Samsung officially reveals the Galaxy S20 FE

Samsung wasted no time in taking its viewer through the 5G-capable Galaxy S20 FE (Fan Edition) smartphone during its livestream.

Among many things, Samsung said it would continue to launch Fan Editions of its flagship models in 'years to come', as a way of 'giving back' to its fans.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is physically similar to the regular S20 models.

A notable departure from the S20's corporate-like design is the colour choices and finish on the Galaxy S20 FE, where it offers six different swatches that uses a colourful Haze finish with reduced gloss.

The Galaxy S20 FE uses a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED flat-screen FHD+ display rated at 2,400 x 1,080 pixels resolution, along with a maximum 120Hz refresh rate. The centralised punch-hole camera on the front panel returns.

For comparison, the S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra had 6.2-inch, 6.7-inch, and 6.9-inch displays, respectively. This puts the S20 FE's display size somewhere in between the S20 and S20+.

Like the regular S20 models, the Galaxy S20 FE also has a triple-rear camera configuration. The primary camera is a 12MP shooter with f/1.8 aperture, featuring Dual Pixel technology and OIS.

The accompanying lenses are a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera with a FOV of 123, using an f/2.2 aperture.

Finally, the telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom is rated at 8MP, f/2.4 aperture, and uses Phase Detection AutoFocus (PDAF). These shooters also bring 30x Space Zoom.

The punch-hole front camera is a 32MP shooter with selfie enhancements. Other photography software tricks like Single Take Super Steady are also on the Galaxy S20 FE, so Samsung fans still get the most out of the Fan Edition too.

According to Samsung, the S20 FE chipset is 'the same as the rest of the Galaxy S20 series'. Users here would recall that Samsung released both Exynos and Snapdragon variants of the phone across the world.

However, the Galaxy S20 FE in Singapore will come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset What is also certain would be 5G connectivity on the S20 FE.

The Galaxy S20 FE comes in two storage configurations - 128GB and 256GB, with Singapore getting the latter variant. It also has expandable storage via MicroSD card and is IP68-rated for water resistance.

The Galaxy S20 FE's battery sits at 4,500mAh, with support for a variety of fast-charging profiles, such as Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 USB PD 3.0, AFC and QC 2.0.

Important flagship components like NFC, an optical fingerprint sensor, and AKG-tuned stereo speakers are present. The phone comes with Android 10 out of the box.

In a nutshell, Singapore users can expect these main differences between the regular Galaxy S20 and S20 FE: The latter will have a slightly larger display, slightly bigger battery capacity, double the internal storage by default and a Snapdragon chipset instead of the Exynos variant.

The Galaxy S20 FE will officially hit the shelves on Oct 2, 2020 with a global retail price starting at US$699 (S$960). Global pre-orders begin on Sept 23, 2020. We'll update the piece with local availability and pricing once it's out.

This article was first published in Hardware Zone.