Android 12. HDR10 video playback is possible. Google Material Traces The menus and widgets show your design language, but it’s still extremely OneUI and nothing like the Android 12 experience you’d get on a Pixel smartphone.
The software performed admirably, and it provided the standard Samsung experience, with plenty of shortcuts and customizations to experiment with. I did notice one bug: the interface’s framerate would randomly dip, making motions and animations seem choppy. After a while, this would fix itself. It occurred to me several times while reviewing the phone and even after installing the first OTA update. It’s possible that my unit is the only one affected.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has a 6.41″ display with a resolution of 1080×2400. The Snapdragon 888 5G CPU from Qualcomm is combined with 6/8GB of RAM and 128/256GB of storage. The primary camera has 12+8+12MP resolution, while the selfie camera has 32MP resolution. The battery has a capacity of 4500mAh.In its own right, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G is a superb bargain flagship from Samsung. It hits all the boxes in terms of performance and functionality, despite the price increase. It remains one of the few phones in this price category to provide luxury features like wireless charging and IP68 waterproofing. The Galaxy S21 FE effectively replaces the Galaxy S21, which no longer provides considerable value at its current pricing.
