This will be one great reason to choose the Galaxy S21 FE over the Galaxy S21

The Galaxy S21 FE is almost here. Unless there are more delays, Samsung will announce the Galaxy S21 FE early next month and start selling it soon after. The Galaxy S21 FE will offer most of what makes the Galaxy S21 series so great at a more attractive price, just like the Galaxy S20 FE made the best Galaxy S20 features more affordable last year, and it turns out there's one area in which it will leave the Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra biting the dust.

Firmware for the Galaxy S21 FE went online earlier today on our website, and they confirm that the phone will run Android 12 out of the box. Do you know what that means? It means the Galaxy S21 FE will get one extra Android OS upgrade over the original Galaxy S21 trio! Yes, that includes the $1299 Galaxy S21 Ultra, currently the best Samsung has to offer and perhaps the best overall Android flagship on the market.

For those wondering what we're talking about, Samsung promises three Android OS upgrades to all of its flagships. The Galaxy S21 series launched with Android 11 so it won't receive any major upgrades beyond Android 14. The Galaxy S21 FE, on the other hand, will be updated all the way up to Android 15, and that will be a great reason for why you might want to pick up the Fan Edition device over at least the regular Galaxy S21 or the Galaxy S21+.

Of course, we wouldn't advise making the decision to buy the Galaxy S21 FE just yet. That's because the Galaxy S22 could end up being only $100 costlier than the S21 FE while offering newer, improved hardware in many respects and the same level of software support. It will come out just a month after the Galaxy S21 FE, too, so it's best to keep your options open until both handsets have gone official.

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Abhijeet Mishra - Editor-in-Chief

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First Samsung device: SGH-D500

Abhijeet's writing career started with guides for custom firmware for Samsung devices (including the original Galaxy S), and he moved to SamMobile in mid-2013 and worked up the ranks to Editor-in-chief. In addition to phones and mobile devices, his interests include gaming on both PC and console, PC hardware, and spending countless hours on YouTube watching videos on tech, movies, games, politics, and internet dramas.

Phone Galaxy S21 FE