The overwhelming consensus among fans and enthusiasts alike is that the Galaxy S21 FE arrived a tad too late for its own good, especially when the objectively better Galaxy S22 can be had for just a bit more money. But, how does it hold up against the shiny new Galaxy A73? Let's find out.
Galaxy A73 vs Galaxy S21 FE: Performance
The primary difference between the Galaxy A73 and the Galaxy S21 FE lies in their cameras and SoC. The Galaxy S21 FE, being a “Fan Edition” smartphone, packs a high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. On the other hand, the Galaxy A73 5G runs a Snapdragon 750G. Right off the bat, the Snapdragon 888 is a newer SoC with ARM's shiny new Cortex-X1 and Cortex-A78 cores.
On the other hand, the Snapdragon 778G relies on the previous-generation Cortex-A78 cores for all performance-intensive tasks. It packs an upgraded GPU, too and performs better overall, although it does tend to get a bit toasty under load.
Even though there is more to a smartphone than just its SoC, the Galaxy S21 FE is a better device if you're in the market for a workhorse. Both phones pack a 120 Hz AMOLED screen, so their visual fidelity should be on par with each other.
Galaxy A73 vs Galaxy S21 FE: Cameras
A lot of Samsung's marketing material around the Galaxy A73 is centred around the fact that it is the first Galaxy A series smartphone to run a 108 MP primary camera sensor. In contrast, the Galaxy S21 FE uses an aging 12 MP sensor to do all the heavy listing.
The raw megapixel count doesn't necessarily reflect the image capturing prowess of a camera, but the Galaxy A73 should, at least on paper, outperform the Galaxy S21 FE in that regard. Unlike its predecessor, the Galaxy A72, the Galaxy A73 trades its telephoto sensor for a practically useless 5 MP depth sensor. On the other hand, the Galaxy S21 FE has an 8 MP zoom lens, so that is something to look out for.
Galaxy A73 vs Galaxy S21 FE: Final thoughts
There aren't too many parameters that set the Galaxy A73 apart from the Galaxy S21 FE. The former packs a marginally larger 5,000 mAh battery compared to the former's 4,500 mAh cell, both of which support 25 W fast charging.
There are a few minor differences here and there, such as an IP68 rating for the Galaxy S21 FE and IP67 for the Galaxy A73. Does this mean that we write off the mid-ranger entirely? Not quite, because it still retains the micro SD card slot, something that is missing on the Galaxy S21 FE. Software support could be a sore spot, too, as the Galaxy A73 is slated to run Android 12 with One UI 4.1 on top.
Samsung
Galaxy A73 5G
Samsung
Galaxy S21 FE
General Information
-
Model Name
Galaxy A73 5G
Galaxy S21 FE
-
Model type
Bar
Bar
-
Colors
Black (Awesome Black)White (Awesome White)Peach (Awesome Peach)Blue (Awesome Blue)
Graphite ()Lavender ()Olive ()White ()
-
Announced
2022, March
2022, January
-
Released
2022, April
Physical specifications
-
Dimensions
Bar: 163.7 x 76.1 x 7.6 mm
Bar: 155.7 x 74.5 x 7.9 mm
-
Weights
181g
177g
-
IP rating
IP68
Operating system
-
Operating system
Android 12
Android 12
-
One UI version
4.1
4.0
Networks
-
SIM
Dual SIM model
Dual SIM model
-
SIM card sizes
Nano-SIM (4FF)
Nano-SIM (4FF)
-
Networks
2G3G4G5G
2G3G4G5G
-
eSIM support
No
No
Display
-
Kind
Main Display
-
Name
Infinity-O Display
Infinity-O Display
-
Technology
Super AMOLED Display
Dynamic AMOLED 2X
-
Size
6.7 inch / 170.18 mm
6.4 inch / 162.6 mm
-
Resolution
FHD+ / 2400x1080 pixels
FHD+ / 2400x1080 pixels
-
Pixel density
394 PPI
411 PPI
-
Refresh rate
120Hz
120Hz
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