Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G Gives Fan Edition Phone A "Lite" Price
The Galaxy S20 family is gaining a new member, and according to Samsung the new Galaxy S20 Fan Edition 5G is just what its most vocal enthusiasts have been asking for. Slotting in at the entry-level of the S20 range, the $699 smartphone still has three cameras on the rear, Super Zoom technology, and a big display, but makes some compromises along the way to hit that price point.
According to Samsung, S20 handset buyers have four main priorities: the display, 5G, the camera, and then battery and performance. Combine that with an unsurprising reluctance in 2020 to pay full price for a top-tier flagship phone, and you have pretty solid justification for a device like the Galaxy S20 FE 5G.
You can definitely think of it as the S20 we know already, only diluted. The screen is a 6.5-inch Infinity-O Super AMOLED panel, with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch response rate. However, it tops out at 1080 x 2400 resolution.
Similarly, there's 5G, but your $699 only gets you Sub-6 GHz support. If you want mmWave for maximum rates on carriers like Verizon, Samsung has a carrier-specific version – the Galaxy S20 FE 5G UW – to sell you. That'll also cost $699.99.
On the rear, there are three cameras and a slightly different approach to what we've seen on other S20-family phones. The primary camera is a 12-megapixel Dual Pixel AF, with OIS and an f/1.8, 79-degree lens. Alongside it there's a 12-megapixel 123-degree ultra-wide (f/2.2) and an 8-megapixel 3x telephoto (f/2.3) zoom.
You still get Night Mode, Super Steady stabilization with anti-roll, and Single Take, since they're all software-based. However the Space Zoom – which reaches up to 30x – works a little differently, as unlike in the S20 and S20+ where a higher resolution sensor is cropped for close-ups, the S20 FE uses a 3x optical zoom lens.
On the front, there's a 32-megapixel selfie camera, with an 80-degree, f/2.2 lens. Inside, meanwhile, there's Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. You still get a microSD slot (up to 1TB) along with WiFi 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.0, and a USB-C port. An optical fingerprint sensor is baked into the display.
The 4,500 mAh battery supports fast wired (25W) and wireless (15W) charging, though Samsung is selling those chargers separately. Wireless Power Share for charging accessories from the Galaxy S20 FE's battery is supported too. There's Samsung Pay (NFC and MST) along with the same Miracast-based wireless Samsung DeX as on the S20 and Note 20.
Perhaps the most obvious difference is the aesthetic. The 74.5 x 159.8 x 8.4 mm, 190 gram phone – which is IP68 water and dust resistant – will come in six different polycarbonate finishes: Cloud Navy, Cloud Red, Cloud Lavender, Cloud Mint, Cloud White, and Cloud Orange. Samsung claims they're inspired by the sort of younger, Millennial-generation shoppers it envisages being tempted by the Galaxy S20 FE's more affordable sticker price.
Out of the box it'll run Android 10, with Samsung's promise of three generations of OS update.
Preorders of the Galaxy S20 FE 5G and the S20 FE 5G UW kick off from today, while the phones are expected to shop from October 2. Those who preorder will get a $70 Samsung store credit.