Samsung’s Galaxy S21 FE brings a critical niche feature to the US: dual SIM card slots to let you carry two cellular subscriptions at once. But considering it’s so similar to the previous model and coming out so close to the Galaxy S22 launch, it’s hard to recommend unless you’re specifically looking to buy a dual-SIM phone. The Galaxy S21 FE comes in four attractive colors: dark gray, green, purple, or white. The phone sports an IP68 waterproof rating and has a 6.4-inch, 120Hz 2,340-by-1,080 display with an optical fingerprint sensor underneath. Just like the Galaxy S21, the S21 FE uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor and runs Android 12 with Samsung’s usual extensions. The phone appears to be more aggressively thermally throttled than other Samsung models we’ve tested recently.
In real-life use, the S21 FE got noticeably warm when playing the extremely high-powered mobile game Genshin Impact, and while the controls were very responsive, we felt like the frame rate was slightly jerkier than it should be. We get the feeling that some software optimization is still needed, but that’s what happens when you test a phone before it launches (the S21 FE officially hits store shelves January 11).
The SIM 2 insignia marks this as a true dual-SIM slot (Photo: Sascha Segan)
More importantly, the Qualcomm X60 modem in the S21 FE supports the new C-band networks launching this month from AT&T and Verizon. We recently benchmarked Google’s Pixel 6 Pro against the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which uses the same Qualcomm modem as the S21 FE. The S20 FE fixed that, six months later, delivering a reasonably priced phone that worked beautifully.
But the S21 line was terrific, and the S21 FE is coming out right before the S22 launches; the current expectation for the Galaxy S22, which may have a $799 base model with mysterious, fancy new features, is February. If you’re reading this in January and are shopping for a Samsung phone, our advice is to hold tight and wait for the S22 launch.
Then we’ll see what new features the S22 family has to offer and how prices on used S21 units drop, potentially below the $699 the S21 FE lists for. That said, the Galaxy S21 FE is a perfectly good phone, and if you need to use two lines at once, it’s currently the only dual-physical-SIM flagship designed for US networks. Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 3.5 Check Stock $599.99 at Best Buy MSRP $699.99 Pros Two physical SIM slots
Samsung Galaxy S21 Review
The best-seller list can deny, but when a phone comes in with an itty-bitty screen and I hold it to my face, I’m in love. Samsung’s smallest, most affordable Galaxy S21 ($799.99) sets the stage for 2021 phones with style and without breaking the bank, and it’s future-proofed with 5G technology so advanced that the networks to support it don’t exist yet.
So the less expensive, slightly larger Galaxy S20 FE ($700 list, often heavily discounted) remains our Editors’ Choice winner for Android phones right now. It’s the successor to the S20, which originally listed for $1,000, and it lives in a sort of uneasy coexistence with the S20 FE, which is only a few months old and costs $700.
The S20 got its overpriced legs cut out from under it by the global pandemic and recession, and then the $800 iPhone 12 arrived and was much cheaper. After mulling over the S21 for a while, I think that if you choose to buy it now, you’re investing in a longer-lasting phone than if you bought a less expensive S20 FE or, say, a OnePlus 8T ($749).
So if you tend to trade your phone in after a year or so, the S21 doesn’t obviously outrank the competition, but if you hang onto it for two or three, you’ll see the difference. I count 2.8 inches wide as the maximum for a one-handed phone, so we’re riding the edge here.
The phone has a plastic back, as the S20 FE does, and comes in gold, gray, pink, purple, red, or white, with a three-camera module as a slightly raised accent in the corner. I’m happy to say that the second-generation Qualcomm ultrasonic fingerprint sensor works more quickly and accurately than last year’s.
The S21 benchmarks the same here as on the S21 Ultra, which I describe in more detail in that review (ultimately, it’s about 15% faster on processor and graphics measurements than the last generation). That 5G use range of 7 to 8 hours is just about at the lower limit of tolerance if you use your phone intensively throughout the day.
OnePlus addresses the small battery problem by offering ridiculously fast charging, but Samsung doesn’t seem to have gotten that memo. There’s a main 12MP camera, a 12MP 120-degree ultra-wide, and a 64MP, 3x optical telephoto that can get to 12x zoom without digital enhancement tricks.
After speaking to several North American carriers, I just don’t think you’ll see any of those advantages until late 2021 or early 2022.
The US model is a single-SIM phone, with eSIM support disabled, that works on both sub-6 and millimeter-wave networks for all three US carriers. These are also the first Samsung phones to support C-band, the new 5G airwaves wireless carriers just spent more than $80 billion for. I tested the S21 Ultra and S21 against an S20+ and iPhone 12 on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks near my home in New York City and got pretty much the same performance.
Samsung got basic call quality down years ago; the only issue is the lack of a headphone jack in the phone or a USB-C wired headset in the box. When we gave the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE an Editors’ Choice award a few months ago, we called it “everything you need, and nothing else.”
For now, the Galaxy S20 FE still offers a better value for the power and battery life most people want. Samsung Galaxy S21 4.0 Check Stock $714.44 at Amazon MSRP $799.99 Pros Hand-friendly form factor
Supports future 5G network features View More Cons 5G battery life is just on the edge of acceptable
Samsung Galaxy S23 au meilleur prix
Cet écran sera en outre utilisé pour le déblocage du téléphone grâce au capteur d’empreintes digitales intégré. Le Samsung Galaxy S23 est équipé d’une puce Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 accompagnée d’une mémoire vive de 8 Go et d’un chipset graphique Adreno 740.
À noter : le stockage n’est pas extensible en raison d’un emplacement pour carte microSD absent des caractéristiques du produit. La caméra principale du Samsung S23 Ultra dispose d’une résolution élevée de 200 MP et d’un zoom optique 10x.
Tous les modèles S23 fonctionnent sous Android 13 et intègrent une interface propriétaire Samsung One UI 5.1.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra au meilleur prix
Ce smartphone de nouvelle génération se démarque de son prédécesseur, le S22 Ultra prix, avec ses surfaces mates d’une discérition séduisante, ses optiques aux abords plus épais et son profil latéral aux bords moins arrondis. Le fabricant a également fait de la protection l’un des aspects les plus importants sur son nouveau modèle. À noter : ce modèle Ultra est livré avec stylo numérique S-Pen qui se range directement dans le boîtier. Ce terminal s’offre un appareil photo riche en équipements comprenant une optique grand angle, une optique ultra grand angle, ainsi que 2 téléobjectifs. Une fois de plus, le format HDR10+ est pris en charge et la partie sonore, composée de haut-parleurs stéréo, profite du savoir-faire du fabricant AKG.
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