Samsung Galaxy S21 FE

By now, the announcement of the S21 FE seems like a formality. We thought we had seen everything of this Fan Edition but the Slovenian Mobistekla thinks otherwise. They have already dissected a specimen.

Now we have to acknowledge that the above images don't add much, after all, it's a side you'd hope to see very little of in a mobile phone. As far as that goes, the leak is only newsworthy because it does a good job of illustrating how well (or poorly) Samsung has been sealing the leaks of unannounced phones.

Parts S21 FE

However, the source reports the prices of some parts. For example, a new screen for the Galaxy S21 FE costs between 119 and 185 euros, depending on whether the frame is included or not. The source has since taken the page offline, presumably at the request of Samsung's lawyers. But as often in cases like this, it's already too late and someone has always saved pictures. Thanks for that!

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The page was noticed by none other than Evan Blass. It was a Samsung employee from the United Arab Emirates who hit the publish button a little too early. The page in question is now offline.

The question is whether the Galaxy S21 FE will be announced in 2021 or in 2022. Samsung is yet to send out invitations for this Unpacked event. On Samsung's website, the phone gets the type number SM-G990E/DS which makes it clear that this is a Dual SIM phone.

S21 FE Unpacked Event

If Samsung indeed announces the S21 FE in January, it will be awfully close to the launch of the S22. That is usually announced in February. It's possible that the announcement of the Galaxy S22 series has also been delayed.

All we can do is wait and see. So much has happened around the S21 Fan Edition and plans have changed so often that we don't dare to make a prediction about it anymore. And that unfortunately also applies to the S22.

These seem to be the official marketing images of the S21 FE. And that usually means a launch is imminent. Now we've said that before so this time we'll only believe it once it's official.

These images teach us that the Galaxy S21 FE will soon be available in green, purple, black and white in both a Exynos and Snapdragon processor versions. Which version will be sold where and for how much remains to be seen. The source further mentions that the device will be announced on January 4th of 2022. A date that was also previously mentioned by Jon Prosser.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE specs

If the rumors are true, Samsung will then announce a 6.4-inch device with FHD+ resolution and an AMOLED panel with at least a 120Hz refresh rate. On the back of the S21 Fan Edition, we expect a triple camera of at least 64MP with a 32MP one up front.

When talking about the battery, there is a disappointment to report. The capacity is a neat 4500 mAh, but unfortunately, it can only be charged with "just" 15W. That is not very fast. The amount of RAM memory is impressive however; no less than 12GB.

Rumor has it that the Galaxy S21 FE will only be sold in Europe. That would be something new and doesn't entirely explain why there are variants with Exynos and Snapdragon chips. We'd love to hear from Samsung itself. But that won't be until early 2022 at the earliest.

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The story of the Galaxy S21 FE is becoming a bit strange. We know what it will look like and what it can do. We just don't know when it will arrive. It should have been announced a long time ago but that hasn't happened yet.

Possibly due to a shortage of chips, possibly to not get in the way of existing phone series. We don't know the real answer either. But we do hear a new possible launch date: January 11, 2022. This date is mentioned by Jon Prosser and is confirmed by Max Weinbach.

Unpacked Event Part 2

We don't dare to take anything into account at the moment. Prosser previously mentioned the date October 20. Samsung indeed announced an Unpacked event on that date but it is still unknown what will be announced there. It won't be S21 FE, according to this new information.

The Galaxy Unpacked Part 2 invitation shows colorful blocks with several app icons. Among those apps are Samsung Health, the media player, camera and SmartThings. So it's also quite possible that the event will focus on software. Perhaps the official launch of OneUI 4 which is based on Android 12.

The date of October 20 was mentioned before. John Prosser mentioned this date as a possible announcement date for the Galaxy S21 FE. This new Fan Edition device was actually supposed to come much earlier after which it was thought that it was canceled.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE?

We are still waiting to see if Samsung will actually announce this 6.4-inch large device with 120Hz screen. We hope so, because the S20 FE was a smashing success. An affordable device with high-end specifications. The S21 FE also promises to be just that with its Snapdragon 888 processor.

And yet, the invitation seems to suggest otherwise. New colors for the Galaxy Z Flip 3 perhaps? A new Bespoke refrigerator running Android? Or is it the official launch of OneUI 4.0? We'll hear it 20 October 2021 at 7 AM PT (16:00 CEST). The event can be followed live on the samsung.com website.

So enjoy it while you can. Below we see the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE in black, green (or gold?), purple and white. Images of the S21 Fan Edition have appeared before so this won't be really new to the observant among us. Shortly after posting, Evan Blass already advised not to embed the tweet with the images, as Samsung was busy actively chasing leakers.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE specifications

And thanks to China's TENAA, we now know some of the specifications of the S21 FE. This information was spotted by MyFixGuide who also publishes some pictures.

• 155.7 x 74.5 x 7.9 mm
• 6.4 inch AMOLED with FHD+ resolution
• 32 + 12 + 8 MP camera
• 12 MP selfie camera
• 4370 mAh battery
• Snapdragon 888 (China + US) or Exynos 2100 (Europe)
• 8 GB RAM memory
• 128 or 256 GB storage

With this, the Galaxy S21 FE seems to hold no secrets for us anymore. We are now waiting for its official announcement. But in the meantime you can go on holiday with an easy mind, because its announcement is not expected before the 4th quarter of 2021. In the meantime; please be patient.

According to new rumors, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE will support 45W fast charging. For comparison, the S20 FE had to make do with a maximum of 25W. To use that, you even had to buy a separate charger, because the supplied one didn't go beyond 15W.

Meanwhile, what looks like an official press image of the S21 FE has been leaked via Android Headlines. Having this kind of footage leaked is usually a sign that an official announcement is imminent. The future colors are purple, white, green and black. The green variant shown above is a lot lighter than the one that was leaked earlier.

Galaxy S21 FE announcement

Samsung would have preferred to see that announcement sooner. Like so many other tech companies, Samsung is also suffering from the global chip shortage. Because of this, the launch of S21 FE has been postponed to October. That sounds late but is only a month later than when the S20 FE was announced.

According to several reports, Samsung is said to even have ceased production of the S21 FE. Again others think Samsung hadn't even started production yet. Samsung itself says it hasn't made a "final decision". Whether the production has started or stopped doesn't bode well for the launch.

We may therefore see the launch of the Galaxy S21 FE somewhere in September or October. The S20 FE was also announced in September of 2020 so nothing strange about that. The devices we might see in August are the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Z Flip 3. In a cryptic tweet, Max Weinbach reports this on his timeline. He thinks we'll also get to see the Galaxy Watch4 and Watch Active4 on August 3.

No Galaxy Note21

What we won't be seeing this year is a Note 21. There was earlier talk of a year-long delay but Samsung might want to discontinue the line altogether. Other Galaxy phones meanwhile adopted S-Pen support and future Galaxy Z foldables are also rumoured to get it.

There has been discussion about the discontinuation of the Note for some time now. One reason is that Samsung also has trouble with the worldwide shortage of computer chips, and another reason might be to avoid having too much choice in its line-up. The Note was always the largest Galaxy that Samsung sold, but that has not been the case for some time now. Especially now that foldables are on the rise.

Photo: @evleaks

But first we'll take you back to 2020. Samsung announced the Galaxy S20 and that didn't do very well, partly due to the Corona outbreak. Samsung thought it was too expensive. And that is why it put the most important functions of the S20 in a cheaper phone; the S20 FE. The 'FE' stands for Fan Edition.

The Galaxy S20 FE was a huge success and gave the competition a run for its money. It was competitively priced and had the right specifications. It put everything and everyone on high alert. And a successor is bound to follow. Images of this Galaxy S21 FE have now appeared for the first time. They show great similarity with the S21

Specifications Galaxy S21 FE

The proverbial biggest difference is that the camera module does not start from the metal edge, but surfaces from the rear. That saves some extra metal and thus cost. That back is almost certainly plastic, just like the standard S21. Exact specifications are not given by the source; Steve Hemmerstoffer. However, he does think he knows that the screen will be 6.4 inches in size. That's slightly larger than the 6.2-inch one in the S21

Samsung announced the Galaxy S20 FE in September of 2020, so it may be a while before the S21 FE becomes official. Given the success of its predecessor, we suspect we'll be hearing a lot about this new Fan Edition in the meantime.