A slightly toned down Galaxy S21 5G with a slightly more affordable price.
Samsung has launched the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G in the Philippines. If you aren’t aware, the “FE” trim came first with the Galaxy Note 7 FE, which was a refurbished variant of the Galaxy Note 7 that was a huge disaster for the company after multiple batteries exploded with it.
After that disaster and a refurbished model, Samsung decided to continue with the “FE” series. “FE” stands for “Fan Edition”. The series is technically a toned down version of the vanilla phone. In this case, the S21 FE 5G is a toned down variant of the S21 5G.
Like the S21 5G, the phone has a Dynamic AMOLED panel, although the FE is slightly bigger at 6.4in versus the S21’s 6.2in. This display also has a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. It is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus like the vanilla variant.
The version that came here in the Philippines is equipped with a Samsung Exynos 2100 processor manufactured on a 5nm process. It has a clock speed of 2.9GHz and for graphics processing, the chipset uses the Mali-G78 MP14 from ARM. When Samsung manufactures a flagship, there are usually two versions. One that use Qualcomm and the other is their in-house Exynos in which case, the latter is ready for pre-order in the Philippines.
For cameras, the phone has a pretty useful triple camera setup. It uses the same 12mp main with OIS and 12mp ultrawide (although slightly wider FoV at 123°) as the S21 5G. It differed when it came with the telephoto as the resolution has been reduced by eight. Instead of a 64mp telephoto, the resolution of the S21 FE is just 8mp. It retained the same PDAF, 3x optical zoom, as well as OIS from the vanilla variant though.
The front camera of the S21 5G also has higher resolution, at 32mp. Versus the S21’s 10mp. AI matters so both of these cameras can produce similar output/quality if the AI is powerful and smart enough to recognise scenes and apply different effects.
For the battery, the S21 FE has a 4500mAh battery with 25W fast charging. This is coupled with the ability to wirelessly charge as well as use it as a powerbank. It will launch with OneUI 4.0 at the ready based on Android 12. OneUI 4.0 focuses on user experience taken from user feedback as well as increased customisation.
The phone has an IP68 water and dust resistant rating and also comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor and like the S21 5G, the S21 FE will not come with a headphone jack but is offset by the AKG-tuned stereo speakers with Hi-Res and Dolby Atmos support. Though, we still believe that Samsung eats their words when it comes to poking fun of Apple, as we know they will do it to themselves anyway, making them look salty.
Four colours are available: White, Graphite, Lavender, and Olive. It is now ready for pre-order at Samsung’s Website starting with the 8/128 variant at Php39,990 and the 12/256 variant at Php41,990. If you aren’t keen on ordering on Samsung’s website, there’s also third party authorised resellers, as well as telco partners. Not fond of ordering online? The phone’s also available via the Samsung Experience Store and other authorised Samsung stores.
SPECS:
- 6.4in. FHD+ (1080x2400px) Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz
- Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
- IP68 dust and water resistance
- 2.9GHz Samsung Exynos 2100 (5nm)
- Mali-G78 MP14 GPU
- CAMERAS:
- 12mp (main), Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS
- 8mp (telephoto), PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom
- 12mp (ultrawide), 123° FoV
- FRONT: 32mp, f/2.2, 26mm, 1/2.74in., 0.8µm
- VIDEO: 4K@30/60fps (front and main), 1080p@30/60fps (front and main), 1080p@240fps (main only)
- 4500mAh
- 25W fast charging
- 15W wireless charging
- Reverse Wireless Charging
- NFC, Samsung Pay no 3.5mm jack, AKG-tuned stereo speakers, Bixby, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
- In-display fingerprint scanner
- White, Graphite, Lavender, Olive
- PRICE:
- 8/128: Php39,990
- 12/256: Php41,990
Source: Samsung
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