Samsung has reportedly stopped the development of the Galaxy S22 FE to focus on its flagship Galaxy S22 lineup amidst the ongoing chip crisis.
Samsung has reportedly stopped the development of the Galaxy S22 FE to focus on its flagship Galaxy S22 lineup. Launched earlier this year to much fanfare, the Galaxy S22-series is Samsung’s current flagship smartphone lineup. It is led by the S22 Ultra, which replaced the Galaxy Note series as Samsung’s most premium phablet after the South Korean firm decided to pull down the curtains on its Galaxy Note lineup. Apart from the Ultra, the S22-series also includes the S22 Plus and the vanilla S22, all of which come with high-end hardware.
Over the past couple of years, Samsung has launched ‘FE’ or Fan Edition models of its flagship devices, but with watered-down specifications to keep costs down without affecting the profit margin. According to rumors from earlier this year, the company was prepping to use a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 processor in its Galaxy S22 FE instead of the high-end Snapdragon chip found in the flagship S22 lineup. For reference, the flagship S22-series devices are powered either by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or the Exynos 2200, based on the market.
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According to the South Korean blog The Elec, Samsung has abandoned the Galaxy S22 FE as the company wanted to increase production of its Galaxy S22-series models, especially the S22 Ultra. Thanks to the ongoing chip shortage, Samsung had to choose between the two devices and ended up allocating the chips meant for the S22 FE to the S22 Ultra. The company is believed to have originally expected to manufacture three million Galaxy S22 FE units.
Galaxy S23 FE Is Still On Course
Interestingly, the report claims that the cancellation of the Galaxy S22 FE is a one-off decision and doesn’t mean that Samsung is ditching the FE series for good. On the contrary, the company is said to be still planning to launch a Galaxy S23 FE next year and wants to ship three million device units worldwide. While it is good news for people wanting to buy a mid-range Samsung phone next year, this year, buyers on a budget will either have to get a Galaxy A-series device or switch to a different brand instead.
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Samsung’s strategy to focus on the S22 Ultra makes sense from the business point of view as the company is likely making a lot more money from each unit of its flagship phone than it would have made from the mid-ranger. However, it also means that the FE series will miss a generation after two successive years of FE devices that did decent business for the company. The Galaxy S20 FE reportedly sold more than 10 million units globally, making it one of Samsung’s best-selling smartphones for 2020-2021. It remains to be seen if the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE can replicate that success or if people will have moved on to other brands by then.
