Despite launching over a year apart, Samsung hasn’t changed that much between these two entry-level flagship phones. The Galaxy S21 FE offers a lighter design, new camera improvements and features and better performance. Our Galaxy S21 FE review is still in progress, so don’t be alarmed if you come back to this page later and find some of our conclusions have changed. Swipe to scroll horizontally Row 0 – Cell 0 Galaxy S21 FE Galaxy S20 FE Starting price $699 $699 Display 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED (2400×1080) 6.5-inch FHD+ AMOLED (2400×1080) Refresh rate 60Hz/120Hz, fixed 60Hz/120Hz, fixed Rear cameras 12MP main (ƒ/1.8); 12MP ultrawide (ƒ/2.2); 8MP telephoto (ƒ/2.4) with 3x optical zoom 12MP main (ƒ/1.8), 12MP ultrawide (ƒ/2.2), 8MP telephoto (ƒ/2.4) with 3x optical zoom Front camera 32MP (ƒ/2.2) 32MP (ƒ/2.2) Chipset Snapdragon 888 Snapdragon 865 RAM 6GB/8GB 6GB/8GB Storage 128GB/256GB, non-expandable 128GB/256GB, expandable up to 1TB Battery 4,500 mAh 4,500 mAh Charging 25W wired, 15W wireless 25W wired, 15W wireless Size 6.1 x 2.9 x 0.31 inches 6.3 x 2.9 x 0.33 inches Weight 6.2 ounces 6.7 ounces
The pair of them both use rounded corners, and feature a central punch-hole camera at the top of the display. Both phones still use a plastic back, a feature that helps lower the price of components.
This could be good news for those users who like smaller, lighter devices either for comfort or practicality. Meanwhile, the S20 FE can be found in navy, lavender, mint, red, white and orange, although you may not be able to find every color available from every carrier or retailer.
On the Galaxy S21 FE, you get a Gorilla Glass Victus panel, one of the strongest smartphone materials out there right now. It also is slightly more color accurate, with a delta-E score of 0.29 compared to 0.3 (lower numbers are better).
New to the S21 FE’s arsenal is an improved Night Mode for low-light shots, simultaneous video recording for the front and rear cameras, and Zoom Lock for steadier telephoto images. We have yet to put the S21 FE’s cameras through their paces, so check back later when we have some images to show you the difference between these phones.
This won’t be useful for everyone, but it can be a benefit for users who need to regularly use two different phone numbers and want a single device to manage both. This gives it lots of new features, including new widget designs, enhanced privacy and greater customization for how the different parts of your phone’s interface look.
However, as an older phone, Samsung will abandon big OS updates for it sooner than it will for the freshly launched S21 FE.
You’ll still get security updates to keep the S20 FE safe after this point, but you’ll lose out on whatever Samsung or Google’s software teams cook up for future editions of One UI and Android.
In the S21 FE’s favor, you’ve got a more powerful chip, new photography abilities, more recent Android 12 software and a more compact, lighter body.
Samsung Galaxy S20 vs Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G: What is the difference?
has Mail Privacy Protection ✖ Samsung Galaxy S20 ✖ Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G Mail Privacy Protection is a feature built into the default email app that blocks senders from using “tracking pixels” to see when you’ve read an email. Competing services upload the photos and perform this on their servers, which requires the sharing of personal data.
Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Galaxy S20 FE: Which phone should you buy?
The S21 has many features going for it — a display with a dynamic refresh rate, a top-of-the-line processor and top-performing cameras. Swipe to scroll horizontally Row 0 – Cell 0 Samsung Galaxy S21 Samsung Galaxy S20 FE Starting price $799 $699 Screen size 6.2 inch AMOLED (2400 x1080) 6.5 inch AMOLED (2400 x 1080) Refresh rate 48 – 120Hz 120Hz CPU Snapdragon 888 Snapdragon 865 RAM 8GB 6GB Storage 128GB, 256GB 128GB microSD? The 6.07-ounce Galaxy S21 weighs less than 6.7-ounce S20 FE, though unless you’ve replaced your hands with scales, we doubt you’ll notice the difference.
Both also feature plastic backs, a cost cutting move that lets Samsung charge less for each device. The Galaxy S21 introduces a new contour cut design where the camera array on the back of the phone seems to blend in with the metal band around the side. That gives the S21 a distinctive look while helping the camera array blend into the overall design of the phone in a way that doesn’t happen with the S20 FE. The Galaxy S20 FE boasts one benefit over the S21, with a microSD slot that allows you to boost storage up to 1TB. You’ll have a few more colors to choose from with the Galaxy S20 FE, which comes in Navy, Lavender, Mint, Red, White and Orange.
That means things are a little sharper on the S21’s smaller screen, as it offers 421 pixels per inch to the Galaxy S20 FE’s 407. The Galaxy S20 FE is stuck at 120Hz if you enable the feature, which could put a hit on battery life. The 8MP telephoto lens on the Galaxy S20 FE can also offer a 3x optical/30x digital zoom, but we’d presume shots on the S21 are a bit sharper. The S21 also benefits from a Zoom Lock feature that hones in on your subject and steadies the shot for less fuzzy photos.
The newer phone has an updated version of the Single Take feature that debuted on the Galaxy S20; with Single Take 2, slow motion videos now enter the mix of the images your phone captures simultaneously from multiple cameras. Director’s View on the Galaxy S21 lets you shoot video using both the rear and front cameras simultaneously, and you can also toggle between the shots captured by the phone’s different lenses. One of the best things about the Galaxy S20 FE is that it didn’t cut corners on processing power to arrive at a lower price. Even with less RAM than those other S20 models — the FE made do with 6GB — Samsung’s budget flagship offered comparable performance to many of the best Android phones that came out last year.
That, along with the 8GB of RAM Samsung has included, helps the S21 post a Geekbench 5 score of 3,302 in the multicore test. The S21 also tops the S20 FE in our real-world test where we use Adobe Premiere Rush to transcode a 4K video into 1080p.
While the S21 supports all 5G bands, Samsung had to produce a separate Galaxy S20 FE UW version that could take advantage of Verizon’s super-fast mmWave-based 5G towers. The Galaxy S21 outlasted the S20 FE on our battery test, which involves surfing the web over a cellular connection until the phone runs out of power.
With the dynamic refresh rate feature enabled, the Galaxy S21’s battery test time fell by more than 3 hours to 6:31.
That means there aren’t many software differences between these two phones, as Samsung reserved many of the special features for the Galaxy S21 Ultra .
Samsung Galaxy S20 vs Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
Specification Samsung Galaxy S20 Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G Battery 4000 mAh, Li-Po Battery 4500 mAh, Li-Po Battery Display 6.2 inches, 1440 x 3200 pixels, 120 Hz 6.4 inches, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 120 Hz Rear Camera 12 MP f/1.8 (Wide Angle)
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE vs Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G: What is the difference?
has Mail Privacy Protection ✖ Samsung Galaxy S20 FE ✖ Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G Mail Privacy Protection is a feature built into the default email app that blocks senders from using “tracking pixels” to see when you’ve read an email. Competing services upload the photos and perform this on their servers, which requires the sharing of personal data.
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