TL; DR
- The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has appeared on the Bluetooth SIG website.
- The device appears next to Samsung’s new foldables.
- Does this suggest that the original plan was to bring the S21 FE to the market at Unpacked?
We’ve known for a while that Samsung is working on the Galaxy S21 FE, which appears as a sequel to the popular Galaxy S20 FE flagship. Now, Samsung’s upcoming smartphone has surfaced online via the Bluetooth SIG website.
The Galaxy S21 FE appeared on the Bluetooth SIG website in two separate filings, with the name of the S21 FE and the model number of the SM-G990 being explicitly mentioned in both filings. The filings also mention Bluetooth 5.0 support. This doesn’t seem to be a bug as Samsung’s latest foldables are actually listed with their correct bluetooth versions.
Otherwise, one of the submissions also seems to confirm a dual SIM variant due to the model number “SM-G990B_DS”. Samsung typically uses the “DS” suffix to refer to dual SIM variants.
There’s not much else to tell from the listings, but one particularly interesting tidbit is that the S21 FE filing was created concurrently with the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, and Galaxy Watch 4 series. This may suggest that the original plan may have been to launch the Galaxy S21 FE along with the foldable devices at the Unpacked event on August 11th.
It is possible that the time of submission of the VU has little to do with its original or other start date. However, it is common for devices to show up together on Bluetooth SIG when presented at the same event (e.g. the S21 series, the Poco F3 Pro and X3 Pro).
Reports from Korea claim that Samsung’s upcoming phone has been delayed due to marketing or manufacturing issues. But the phone’s random appearance on Samsung’s official Instagram account may suggest that its publication may not be far off now.