Last year’s Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition surprised us: for $ 599 (it’s almost never sold for its $ 699 MSRP), it offered nearly identical performance to phones that cost twice as much thanks to its Snapdragon 865 chipset. It it was also one of the first phones to offer a 120 Hz screen at an average price. But it was released in October, which means it is reaching six months. So, is it still worth buying in 2021? Let’s discuss.
Apparently, the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition is still a very good phone. Made with state-of-the-art parts where it matters, it hardly gets old – Samsung said it wanted to distill the essential experience of its flagship phones into something cheaper with FE, and has succeeded in doing so. Although it has “only” six gigabytes of RAM, the S20 Fan Edition doesn’t feel any Older than any of Samsung’s top-of-the-line 2020 models – it continues to accomplish any task you could play on a phone quickly. It’s even compatible with 5G, if you care about it.
The Galaxy S20 Fan Edition is still a very good phone.
You don’t have to worry about your software being out of date anytime soon. Much to Google’s dismay, Samsung has emerged as the new king of Android updates, promising three operating system updates and four years of security patches for most of your phones. FE is currently running One UI 3.1 on top of Android 11, and has two more operating system updates – plus security patches by the end of 2024.
But even though the S20 FE is still years old, one of the biggest considerations when considering whether to buy a phone months after its release is how close we are to a newer updated version. In the case of FE, we really have no idea – we just heard the vaguest of rumors about a potential S21 Fan Edition (in short: one is likely to come this year). Samsung recently announced this year’s A series phones, but they are far below the S20 FE market: they come with mid-range Snapdragon processors, have no wireless charging and, with the exception of the A52 5G, are slower, 90Hz displays. However, if these concessions don’t bother you, postpone the purchase of an S20 FE until we know how much the A52 and A72 will cost. They may have a better value.
The biggest blow to the S20 FE is a strange bug, often reported on the touch screen, that results in holes being processed as multiple taps, leading to unwanted behavior. Samsung claims to be aware of the problem and has released updates to improve it, but some users say they are still receiving so-called ghost ringtones. It is important to note that many users – including me – have never had this problem. Still, it requires consideration.
The S21 is probably a better buy.
Another factor: the S21. After disappointing sales of the flagship S20 series last year, Samsung launched the S21 line at lower prices, and they have continued to drop since launch. The standard model is often available for $ 699, $ 100 in its MSRP, and dropped to $ 649. It has a smaller screen – 6.2 inches from the S20 FE’s 6.5 – and does not have a MicroSD card slot. or MST functionality for NFC contactless payments, two features that the S20 Fan Edition has. But it has better cameras than the FE, plus two GB of RAM and a high-end Snapdragon 888 chipset. For most buyers, the smallest S21 is most likely a better buy than the S20 FE, especially if they can get a particularly good selling price. Thanks to his more modern courage, he will age better than FE, and his software will stay up to date for a few more months as well (in addition, he will eventually see Android 14).
But if the exact combination of Galaxy S20 Fan Edition features – big screen, expandable storage and $ 600 MST payments – talks to you, it’s still a good buy in 2021. Watch out for these touchscreen issues.