The Galaxy S21 FE has been shaping up to be quite a promising device so far, but that shape now seems to be losing contour. And there's nothing you can do to stop it, assuming you lost the geographic lottery as far as being a Samsung fan in 2021 is concerned. A bit ironic for a “Fan Edition” device, but there you have it.
Namely, the company's reportedly close to not doing a release of the Galaxy S21 FE outside of Europe and the United States at all. This is all on account of the still-ongoing chip shortage that's been making tech executives nervous since spring. The very same one Samsung's been warning us about for about as long. Not that this required much foresight, nor did it do much good for Samsung on the avoiding-a-disastrous-multi-billion-dollar-loss front. Which is a pretty important arena to be competitive in, or so we hear.
Is… prospective buyer's remorse a thing? Like, is someone upset about this?
Coincidentally, the United States and Europe are two of Samsung's largest markets by every metric that doesn't involve a headcount. And this isn't the first time we've encountered speculation of this sort, either, though another rumor did suggest that other markets would get the S21 FE, but with the Exynos 2100 powering it instead of the Snapdragon 888.
Given how well the Galaxy S20 FE did in terms of critical acclaim and sales, Samsung will no doubt try and find a way to bring the Galaxy S21 FE to as many countries as possible, chip shortages be damned. However, which of these reports and rumors ultimately turn out to be accurate is something we will have to wait and see. Samsung's expected to make the Galaxy S21 FE official in October, so there is still some time for the company to work out all the logistic challenges.
