Here's something that will make Samsung fans who purchased the Fan Edition Galaxy S21 model to show their love for the company mad: the Galaxy S21 FE gets exactly zero Galaxy AI features with the One UI 6.1 update, despite having the same hardware as the Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra.
Now, Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra users don't get most Galaxy AI features, either. Only Circle to Search is part of the package for the Galaxy S21 series, and while we had assumed the Galaxy S21 FE would also get Circle to Search, that is not the case.
S21 FE users will have to stick with standard Google Search
The One UI 6.1 changelog for the Galaxy S21 FE mentions one AI feature in the introduction: special AI recommendations for enhancing your photos and videos when you tap the i (information) button while viewing an image or video in the Gallery app. Those recommendations do use AI/machine learning, but they are not a part of the Galaxy AI experience.
Galaxy AI offers considerably advanced image editing tools, such as the option to move, remove, or replace objects in a photo. It also offers many other features, such as live translation, automatic text summaries, and generative wallpapers, all of which are available only for flagship Galaxy S, Galaxy Z, and Galaxy Tab phones and tablets launched after 2021.
Samsung not making those features available on pre-2022 flagships was already a point of contention for many users, and the lack of any AI feature in the Galaxy S21 FE isn't going to help. Technically, even Circle to Search isn't a Galaxy AI feature. It is made by Google and is also available on Pixel smartphones, but it's still something that Samsung has promoted heavily over the past few months.
There are no hardware limitations stopping Samsung from providing Circle to Search to any Galaxy S21 model, so this is clearly an artificial (no pun intended) limitation. Perhaps Samsung will bring the feature to the S21 FE with a future update? We'll let you know once we learn more, so stay tuned.
