Samsung's Fan Edition tablets may not set anyone's heart on fire, but you can't say the same about the company's Fan Edition phones. The Galaxy S FE series is very impressive, which is down to the fact that it provides nearly the same flagship experience as the non-FE Galaxy S phones Samsung launches each year, without hitting your wallet as hard.
I would go so far as to say that each Galaxy S FE handset made its non-Ultra Galaxy S cousins pretty redundant when you take into account the aggressive pricing for the FE models. At the very least, the FE models make it impossible to justify paying extra for the smallest model that you get in every year's Galaxy S lineup unless a compact screen is your primary requirement.
Well, at least that was true for the Galaxy S20 FE and the Galaxy S21 FE, which launched around six and 12 months after the non-FE Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S21 lineups respectively. Things have changed since then. Samsung decided not to launch any Galaxy S22 FE, and the Galaxy S23 FE that came out earlier this month isn't exactly as similar to the non-FE Galaxy S23s as many would have liked.
The choice of processors is the primary concern. While the Galaxy S20 FE and S21 FE used the same chips as the Galaxy S20/S20+/S20 Ultra and S21/S21+/S21 Ultra, the Galaxy S23 FE gets the Exynos and Snapdragon chips — the Exynos 2200 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 — that powered the Galaxy S22 series last year.
This might not have been a huge deal if the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that powers all 2023 Samsung flagships wasn't so amazing. Qualcomm knocked it out of the park with this one, and it helped that Samsung didn't bother with its in-house Exynos chips this year and decided to leave that for 2024.
A Galaxy S23 FE that cost less than the other S23 models while featuring the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 would have been a dream come true, but it wasn't meant to be. And so we get a Galaxy S23 FE powered by the Exynos 2200 in all markets except the USA, Canada, and China, where the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is used instead.
Exynos 2200 isn't a cause for concern on the Galaxy S23 FE
That has attracted a lot of skepticism, as the Exynos 2200 variants of the Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra had a few issues, and the chip is also more than a year old. But should that actually be a concern for anyone who might be thinking of purchasing the Galaxy S23 FE?
The answer is no, it should not. As we said in our hands-on experience, the Exynos 2200 is a non-issue, and we want to reiterate that here. The Galaxy S23 FE offers a smooth user experience not unlike the Galaxy S23, S23+, and S23 Ultra, and in day-to-day use, you won't see any indication that the chip is lacking in any way.
In fact, the Exynos 2200 is actually faster on the Galaxy S23 FE than the Galaxy S22, at least when it comes to theoretical performance, as revealed by benchmarks of the device. It also runs cooler here, as the Galaxy S23 FE, like the other Galaxy S23 models, has a bigger vapor cooling system for more efficient heat dissipation, which should be particularly beneficial when you're gaming for long hours.
We will talk about the phone's performance in more detail in our upcoming review, but if you are only holding back from hitting the buy button because of the Exynos 2200, we can assure you that there is no reason to worry and you can go ahead and complete your purchase right away.
