Galaxy S21 FE is official: Enter the new mid-range Samsung flagship

The worst kept secret in the mobile world is no longer such, as Samsung's glasstic Galaxy S21 FE is now finally official after months of extensive leaks. The phone that's carefully straddling the line between mid-rangers and those premium flagships will start at $699 for the 6GB RAM/128GB storage version, while $769 will get you a Galaxy S21 FE with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. That's mostly similar to what the initial retail pricing of the Galaxy S20 FE was, so Samsung is keeping its Fan Edition pricing policy in check.

Yet, with the approaching arrival of the Galaxy S22 series, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE will have little time under the spotlights and might not enjoy the same warm reception as its predecessor, the Galaxy S20 FE price champion. Moreover, competition from Samsung itself in the form of the top-tier Galaxy A-series means that the company is further watering down its lineup of devices, which are now available at almost any given price point, and this might confuse the potential adopters of the Galaxy S21 FE.

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Dressed in 'glasstic' with a metal frame, the S21 FE will be available in four distinct colors: Olive, Graphite, Lavender, and White. The sloping camera island at the back certainly calls back to the design of the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21+ from last year, but the overall design is a bit subtler on this new here Galaxy S21 FE. There's Gorilla Glass Victus up front, which should eliminate most scratches and scuffs caused by regular, everyday usage. The 'physical endurance' of Samsung's latest darling is complemented by IP68 water and dust resistance.

Now signature Samsung design features like dual stereo speakers, in-display fingerprint sensor, and lack of a headphone jack or expandable storage further complement the specs sheet of the Galaxy S21 FE.

A 6.4-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz screen refresh rate sits at the front of the phone, and if you've seen a Samsung AMOLED panel, you probably know what to expect: a bright and colorful display. Unlike the decidedly more premium Galaxy flagships, the Galaxy S21 FE only comes with a FHD+ panel, which isn't super sharp but should bode well for the phone's overall power efficiency.

Under the hood, the Galaxy S21 FE is powered by last year's top chip, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. Make no mistake, while this one was recently superseded by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 as the top offering in Qualcomm's portfolio, it's still a flagship-grade chipset with excellent performance and efficiency that's also ticking in the Galaxy S21-series itself.

Paired with the 6 or 8GB of RAM on board, the Galaxy S21 FE might not be as well-packed as the flagships, but should offer sufficient performance for just about anybody. What's important to mention here is that most Galaxy S21 FE units will be powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset, with only select Asian markets getting an Exynos 2100 version.

The camera situation is mid-range at best. The Galaxy S21 FE comes with a 12MP ultra-wide and a 12MP wide-angle cameras, as well as a 8MP telephoto snapper that can achieve up to 30X digital zoom. The selfie camera measures in at 32MP and hints at the youthful target audience for the phone and give your mug much more sharpness that is probably needed.

Battery-wise, we get a 4,500mAh battery with fast wireless charging 2.0. This means that you can charge the phone at up to 25W, but you should know that there's no charger included in the box of the phone. You'll have to buy the charger separately, and that's yet another area in which the S21 FE approaches flagship territory.

Here's how the Galaxy S21 FE measures up against the Galaxy S21+:

Of course, Samsung has sprinkled the camera with tons of software goodies, like an automatic AI-assisted portrait mode, a dual video-recording mode that seems ideal for vlogging, as well as the usual long-exposure night mode.

On a pretty important side note, the Galaxy S21 FE is also technically the first device to ship with Android 12 and One UI 4 out of the box. The same will certainly apply to the upcoming Galaxy S22 series as well, but the pioneer accolades now go to the Galaxy S21 FE.