Samsung surprised the world in 2020 when it unveiled a Fan Edition version of its Galaxy S20. This featured a slightly smaller spec sheet compared to its full sibling, but brought the overall taste of a Galaxy device to those who didn’t want to spend the ever-increasing sums it costs to get a flagship phone into their homes these days .
This was followed by the Galaxy S21 FE about a year later, and we were also looking forward to the Samsung Galaxy S22 FE, but it never launched. That left us skeptical about whether we’d see the S23 FE or not, but the latest leaks suggest Samsung will resurrect the Fan Edition for 2023.
Here’s what you need to know.
When will the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE be released?
This is hard to predict as the S22 FE was never launched. We expected Samsung to launch that phone sometime around October 2022, shortly after the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4, but clearly that hasn’t happened and it seems likely it won’t launch at all now since the Galaxy S23 line has now arrived.
Korean publication Hankooki suggests there will be an FE phone this year, but it will be branded S23 FE and launch in August or September. To bolster that report, it suggests that the Galaxy A74 has been scrapped to prevent the two phones from cannibalizing each other’s sales – which seems to be true, as we’ve since seen the A34 and A54 launch with no sign of the A74.
SamMobile says the same, but thinks the phone will arrive a little later in Q4 2023 – i.e. October, November or December, while GalaxyClub warns it can’t rule out an early 2024 launch.
GalaxyClub also saw that Samsung only started testing European firmware for the phone in late May, which the site says is evidence that the phone itself is still months away and likely to launch after the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 .
For reference, this is when the previous FE phones debuted:
As you can see, there was just over a year between the two devices, but this was mainly due to the S21 FE experiencing major delays due to a combination of Covid-related manufacturing disruptions and the global shortage of processor chips.
Has the S23 FE been cancelled?
Now that most speakers have accepted that the S22 FE isn’t coming, there has been speculation as to whether the S23 FE is really on the way or not. While sites like Hankooki (above) have reported that the phone is on its way, not everyone agrees.
Earlier, SamMobile reported based on “multiple sources” that not only was the S22 FE canceled, but it has even completely canned the FE line.
The usually reliable leaker Yogesh Brar has that too tweeted that “there is no Galaxy S23 FE in the development chain”, casting doubt on hopes for a new Fan Edition.
The Korean site The Elec reports otherwise. It confirmed that the S22 FE has been canceled and blamed the success of the S22 Ultra – that phone sold better than expected, which is why Samsung is reallocating components to increase production. On the other hand, the site reports that this is just a temporary setback for the FE, and that Samsung shall launch a Galaxy S23 FE as planned this year, with an expected production of 3 million units.
How much will the Samsung S23 FE cost?
The phone probably won’t boot, but we can use the previous models as a basis for what to expect if the S22 FE somehow still boots up. So, here are the prices we’ve seen so far:
Samsung S20FE:
- 4G: £599 / €649
- 5G: $699 / £699 / €749
Samsung S21FE (5G):
- 6GB + 128GB: $699 / £699 / €749
- 8GB + 256GB: $769 / £749 / €819
While the S20 FE offered both 4G and 5G versions, this was settled in the more standard 5G platform for the S21 FE and thus the S22 FE. Hopefully Samsung will hold its prices for the new model, meaning you should expect around £699 / $699 / €749 for the entry-level configuration.
What specifications and features do we see in the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE?
With the launch of the S23 FE now looking uncertain, there’s little definitive information on what it might look like, especially as we’ve had conflicting rumors for a year about an S22 FE also never launching.
The best information we have at the moment all comes from one source: a SamMobile report in April 2023, with the Q4 release date mentioned above and a surprisingly complete list of specs.
The biggest twist is the claim that the S23 FE will be powered by Samsung’s Exynos 2200 chip in every market. This is the chipset found in the Galaxy S22 flagship in Europe but with Samsung shifting to adopt the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 globally in the mainline S23 it’s a bit unexpected that it might be taking a step back to Exynos – and thus goes global – for the FE phone.
Besides the chip, SamMobile reports that the S23 FE will come with either 128GB or 256GB of storage, and likely a similar choice of 6GB or 8GB of RAM. The battery is the same 4500mAh capacity as the previous FE phones, and a return of 25W wired charging is likely too.
However, one more change has been reported – an upgrade to a 50Mp main rear camera. This was reported by SamMobile and later confirmed by GalaxyClub, the latter adding that it will be the same 50Mp shooter found in the Galaxy S23 and S23+
We’ll update this article as more details become available, so check back often. If you want to see phones that you can actually buy it, check out our guides to the best Android phones and the best Samsung Galaxy phones.
