Galaxy S21 FE Might Ditch Snapdragon For Exynos Chips
Samsung has a big event scheduled in a month or so, but not everyone might be that interested in its new foldable phones. Some might have been more excited over the Galaxy S21 FE, but the signs are pointing to disappointing changes ahead that go beyond just delays. The "Fan Edition" of Samsung's flagship line might not make it until October at the earliest, and it might not even come with one important feature that those prospective buyers might be expecting.
Samsung's decision to delay the Galaxy S21 FE is both a marketing strategy and an economic necessity. On the one hand, it wants to focus on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3, allowing these foldables to have the lion's share of the attention for a few months. On the other hand, Samsung also wants to focus its manufacturing resources on these foldable phones due to a global scarcity of semiconductors and processors.
The latter practically means that whatever supplies of the Snapdragon 888 that Samsung will be able to get, it wants to put inside the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 first. This might leave the Galaxy S21 FE with an insufficient supply of Qualcomm's processors to meet Samsung's production targets, which brings us to the latest rumor circulating on the Internet.
According to a report coming from Korean media, Samsung might use its own Exynos chip instead of the Snapdragon 888 for the Galaxy S21 FE. It doesn't name which Exynos AP (Application Processor) that will be exactly but, given its parallels with the Galaxy S21 itself, that could be the Exynos 2100. The rumor doesn't indicate whether anything else will change.
Even if true, there are still some questions left unanswered by the leak. For one, it doesn't really say whether all Galaxy S21 FE models will come with an Exynos chip or if Samsung will make the same split it does between Snapdragon and Exynos models. This report also presumes that Samsung has a lot more stocks of its Exynos chips than Snapdragons, though that might also be in short supply given the global shortage.