Samsung Galaxy S20 FE gets jump on iPhone 12 with September launch event
Samsung says it's holding another Unpacked event on Sept. 23
Apple may be hosting its Apple Watch-themed Time Flies event this Tuesday, and there's still the iPhone 12 launch after that, but Samsung's not about to stop hosting online product unveilings of its own. The electronics giant says it's hosting another Unpacked event — the third since early August — later this month.
The latest event, slated for Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. EDT/7 a.m. PDT, is billed as "Unpacked for Every Fan." There's no explicit confirmation of what's in store, but the fact that the letter A's in "Galaxy" are shaped like phones and that Samsung used the word "fan" suggests we're going to get a look at the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition that's been rumored for a while now.
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Think of the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition as a less expensive alternative to Samsung's Galaxy S20 lineup, which currently starts at $999. The S20 Fan Edition is expected to cost a couple hundred dollars less — one rumor puts the price at $750 — as Samsung scales back on the materials it uses this phone.
The Galaxy S20 Fan Edition shouldn't be too much of a downgrade, though. Rumors point to the phone still using a Snapdragon 865 system-on-chip, which means 5G connectivity. The new phone could feature less memory than the 12GB you get with the Galaxy S20, but you'll likely still get three rear cameras and a pretty beefy battery at 4,500 mAh. A few rumors even suggest the Fan Edition will retain the 120Hz refresh rate favored by the displays in the rest of the S20 lineup, though with Samsung skipping that feature for the $999 Galaxy Note 20, that could be wishful thinking.
Samsung's Sept. 23 event will be the third in a series of smartphone launches the company has held as of late. It showed off the Galaxy Note 20 lineup on August 5, following up with a closer look at the foldable Galaxy Z Fold 2 on Sept. 1. Meanwhile, we're still waiting for Apple to set a date for its iPhone 12 launch as the forthcoming Time Flies event on Sept. 15 is likely to focus on the Apple Watch Series 6 and some new iPad models.
As with its previous events, Samsung will host the Sept. 23 Unpacked for Every Fan installment on its website.
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Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.