The ‘budget’ member of the Galaxy S21 family comes too little, too late, and with pared-back specs.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE really challenges the idiom ‘better late than never’: arriving around five months after it was expected – and 11 months and one week after the other phones in the Galaxy S21 family – the S21 FE is finally here only a month or so before the next-gen Galaxy S22 range. This is purportedly the budget member of the Samsung Galaxy S21 range, offering features and specs from the main S21 family, but at a lower asking price because of a few select downgrades that average phone users likely won’t notice. This phone is also not the first Fan Edition phone from Samsung (it should be noted that the Galaxy S20 FE proved rather popular). Right off the bat, the price is a problem. The S21 FE is supposed to be the budget member of its family (a fact denoted by the FE in the name) but arriving so long after other phones in the S21 range, it is full price whereas others have been discounted. You can pick up the Galaxy S21 – a now older phone with more impressive specs and features – for less (assuming you find a good, sub-$600 deal). As Rick Rossovich says in Top Gun: “no points for second place.” Samsung Galaxy S21 FE’s price problem is a shame, because the mobile could be a tempting buy at a more competitive price point. Nowadays, you can get phones with the same processor, screen specs and camera capabilities for less. But the price is not the mobile’s only issue. The phone – even with its wireless charging – is rather slow to charge, and it also doesn’t last long enough between charges. We sometimes had to curtail our standard usage to ensure the phone lasted a full day. We also found the software to be rather laggy, and swiping between menus, closing and booting up apps, and simply unlocking the phone often took longer than it would have on another mobile. That’s a surprise given the phone’s processor, screen refresh rate and RAM, but this isn’t the first time we’ve found Samsung’s One UI to behave like this. To be clear, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE isn’t a bad phone, which is why we gave it a mixed score as opposed to a negative one. We found the S21 FE screen to be vibrant and bright, which made watching content enjoyable. The powerful processor is good for gaming, and the cameras were up to the task for most photographs we took. If you can pick up the phone as part of a bundle, with price reduced in sales, refurbished or second hand, then you might discover the mobile is worth it. But at its launch price, it’s hard to recommend. The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE went on sale on January 11, 2022, after being unveiled at CES 2022 a week before, and retailers in the US, UK and Australia offered various incentives to encourage purchases, including free headphones or in-store credit. The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE comes in two storage sizes. First, there’s one with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage that costs £699 / $699 / AU$999, and there’s also an 8GB RAM and 256GB storage model for £749 / $769.99 / AU$1,099. The Galaxy S21 launched for $799 / £769 / AU$1,249 for 8GB/128GB, but at the time of writing, we can easily find it for £649 / $549 / AU$949 (it has been even cheaper during sales periods like Black Friday and Cyber Monday). Some Samsung Galaxy S21 FE deals might make it more affordable, but discounts only do so much in making the phone worthwhile. What’s more, many mid-range phones like the Realme GT, Moto G200, Pixel 5 and iPhone SE (2020) cost a lot less, and most come with comparable specs that make them more tempting mobiles. So it’s hard not to feel like the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE’s price is too high for what you’re getting, especially when you could pick up the S21 for less instead. You’d be forgiven for confusing the Galaxy S21 FE with its non-FE siblings, because other than its size, it’s a dead ringer for the vanilla and Plus members of its family. Like those aforementioned mobiles, the FE has the same rear camera, Contour Cut bump to house its three lenses. One tiny difference is that the FE uses plastic material around these rear cameras whereas the S21 features metal. That’s right, this is a plastic phone – or maybe we should call it Glasstic, which is Samsung’s marketing term for it, even though its similarities to glass (a common smartphone material) end with the name.
