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Fast Charge: Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 FE has the same old problem
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OPINION: Samsung’s latest ‘Fan Edition’ smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, was released this week and it comes with a whole host of changes. However, it still has the same old problem as previous entries in Samsung’s FE collection.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite a fan of the newSamsung Galaxy S24 FE. It offers a whole bunch of upgrades compared to last year’sSamsung Galaxy S23 FE, including a boost in screen size from 6.4- to 6.7 inches, slimmer bezels and an increased maximum brightness of 1900nits that should make the phone easier to use in bright daylight.
There’s also a much simpler approach to the processor than last year; rather than getting either the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 or Exynos 2200, a year-old flagship chipset at the time of release in 2023, the S24 FE gets the same 2024 flagship Exynos 2400e wherever you happen to purchase the phone.
That’s a more energy-efficient version of the chipset found in theGalaxy S24, representing a two-year jump in processing power. That should translate to significant performance gains from this year’s FE – though I’ll have to wait until I’ve fully reviewed the phone before I can say for sure.
There’s also a larger 4700mAh cell that Samsung claims should boost battery life by a few hours despite the larger screen, and it, of course, comes with the same Galaxy AI features as the flagship S24 range, including recent additions like Sketch to Image introduced on Samsung’s foldables in July.
So, what’s the issue then? It’s the £649/$649 asking price.
When looked at singularly, that is a pretty good price for a rather premium phone with great processing power, Galaxy AI smarts and a trio of cameras including the same main sensor as that of the flagship Galaxy S24.
The problem is that you can get the full-fat Samsung Galaxy S24 for less right now, having been on the market for nearly 10 months, so why would you go for the slightly less capable model?
It’s not just a slight discount either. At the time of writing, the regular Samsung Galaxy S24 can befound on Amazon for under £600in the UK. That’s not only a huge saving compared to its £799 RRP, but it’s also cheaper than the Galaxy S24 FE.
In fact,I wrote something similarabout the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE a little under a year ago, and it seems that Samsung really hasn’t learnt its lesson.
It’s not a simple fix either; release the phone sooner and it might cannibalise sales of the flagship Galaxy S24 range, but releasing it later means that the flagships have dropped massively in price, even if they still have high RRPs.
The other option, if Samsung does stick to its late-year release schedule, is to make the Galaxy FE a little bit cheaper – though with high development costs and expensive components, that’s certainly easier said than done.
It’s arguably not as big of an issue this year with the phone’s larger screen bringing it closer to the 6.7-inchSamsung Galaxy S24 Plusthan the regular 6.2-inch S24, which does tend to stay around its £999 RRP, but I still feel that the regular Galaxy S24 would be the better buy of the two – and a cheaper one, at that.
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Lewis is the Mobile Editor of Trusted Reviews with plenty of phone experience, from the Nokia 3210 to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. He has been in the tech industry writing about phones, headphones, tablets,…
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
