Samsung released the Galaxy S21 FE and Galaxy S22 a few weeks apart, so, despite the name, the Fan Edition is a 2022 smartphone, even though it's not quite a part of the S22 family of devices. How does it stack up against the Galaxy S22 flagship phone? You can find out in our latest quick-fire comparison video below.
The Galaxy S21 FE was well put together, but unsurprisingly, the Galaxy S22 has a higher build quality and flaunts more premium materials. Both phones essentially follow the same design language, but if a premium build quality is what you're looking for when buying a new phone, then the Galaxy S22 is your answer.
Likewise, the Galaxy S22 has a better display with an LTPO backplane, higher brightness, and adaptive refresh rate, so it is technically superior to the Fan Edition model. Nevertheless, the Galaxy S21 FE has a larger 6.4-inch (vs 6.1-inch) display.
Snapdragon 888 vs Exynos 2200
We've used the Exynos-powered Galaxy S22 for this quick-fire comparison video, which gave us an opportunity to make another Exynos-Snapdragon comparison.
Not counting mobile games, the Galaxy S22 powered by the Exynos 2200 offers a superior experience because the chipset supports more advanced camera features. Check our last Exynos vs Snapdragon review detailing these camera differences for a closer look at the results.
If you care about the mobile gaming side, the Galaxy S22 should give you a long-term advantage because it has more RAM. But you shouldn't ignore the fact that Qualcomm chipsets are usually better optimized for mobile gaming. With that in mind, the Galaxy S21 FE may be a better choice in the long term if you don't push the memory to its limit.
The Galaxy S21 FE offers more screen-on time on a single battery charge
One area in which the Galaxy S21 FE excels compared to the base Galaxy S22 model is battery life on a single charge. It sounds strange, but the truth is that the flagship has a more compact footprint, so it's limited to a 3,700mAh battery. The Galaxy S21 FE, on the other hand, boasts a 4,500mAh unit.
In practical terms, this means you should get about 6-7 hours of screen-on time from the Galaxy S21 FE on a single charge, while the Galaxy S22 can deliver only about 3-4 hours.
At the end of the day, whether the Galaxy S22 or the S21 FE is the better phone comes down to pricing. At MSRP, we'd recommend buying the Galaxy S22 if you can spend a little bit extra. However, you shouldn't ignore the Galaxy S21 FE completely. Battery life is great, the display is bigger, and if you can find the Fan Edition model at a discount, it can offer more value than the S22 at retail price.
You should check our Galaxy S22 vs Galaxy S21 FE quick-fire review video below for many more details on how these two phones compare. And if you want to learn more about each of these devices individually, feel free to check their respective review videos below.
Join SamMobile’s Telegram group and subscribe to our YouTube channel to get instant news updates and in-depth reviews of Samsung devices. You can also subscribe to get updates from us on Google News and follow us on Twitter.
SamsungGalaxy S22