Samsung Galaxy S22 too pricey for you? Don’t hold your breath for a cheap model
No more FE
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If you’d love to pick up a newSamsung phonebut don’t want to pay the high price for a flagship Galaxy S mobile, each year’s FE spin-off used to be your best recourse. However, it’s starting to sound like theSamsung Galaxy S22 FEmight never show up.
This comes fromSamMobile, which says that theGalaxy S22’s budget version may have been canceled, with sources apparently saying that a phone with the S22 FE’s expected model number just isn’t being worked on.
The Galaxy S22 FE wouldn’t have been a contender for our list of thebest cheap phones, as it would likely be a mid-range version of the company’s flagship devices, but it would have been a cheaperversion of the popular but expensive S22.
This was the case for theGalaxy S20 FEand, in theory, theGalaxy S21 FE, but the latter came along so late that it actually didn’t undercut theGalaxy S21, which had seen many months of price cuts by the time its FE version showed up.
If the S22 FE does release, it will be the third-gen version ofSamsung’s FE line, but it’s not clear from this leak whether the company has totally given up on this Fan Edition line, or will just skip a year.
We should point out thatwe’ve actually heard this rumor before, lending it a lot of credence.
There’s also no word on why the Samsung Galaxy S22 FE was apparently canceled, but given that the much-delayed S21 FE launched surprisingly close to the S22 series, it’s possible that Samsung has seen lowered interest in the range.
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Analysis: it’s not the end of the world
Fans of mid-range or affordable phones may be irked by the dropping of the Samsung Galaxy S22 FE, or might feel that the company is giving up on its budget mobiles, but luckily that’s not the case.
In fact, if you want a Samsung phone without a high price tag, the Galaxy S FE line has never been the place to look - and that remains the case now.
Instead, Samsung’s Galaxy A line has mid-range and budget phones with some top-end specs but tempting prices. If you want a really low-end phone, theGalaxy A13is what you need, but we’d really recommend theGalaxy A53, a competent mid-range alternative to the S22 - which currently sits on our list of thebest smartphonesoverall.
Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.
He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist.
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