Samsung's Galaxy S21 FE stands for Fan Edition, and as the name suggests, it will have features to satisfy fans.
The latest rumor comes from well-known Twitter insider @FronTron via NotebookCheck. According to Tron, the S21 FE will have a microSD card slot, which may not seem like a big deal considering the Galaxy S20 FE also had a microSD slot, but this is a feature that is disappearing from many phones. For example, no other Galaxy S21 model has a microSD slot.
This is not necessarily a leak that should be taken as gospel, as it comes from one person in the Samsung supply chain and has not been corroborated by other leakers or insiders. This also contradicts the purported leak of the Galaxy S21 FE user manual, where there is no mention of a microSD card slot.
In responding to a Twitter post, Tron goes out of his way to claim that it is only a rumor he has heard and not something he can confirm yet - another reason we are not betting on a microSD card in the Galaxy S21 FE.
MicroSD slots were once commonplace in Samsung phones; the S20 FE had one, as did the standard Samsung Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, and S20 Ultra released before it. Since then, however, the microSD slot has been gradually disappearing from Samsung phones; in addition to the S21 lineup, the feature is also missing from the Galaxy Note 20. Even Samsung's latest folding flagship, the Galaxy Z Fold 3, does not support microSD cards.
There are many possible reasons why microSD card support for the S21 FE could be discontinued, but as with the iPhone 12 lineup, different SKUs would mean buyers would pay more for larger storage. Also, given that S21 sales have been less than stellar for Samsung, removing microSD card support from the expected and more affordable S21 FE may increase profit margins.
However, the FE line has always been about giving fans the most of what they want, and less waste. This leads to a feature-packed phone similar to the OnePlus phones of old, minus the gimmicky, cutting-edge features that don't significantly detract from the overall experience.
In any case, recent rumors suggest that the S21 FE is just around the corner. According to insider Jon Prosser, the S21 FE could appear on October 29. Production of this phone was said to begin this month, so Tron's source is providing the information at the right time.
We should see more information hit the Internet over the next month and a half regarding the S21 FE.
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