Firstly, this Geekbench listing confirms that the Galaxy S21 FE (SM-G990E) will come in an Exynos variant. Well, we have been expecting this since the beginning. Previous Geekbench entries had also suggested so. But the ongoing global semiconductor chip shortage has made it all very difficult to predict. Even the Galaxy S22 series was once rumored to come with Snapdragon chips universally. However, that’s unlikely, and the same probably goes for the Galaxy S21 FE as well. The upcoming affordable Galaxy flagship will be powered by the Exynos 2100 SoC in some markets, with others getting the Snapdragon 888 chipset. There are reports that Samsung will use Snapdragon chips in the Galaxy S22 series in more regions than before due to the current chip situation. It’ll be interesting to see if the company does the same with the Galaxy S21 FE as well. While the upcoming Exynos 2200 and Snapdragon 898, both of which will power the Galaxy S22 phones in different markets, are expected to go neck-on-neck against each other in terms of performance, the Exynos 2100 slightly lags the Snapdragon 888. Time will tell how Samsung will divvy up the two SoCs for the Galaxy S21 FE. Additionally, the latest Geekbench entry shows the device running Android 12. The Galaxy S21 FE was initially expected to run Android 11 out of the box. But it has taken forever to launch. It’s now reportedly coming in January 2022. So it makes sense for the company to release the device with Android 12, rather than Android 11. The Galaxy S21 FE will come with 8GB of RAM, the latest Geekbench listing reveals. But there will be a 6GB RAM variant as well. We are expecting at least 128GB of onboard storage.
The Galaxy S21 FE could launch in the first week of January 2022
Samsung announced the Galaxy S20 FE in September 2020. So the Galaxy S21 FE is well past the yearly launch schedule. Reports suggest the device will now arrive in the first week of January next year, on January 4, to be precise. The phone will go on sale on January 11. We will keep you updated as and when more information emerges. Meanwhile, you can check out our Galaxy S21 FE Preview for everything we know about the phone so far.
