Several reliable sources join 'team January' for Samsung's Galaxy S21 FE 5G launch
UPDATE: Shortly after Ross Young's latest reveal, both Jon Prosser and Max Weinbach chimed in on Twitter to "confirm" the revised Galaxy S21 FE timeline. The handset is now almost certainly "delayed until January" and could finally break cover on January 11, 2022... if Samsung's current plans don't end up changing once again. Our original story follows below.
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Samsung's seemingly mixed signals of late have obviously not done much to clear the air, but according to at least one well-connected insider, that October 20 Unpacked event confirmed earlier this week may not prove to be related to the S21's Fan Edition in any way.
The handset's production is still some way off
What was initially supposed to happen back in August or even July has yet to happen, with Ross Young's newest prediction calling for an S21 FE 5G production start in December.
If you're not familiar with Young's name and reputation, you should know that this is a very experienced supply chain analyst we're talking about here, with a solid track record of anticipating product launches (and cancellations) based on rumblings in the smartphone manufacturing industry.
The S21 FE is not exactly the tech world's best kept secret
In other words, there's an almost zero chance that Galaxy S21 FE production has kicked off without Young's knowledge, which in turn makes an October 20 announcement and shipment start by the end of the month feel highly unlikely.
Of course, Samsung could theoretically unveil the undoubtedly inexpensive high-ender next week and then choose to commercially release it... when ready, but if the company barely plans to begin manufacturing the device in December, we may have to wait until January for actual deliveries.
Today's updated forecast just so happens to line up with a recent SamMobile report that many deemed sketchy at first glance. The publication's sources indicated last week that Samsung was considering a January 2022 Galaxy S21 FE 5G launch with minimal fanfare, which could end up contributing to a Galaxy S22 series delay until February.
But what about the "Galaxy Unpacked Part 2" event?
We obviously hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if this freshly revised S21 FE schedule is to be trusted (and it probably is), there aren't a lot of reasons to be excited about... whatever Samsung plans to announce next week.
That's because it's far too early for any other major devices to see daylight, which leaves us expecting a 60-minute or so hype session centered on One UI 4 software and possibly new colorways for existing phones like the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Z Flip 3, S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra.
Could this event be all about color?
It remains to be seen then if the company will ultimately choose to present the Galaxy S21 FE 5G at yet another Unpacked event in December 2021 or January 2022, with the S22 family surely set to headline its own launch party no later than February 2022.
All the rumored timelines are still subject to change, mind you, depending on how much worse the global chip shortage situation that's causing lengthy waiting times for Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 5G buyers might get over the next few months.
Said chip shortage reportedly forced Samsung to consider releasing the S21 Fan Edition with an Exynos 2100 SoC under its hood rather than a Snapdragon 888, but evidently, that wasn't enough to bring the phone any closer to the finish line.
The rest of the essentially confirmed specs include a 6.4-inch or so flat AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate support, a triple rear-facing camera system composed of 32, 12, and 8MP lenses, battery capacity around the 4,400mAh mark, 128 gigs of internal storage space to start with, up to 8GB RAM, and 25W charging technology.
Basically, the only chance this thing still stands of selling like hotcakes after all these delays is to be affordable enough to make our list of the best budget 5G phones around. So, no, a $700 base price won't do.
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