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Unlike the massively popular Galaxy S20 FE 5G, commercially released back in the fall of 2020 at a reasonable starting price of $699 with excellent specifications in tow, the 5G-enabled S21 FE was pretty much set up to fail right off the bat, debuting a little too late and with nowhere near enough substantial upgrades to justify its unchanged MSRP in 2022.
While you might be inclined not to trust a prediction regarding a device that's definitely still a few months away from an official announcement, the arguments supporting Ianzuk's theory of no S22 FE 5G release this year certainly seem to make sense... if true.
Samsung is purportedly yet to begin developing firmware for its next Fan Edition smartphone, and perhaps most alarmingly (for folks eager to get their hands on a Galaxy S21 FE sequel as soon as possible), the "development team does not have any AP-related content for the mounting of the model."
The S21 FE might never get a sequel.
To be perfectly honest, we're not entirely sure exactly what that latter part means, but there's a very good chance Samsung hasn't decided what AP (application processor) to use on the Galaxy S22 FE, contrary to a string of conflicting recent reports calling for a MediaTek and then an Exynos silicon to run the performance show.
This situation is apparently similar to when "previous Galaxy Note models were not released", which means the S22 FE could see daylight a year or so after the S21 FE... or not materialize at all, going the way of the dodo and the aforementioned Note family.
For the time being, we'll assume the phone's development is simply in such an early stage that inside information about it has yet to come out, although if that doesn't change in the near future, the discontinuation of the Fan Edition handset lineup will need to be taken into consideration as a strong possibility as well.
What could this mean for the Galaxy S23 series?
While it's definitely a little early to jump to conclusions, it's also no secret that the S21 FE's appeal was quickly and seriously harmed by Samsung's "vanilla" S22.
The latter 6.1-inch Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 powerhouse in turn proved less successful than its big Ultra brother, so if the Galaxy S22 FE is to be cancelled altogether (and that remains a big "if"), it would certainly make sense for the base S23 version to grow larger and perhaps even cheaper.
Early Galaxy S23 concept with under-display camera.
Keeping in mind that these are all simple assumptions on our part extrapolating on a rumor that's in no way, shape, or form confirmed at the moment, just how great would a $700 or even $750 Galaxy S23 with, say, a 6.3-inch 120Hz screen and Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon 8-series beast on deck be?
Given that the Galaxy S22 is already down from a list price of $800 to, you guessed it, $700 at a bunch of major US retailers, our dream for 2023's S23 is definitely achievable... as long as the phone won't adopt any new groundbreaking features or design elements like an under-display selfie camera.
That sort of a plan would explain the rumored lack of S22 FE development, although a simpler explanation is probably a resurgence of the chip shortage that led to the tardy release of the S21 FE early this year.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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