Samsung Denies Rumours Of Delayed Galaxy S21 FE Production

South Korean news outlet ETNews published a report on Sunday revealing that Samsung has delayed the production of its unannounced Galaxy S21 Fan Edition (FE) smartphone due to component shortage. However, the article itself was taken down just hours after without any explanation.

When approached by Bloomberg in regards to the supposed delay, Samsung denied that such decisions were made. “While we cannot discuss details of the unreleased product, nothing has been determined regarding the alleged production suspension,” a spokesperson told the publication.

After ETNews’ now-deleted article was published, industry insiders also shared additional information which seemingly corroborates the rumour. Renowned leakster Ice Universe (responding to WinFuture’s Roland Quandt on Twitter) says that his contacts have confirmed that “something unexpected” has happened to the supply chain, but did not go into further detail. Meanwhile, South Korean insider Ianzuk on Naver hinted that Samsung has delayed the Unpacked Event for the Galaxy S21 FE by a couple of months from its original schedule. 

Back to the phone itself, it’s also worth pointing out that Samsung may have unintentionally confirmed the Galaxy S21 FE’s existence in their response to Bloomberg’s query, albeit vaguely. The device, much like the Galaxy S20 FE that was released last year, aims to deliver users a more affordable variant of this year’s flagship by toning down certain hardware or features. Using its predecessor as reference and also unofficial information from earlier leaks, there’s a chance that the Galaxy S21 FE may feature a flat Super AMOLED display instead of Dynamic AMOLED, slower charging speed, and downgraded lenses for its camera setup.

Unfortunately, we’ll only find out its official specs by the time Samsung decides it is ready to announce the new smartphone. Earlier rumours suggested that the upcoming Galaxy S21 Fan Edition is expected to launch sometime in August, although that may no longer be the case if word of its delay turns out to be accurate.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE Leaks; Allegedly Features Same Design But Different Specs

It’s been rumoured that Samsung may launch a Fan Edition (FE) of the Galaxy S21 later this year – much like its 2020 Galaxy S20 flagship, which saw the release of its FE variant back in October. Although the company has yet to confirm the phone’s existence, a recent leak by renown insider Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka OnLeaks) may have given us a first look at its design and specifications.

According to the leakster, not much has changed in terms of design for the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE. It is suggested that the variant majorly retains the look of the original model, but with some minor differences in size – making it larger than the standard Galaxy S21, but still smaller than the Plus version. Hemmerstoffer noted that the allegedly upcoming smartphone measures at 155.7 x 74.5 x 7.9mm, which is 4mm taller and 3.3mm wider than the base model. 

In terms of display, it is said that the FE will feature a larger 6.4-inch display, along with a single top-centered camera cutout. Similar to its predecessor, the Galaxy S20 FE, the new phone is suggested to come with only a flat panel.

As for its rear design, the leakster says its rear camera housing has received a slight redesign, where it is integrated and protrudes directly from the back panel. The same bump on the original models, on the other hand, is built together with the surrounding frame. The Galaxy S21 FE’s rear panel will likely feature a frosted glass/plastic finishing and surrounding it will be a shiny metal frame, Hemmerstoffer added.

Not much has been revealed regarding the allegedly upcoming phone’s specifications, unfortunately. The only information shared by the leakster is its rear triple camera setup, which is suggested to come with the same 12MP wide, 64MP telephoto and 12MP ultra-wide sensors as the original model, but is said to feature downgraded lenses for cost reduction.

Chances are, it is possible that the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE could come packaged with a Snapdragon chipset like its predecessor. While the preferred choice is obviously a Snapdragon 888, the likeliness of it featuring a Snapdragon 870 SoC for the sake of a more affordable price tag is also plausible. That, or it could instead come with the same Samsung Exynos 2100 processor featured in the original models, or maybe a tweaked version of it.

As usual, we highly advise to take this new leak with a pinch of salt. Hopefully, Samsung would reveal more details regarding this variant of its 2021 flagship sometime soon – provided that this rumour is accurate, of course.