As you may have heard, Samsung might change its Galaxy S flagship strategy in the coming years. Rumor has it that the company will remove the base Galaxy S model from the premium lineup in 2026, which would most likely shine a brighter spotlight on the cheaper and now larger Galaxy FE series.
Samsung's strategy sounds reasonable unless you're a diehard fan of smaller form factors. But because the base and Plus Galaxy S models are so much alike, you could say that replacing the relatively compact Galaxy S with the larger and cheaper Galaxy FE makes a certain amount of sense for the entire lineup.
However, there is a chance that Samsung's rumored Galaxy S strategy for the future could backfire against Fan Edition phone fans, as leaving the base model behind might leave Samsung room to increase the price of future FE models.
Samsung need not push the FE price limit too high
The cost of Galaxy FE phones seems to be held in check by the existence of the base Galaxy S flagship. Simply put, Samsung needs to maintain a wide enough price gap between Galaxy FE and base Galaxy S models, or else they might not be able to coexist.
Here's a quick recap of the history of Galaxy FE and base Galaxy S prices for the US market:
- The Galaxy S20 FE went on sale in 2020 for $699, and the base Galaxy S20 debuted for a whopping $999. There was a $300 gap between them.
- In 2022, the Galaxy S21 FE went on sale for $699. The base Galaxy S22 debuted for $799. There was a mere $100 price gap, which might not have been large enough to justify late release of the FE model.
- The Galaxy S23 FE was announced in 2023 for $599, but after pre-orders ended, the price went up to $629. Nevertheless, the base Galaxy S23 went on sale for $799, meaning the gap was now wider at $170.
- The Galaxy S24 FE costs $649, and the base Galaxy S24 is available for $799. The price gap is now $150.
As you can see, the cost difference between the Galaxy FE and the base flagship models varied with each generation. The gap was widest in 2020, but that's because the base Galaxy S was a lot more expensive than its sequels.
Incidentally, 2020 and 2022 were the years in which Fan Edition phones had the highest prices. And in 2022, the price gap was at its lowest because the S21 FE was arguably overpriced at $699, and the base Galaxy S dropped to $799.
The story continues after the video
To get back to the matter at hand, if Samsung removes the base Galaxy S model from the equation in 2026, the responsibility to keep Galaxy FE prices in check will fall on the shoulders of the Plus variant.
As we all know, the Plus variants cost more. And we fear this could leave room for future Fan Edition phone prices to creep back up to $699 or even exceed that ceiling. This might be the fatal flaw in Samsung's rumored plan for the series, and if it comes to pass, FE phone enthusiasts will bear the brunt.
All in all, we don't know what will happen to the base Galaxy S model in the future, but if Samsung abandons it, we can only hope the strategy won't backfire against Galaxy FE fans.
Besides, making both FE and small Galaxy phone fans unhappy at the same time might not be such a great idea. The way we see it, the main thing that will prevent that from happening will be for Samsung to continue offering Galaxy FE phones at reasonable prices, regardless of what happens to the base S model.
