The Galaxy S21 FE is official as Samsung's latest high-end phone, one that gives you the best Galaxy S21 features at a competitive price that starts at $699. This phone was originally supposed to come out back in the late third quarter of 2021, and following a string of delays, Samsung is releasing it here in 2022, with a release date set for January 11 for many markets.
All the delays haven't changed anything about the hardware of the phone – all the specs match those what we've been hearing for the last couple of months. But the delays bring one major benefit on the software side: The Galaxy S21 FE is the first Samsung phone to run Android 12 and One UI 4.0 out of the box.
We had revealed this would be the case a few weeks back when official Galaxy S21 FE firmware had shown up online in our archives. Recent benchmarks all had the phone running Android 12, as well, and now that we've had hands-on time with the Galaxy S21 FE, we can confirm it once and for all.
With the Galaxy S21 FE running Android 12 and One UI 4.0 out of the box, the device will go on to get an additional major OS upgrade over the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra. Those three phones launched running Android 11 and will only get updated till Android 14 if Samsung sticks to its current software update policy, while the Galaxy S21 FE is eligible for Android 15 and whatever One UI version accompanies it.
SamsungGalaxy S21 FE
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