Prices may have dropped on the Galaxy S21 series Samsung introduced earlier this year, with the new phones costing $200 less than the equivalent Galaxy S20 models, But rumors suggest Samsung isn't backing off plans to come out with an even cheaper version, a scaled-down Fan Edition. And we have more proof the phone is on its way.
The Galaxy S21 FE just popped up on Geekbench, revealing that the phone will sport a Snapdragon 888 processor. Spotted by 91mobiles, the very fresh Geekbench results feature a model name of SM-G990B. Previous reports have suggested that this phone is the Galaxy S21 FE.
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Based on the data accompanying the benchmark results, the phone looks to come with 6GB of RAM (5.2GB usable) and a system-on-chip named 'lahaina,' which is the codename for the best-in-class Snapdragon 888. Android 11 powers the phone, as you might expect, since Android 12 is only in beta right now and won't be out until later in the year.
The Geekbench 5 scores reprinted in the 91mobiles report — a 381 single-core score and a 1,917 multicore result — seem very low for a Snapdragon 888-powered device. For context, the Galaxy S21 posted a multicore score of 3,302. You should generally be wary of Geekbench results for unreleased phones, as they don't always reflect a chip that's optimized for performance and can be easily faked.
Previous Galaxy S21 FE renders have shown off a phone that looks pretty flat — flatter even than the Galaxy S21. These renders have also shown a centered hole-punch front camera cutout in the display. We'd wager a guess that the screen resolution will be 1080p with a 120Hz refresh rate, though that's a pretty safe bet.
We've heard that the Galaxy S21 FE might make an appearance in August alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3. That said, we think that the budget-friendly phone will have a separate launch from the foldables, since they're likely to steal the spotlight at any given announcement event.
It'll be interesting to see how Samsung chooses to separate the Galaxy S21 FE from the base model S21. The latter is an $799 powerhouse, one we quite like. There's also Samsung's Galaxy A series, specifically the A52 5G in the US and the A72 internationally, to consider. Could the S21 FE bite into sales of the A52, A72, or S21? Who knows, but it'll be just one more Galaxy device to keep track of.
