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As the Galaxy S23 FE starts to take shape, Samsung appears to be preparing to re-launch the Galaxy S21 FE, at least in one market. The device will reportedly hit the Indian market with a different chipset next month. Not an entirely new processor, though. The company will seemingly bring the existing Snapdragon variant of the phone to India.
Like many other Samsung flagships launched in recent years, the Galaxy S21 FE also comes in two processor variants. Some markets got Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 SoC, while the phone shipped with the Korean firm’s in-house chipset Exynos 2100 in some others. As you might have guessed, buyers in India got the latter variant.
But a year and a half after the original launch in January 2022, Samsung is reportedly gearing up to re-launch the Galaxy S21 FE in India. This time, it will sell the Snapdragon variant in the South Asian country. The information comes courtesy of Twitter user @tarunvats33, who claims to have verified it with Samsung’s retail channels.
According to the source, Samsung plans to price the Snapdragon 888-powered Galaxy S21 FE at around ₹40,000 (roughly $490) in India, with sales beginning in July. As of this writing, the Exynos 2100 variant starts at ₹32,999 (roughly $400), though it was selling for even lower a few months back (during Samsung’s sales period).
The Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S21 FE would compete against the Galaxy A54 5G
At its rumored price, the “new” Galaxy S21 FE would cost as much as the Galaxy A54 5G in India. While it may be a no-brainer to pick the former, the latter benefits from being a newer device. It ships with Android 13 out of the box and will get updates until Android 17.
Since Samsung is essentially bringing an existing phone to India, it may not treat the Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S21 FE as a new device in the market. Hence, it is unlikely to arrive with Android 13 or any other changes. It’ll already be a year and a half old the day it hits store shelves in the country.
However, if Samsung goes the extra mile and re-launches the Galaxy S21 FE as a new phone powered by a new processor, it will easily cannibalize the sales of the Galaxy A54 5G. But, we have little hope. The company may be trying to clear the inventory from markets where it sold the phone with the Snapdragon chip. If the rumored timeline for the Galaxy S21 FE’s re-launch in India is accurate, we may hear more soon.