Samsung has been building upon its success of Fan Edition smartphones every year and it seems like it wants to milk out more profits with its Galaxy S21 FE as the brand has apparently launched the device once again, but with a different chipset, and that’s the Snapdragon 888. With a price tag of Rs 49,999, the Galaxy S21 FE with Snapdragon 888 has some serious competition. So should you buy it or skip it? Let’s try to find an answer to that question.
Before we proceed with the answer, let’s get the specs of the handset out of the way. It sports a 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X Full HD+ display with a 120Hz Refresh Rate and HDR 10+ support. The display has 1200 nits of peak brightness. There’s also a 32MP f/2.2 selfie camera within the centered punch-hole cutout for selfies and video calls.
The phone is now powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 888 SoC instead of the Exynos 2100 SoC which the device originally came with in India. It comes in a single variant with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. The phone is equipped with a triple camera setup at the rear. It consists of a 12-megapixel f/1.8 main camera, a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide camera, and an 8-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera with 3X Optical Zoom and OIS support.
There is also IP68 water resistance. It is backed up by a 4,500mAh battery with 25W wired Fast charging and 15W wireless fast charging support. It also has support for 4.5W reverse wireless charging. Connectivity features include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS and USB Type-C for charging. The Galaxy S21 FE also has stereo speakers, in-display optical fingerprint sensor and more.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy S21 FE Review: Better than the competition?
Galaxy S21 FE with Snapdragon 888: Worth purchasing?
Now that you know the specs of the handset, you can guess that it still is a capable device even a year later and can compete with some of the latest smartphones but that doesn’t mean it’s better than the competition. It certainly isn’t, due to the fact that it is employing a chipset that was unveiled nearly 3 years ago.
The Snapdragon 888 chip was made by Samsung’s foundry and while we won’t deny it’s quite a powerhouse, it had its drawbacks. Other flagships which employed it, such as the iQOO 9 SE and Galaxy Z Flip 3 did heat a lot, and that isn’t an experience one wants when spending such an amount.
The current generation Qualcomm chips, such as the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and the 8 Gen 2 are some of the most powerful yet efficient chips Qualcomm has ever made, also thanks to TSMC’s foundry. A bunch of flagships have launched in the recent times that come with the 8+ Gen 1 chipset, such as the OnePlus 11R 5G (Rs 39,999) and iQOO Neo 7 Pro (Rs 34,999) that are not only way cheaper, but also have better build quality and better overall specs.
Read More: iQOO Neo 7 Pro First Impressions: Picks up where Neo 7 left
Even Samsung’s own Galaxy S22, that has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which is again a superior chipset than Snapdragon 888, is currently selling for Rs 49,999 on Amazon India. Yet another aspect on which Samsung hasn’t clarified yet, is what Android version the S21 FE is coming with.
The Exynos powered variant came with Android 12 and if that’s the case with the Snapdragon model too, then its other con for the device. Majority of the smartphones today, from the budget segment to top-end, offer Android 13 out of the box.
With all of that in mind, it actually doesn’t make sense purchasing a smartphone that not only offers an years old chipset but also has an asking price that is more than that of a smartphone which comes with a better chipset and other better specs.