Rumors Indicate The Samsung Galaxy S22 FE May Not Be Canceled After All
It's been a couple of years since Samsung started a tradition of launching "FE" (Fan Edition) versions of its Galaxy S series devices. The first FE-branded Galaxy S series smartphone released by Samsung was the Galaxy S20 FE — announced back in September 2020. The handset ended up selling in decent numbers and went on to become a popular smartphone. While Samsung had every intention to launch a successor to the Galaxy S20 FE, the chip shortage and pandemic-invoked troubles led to a delayed arrival of the Galaxy S21 FE. Samsung initially planned to launch the Galaxy S21 FE by August/September 2021. However, they ended up delaying the launch until January 2022 — just a few weeks before the Galaxy S22 lineup arrived.
The delayed arrival of the Galaxy S21 FE had several consequences. First, it was quickly overshadowed by the Galaxy S22 series that launched just a few weeks later. Secondly, the naming scheme of the product made several people feel that the device was from 2021— despite being launched in 2022.
Now that it's been almost a year since the Galaxy S21 FE arrived, it is expected that Samsung will launch its successor — the rumored Galaxy S22 in the following weeks. Interestingly, there have been several reports in the past that hinted at the likelihood of Samsung canceling (Via Sammobile) the FE lineup entirely. Among the reasons for this decision included the lackluster public response to the Galaxy S21 FE and concerns surrounding enough availability of chipsets for the S22 FE. However, more recent reports indicate that Samsung is planning to release the Galaxy S22 FE after all.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 FE isn't dead yet
If we give credence to a recent tweet by RGCloudS — a technology leaker — there is a good chance that Samsung will launch the Galaxy S22 FE in 2023. In his tweet, RGCloudS reveals that the Galaxy S22 FE will likely use Samsung's new Exynos 2300 chipset — which is closely related to Google's latest Tensor chip that powers Google's newest Pixel 7 devices.
The tipster has also hinted that Samsung may change the launch schedule for the Galaxy S22 FE in 2023. Instead of getting a January 2023 launch, the revised launch schedule could see the Galaxy S22 FE being announced later in the year — quite possibly — at Samsung's second Galaxy Unpacked event for 2023. He has also hinted at the likelihood of the Galaxy S22 FE replacing Samsung's Galaxy A74 next year. In addition to the Galaxy S22 FE, there have also been talks about Samsung using the same chipset on a new tablet. This tablet is likely to be a trimmed-down version of Samsung's existing Galaxy Tab S8, and should be launched sometime in 2023.
It would also be interesting to see if Samsung sticks around with the "Galaxy S22 FE" moniker for the device. Given that people associate the "S22" tag with the year 2022, there is a strong reason for Samsung to skip the S22 FE tag entirely and call the device the Galaxy S23 FE instead.