The less-expensive Fan Edition of the S21 includes a 6.4-inch 120Hz display. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

After a year of will-they-or-wonโ€™t-they speculation, Samsung has, at last, announced the Galaxy S21 FE. Like the 2020 Galaxy S20 FE (the FE stands for Fan Edition), this device features most of the flagship-level specs of the Galaxy S21, including a Snapdragon 888 chipset and 120Hz display, at a lower price: $699 for the 128GB base model. With the S21โ€™s nearly midrange price tag and a compelling upper-midrange option in the Galaxy A52 5G, itโ€™s yet another addition to an already crowded spot in Samsungโ€™s lineup.

The Galaxy S21 FE offers a 6.4-inch display, slightly larger than the S21โ€™s 6.2-inch panel. Outside of that size difference, the S21 FE has a whole lot in common with the S21. Its screen is a 1080p OLED panel with 120Hz like the S21โ€™s. Even the design language is consistent, with the camera bump blending into the phoneโ€™s side rails.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge
The camera bump is matte plastic rather than metal like the S21โ€™s.

The FE includes a flagship-worthy 5nm chipset (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 in the US, Samsungโ€™s own Exynos elsewhere) and a 12-megapixel f/1.8 main camera with optical stabilization, same as the S21. It even does one better on battery capacity, with a 4,500mAh cell compared to the S21โ€™s 4,000mAh (though its slightly bigger screen likely evens out battery performance). Fast 25W wired charging, 15W wireless charging, an IP68 weather-resistance rating, and both flavors of 5G (sub6-GHz and speedy mmWave) are all carried over from the S21.

So what does paying more for the S21 get you? More RAM โ€” 8GB in the base configuration versus the S21 FEโ€™s 6GB โ€” and a higher-res telephoto camera. Aside from the previously noted screen and battery size differences, thatโ€™s about it. The Galaxy S21 FE will sell for $699 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or $769 for 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It ships with Samsungโ€™s Android 12-based One UI 4.0 installed.

Iโ€™ve had the S21 FE in my hands for a few days, and it feels to me like a device that rides the ever-muddled line between a flagship and a midrange phone. The back is composite plastic with a matte finish, which feels midrangey to me, but the screen is big and bright with all the buttery smoothness of its 120Hz refresh rate โ€” flagship territory for sure. Overall performance feels flagship-worthy, too, with the exception of a little lag in the cameraโ€™s portrait mode live preview. Oh, and thereโ€™s no charger in the box, which is a flagship thing now, too.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge
The S21 FE ships with Android 12.

Samsung introduced the S20 FE last year as a lower-cost, full-featured alternative to the S20. Also priced at $699, there was a bigger gap between it and the $999 base model S20, which made it a heck of a deal. Things are a little different this time around, with the S21 coming down in price to $799. Thereโ€™s also the Galaxy A52 5G, one of Samsungโ€™s higher-end budget phones for $499. And donโ€™t forget that Samsung lowered the price of admission for its foldables โ€” with the Galaxy Z Flip 3 priced at $999, itโ€™s part of the conversation, too.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge
The S21 FE features a gently curved metal rail.

Itโ€™s more than a little confusing, but itโ€™s not a new strategy for Samsung. As Dieter noted in his overview of the S20 lineup, Samsung takes this โ€œa phone at every price pointโ€ approach because it can. It also happens to be really good at mixing and matching features for different price points, and a solid support policy backing most devices makes its budget and midrange phones tough to beat. With the S21 FE, Samsung is taking yet another cut into a market that itโ€™s happily slicing thinner and thinner.

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