When the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE was presented a few days ago, my colleague Ben even spoke of fratricide. He goes on to explain this in the comment on the Galaxy S21 FE and yes: the timing is indeed unfortunate. One year after the release of the Galaxy S21 and only a few weeks before the presentation of the Galaxy S22, the Fan Edition is now looking for buyers: inside:
| Base model from 2021 | Fan Edition from 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| product | ||
| RRP | from 899 euros | from 749 euros |
| Illustration |  | |
| Technical specifications | 6.2 inches, Dynamic AMOLED 2400×1080 pixels Exynos 2100 (Europe) 128/256 GB ROM 8 GB of RAM Triple camera Main camera: 12 MP Ultra wide angle: 12 MP Telecamera: 64 MP 4000 mAh January 2021 | 6.4 inch Dynamic AMOLED 1,080 x 2,400 pixels Snapdragon 888 128/256 GB 6/8 GB RAM Triple camera Main camera: 12 MP Ultra wide angle: 8MP Telecamera: 12 MP 4,500 mAh January 2022 |
| benefits |
| |
| disadvantage |
| |
| evaluation | To the test report | |
| To offer* |
While we’re still waiting for our test device of the Galaxy S21 FE, let’s take a look at the hard facts and find out how the model fares against the base device from 2021 on paper. We will then add the test in a few days and then adjust the above overview accordingly.
Contents:
Models and prices
Let’s get started and take a look at the price tag: The newcomer is available from 749 euros, while the Galaxy S21 only starts at 849 euros when we talk about the recommended retail price. The Fan Edition starts with 6 GB of RAM, while the one-year-old Galaxy S21 is only offered with 8 GB of RAM. Here you can see an overview of the available models:
- Samsung Galaxy S21 FE with 6 GB RAM / 128 GB storage – MSRP 749 euros
- Samsung Galaxy S21 FE with 8 GB RAM / 256 GB storage – MSRP 819 euros
- Samsung Galaxy S21 with 8 GB RAM / 128 GB storage – MSRP 849 euros
- Samsung Galaxy S21 with 8 GB RAM / 256 GB storage – MSRP 899 euros
But don’t forget that these are the recommended retail prices – you can currently get the Galaxy S21 for around 650 euros! Always keep an eye on our deal radar for the Galaxy S21, which shows the current prices.
Design and display
Visually, you can already see how things are going here in the article picture: Samsung has remained true to the design language, so that the FE can visually clearly be assigned to the rest of the S21 family. In doing so, however, the color-contrasting applications are foregone. That makes the S21 FE look a bit boring to my mind.
These are the available colors of the Galaxy S21 FE / © Samsung
You don’t have to worry about the quality of the case, experience has shown that Samsung always delivers above average, so that polycarbonate does not appear to be a flaw. If you put both devices next to each other, you notice that the newcomer is slightly larger: The Fan Edition’s Dynamic AMOLED panel measures 6.4 inches, last year’s Galaxy S21 was 6.2 inches.
Both smartphones don’t do much apart from that, neither in terms of design nor in terms of the display. The screen offers FHD + resolution in both cases and is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus. Both models are IP68-certified, rely on a flat instead of a rounded display, but are available in different color variations: With the Galaxy S21 you can choose between “Phantom Violet”, “Phantom Gray”, “Phantom White” and “Phantom Pink” . The S21 FE is available in “Olive”, “Lavender”, “White” and finally “Graphite”.
Hardware and performance
If we talk about the performance, we can see a clear difference: At least in Europe, the Galaxy S21 relies on the Exynos 2100, which is not very popular with fans, and the Snapdragon 888 from Qualcomm sits in the new mobile phone. But let’s not kid ourselves: The Qualcomm SoC is only slightly ahead and in general the owners of both smartphones certainly don’t have to complain about performance problems. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 also repeatedly struggles with heat problems that the Exynos core is not said to have.
Also take into account that the cheaper version of the S21 FE only has 6 GB of RAM, but even with that, normal smartphone users shouldn’t have any serious problems with daily use. In both cases, you are already surfing the 5G network.
Cameras
A quick look at the back tells us that triple cams are used here in both cases. But the exact numbers are interesting here. On the one hand, the S21 offers an ultra-wide-angle camera with 12 megapixels, while the S21 FE only gets by with 8 megapixels.
On the other hand, Samsung uses a hybrid zoom with 64 megapixels in the S21. The optical focal length is only 1.1 times larger than that of the main camera, but when zooming, the 64 megapixels are used to digitally zoom in on the subject. Samsung is changing this strategy with the S21 FE with an optical 3-way camera that has a resolution of 8 megapixels. We’ll check which cell phone takes better pictures as soon as we have the test device in the editorial office.
It seems that the standard S21 is more for ultra-wide-angle fans and the S21 FE is more suitable for telephoto users. Also read our review of the Galaxy S21 +! There you will find the identical cam as in the S21 and Ben has put the camera under the microscope there.
The camera section on the S21 FE comes in the same color as the rest of the back of the smartphone. / © Samsung
With the selfie shooter, you could at least increase the number of megapixels from 10 MP to 32 MP. Here, too, the upcoming Fan Edition test will show how well the camera delivers compared to the Galaxy S21. However, my expectation is that you will get a pretty good camera section here.
Battery and quick charging
Samsung has packed it up a lot: Instead of 4,000 mAh, it is now a whopping 4,500 mAh, which is a clear plus. How much longer the fan edition lasts will only become apparent in the test. We can only say this much: Quick-Charging is still possible with up to 25 watts, although the charger is not in the box and has to be purchased separately. Even wireless, everything stays the same, because 15 watts are possible here.
Despite the almost identical design, the S21 looks more appealing than the S21 FE, or what do you think? / © Samsung
Software and security updates
As far as software and the associated updates are concerned, you are well served with both mobile phones: The One UI, which is based on Android, is one of the most popular interfaces for Google’s mobile OS. And at the latest since Samsung has reconsidered its security update policy and promised updates for four years, the Koreans have also been one of the leading companies in the Android shark tank.
Three major Android updates are also guaranteed, which speaks in favor of the new model in this case: The Fan Edition comes with Android 12 and OneUI 4.0 and will therefore also have Android 14.
Conclusion
To be honest, I don’t want to say anything final before we can test the S21 FE for ourselves. But at least on paper there aren’t very many reasons that you should prefer this smartphone to the Galaxy S21, which you can now shoot for 100 euros less. The lowest price for the S21 was even below 600 euros and then there is also the new Galaxy S22, which is already knocking on the door with Exynos 2200.
Perhaps it is worth considering whether you are going for the S21 or the S22 – but the Galaxy S21 FE doesn’t come with a particularly large number of good sales arguments around the corner. The longer software support compared to the S21, the optical telephoto camera, the fatter battery or the reamed selfie cam could be arguments – but is that enough? I am skeptical, but would like to pass the question on to you. Let us know in the comments whether you rate the S21 FE in its paper form more positively, or whether you are also critical of the cell phone in the S21 and S22 sandwich.