At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today, the company has finally unveiled its new phone, the S21 FE. The company is selling this version of the S21 for $700 on January 11th. The regular S21 has the same processor, refresh rate, and camera system as this year's model, but it is $100 less. The S21 FE has a bigger battery and is powered by the latest version of the OS. The S21 FE appears to be a well-rounded device based on our brief hands-on with a test unit.
The S21 FE is not as eye-catching as last year's flagship. The housing of the S21 is not as shiny as the original one, and it has a similar bump on the top left corner. This style is kind of bland. The S21 FE feels sturdy and resists fingerprints.
The S21 FE can be ordered in lavender, olive, silver or black, which is the color of my sample unit.
The S21 FE is slightly heavier than the S21, which is reasonable since the newer model has a bigger screen. The display still runs at Full HD+, and is bright and sharp. Don't expect S Pen support like you would get on the S21+ and Ultra. The Fan Edition doesn't support the stylus of the manufacturer.
The rear cameras of the S21 FE and the original model are different. The FE has a slightly wider field of view than the other version, which has a 12-megapixel main camera with a f/1.8. The S21 has a 64MIPs sensor while the FE uses an 8MIPs one, both of which offer 30x Space zoom.
During my hands-on period with the S21 FE, I haven't noticed any major issues with picture quality, and I haven't put its cameras through rigorous testing. Images were clear and colorful. The FE has a sharper front camera than the original. The selfies I have taken with it so far were sharp and the strands of my damaged hair were clear.
The S20 FE differed from the S20. The S20 FE is one of the best-selling phones in the past year, with 10 million units sold in just over a year.
I can't tell you how the S21 FE will stack up to other phones in this price range since this is just a brief hands-on. It faces stiff competition from the Pixel 6, which has a similar design and has excellent cameras and software at the same cost.
The S21 FE is an appealing phone to many fans of the company, but the company chose an awkward time to release it. With next-gen flagships likely to be on the horizon, shoppers might be inclined to wait and see what the company has to offer. If you want to buy a new S series phone, at least wait until we can test the S21 FE more thoroughly.
You can follow all of the news from the show here.
