Die-hard Samsung fans and power Android users on relatively tight budgets have been waiting for a sequel to the latecomer Galaxy S21 FE for almost two years now, and finally, the Galaxy S23 FE (not the S22 FE) is up for grabs and to be shipped to the United States.
Officially priced at $599.99 in the US with the same “premium” Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor under the hood as the Galaxy S22 family (not the rest of the S23 series), the 6.4-inch handset looks s Oppose Google’s “vanilla” Pixel 8. and the
Motorola Edge (2023) rather than models like the
Pixel 8 ProEdge Plus (2023) or OnePlus 11.
Free gift cards and discounted buds for everyone!
To help boost the appeal of this new “budget flagship” from
Samsung, Amazon and Best Buy are doing what they do best today and what they have done for several other recently launched Galaxy devices. Just like the Tab S9, Tab S9+, Tab S9 FE, Tab S9 FE+ and even the
Galaxy Buds FE, the unlocked Galaxy S23 FE 5G is discounted up front, with no special requirements or conditions.
Of course, nothing is ever that simple in life, so instead of being able to lower the aforementioned base price of the new high-end smartphone, early adopters are technically looking at saving $100 on their future purchases on Amazon or Best Buy.
Indeed, both retailers are bundling the 128GB and 256GB storage configurations of the 5G-enabled S23 Fan Edition with a free $100 gift card. Not as enticing as an outright discount on the device itself, it still represents a pretty good deal for an already strong contender for the best budget 5G phone.
Better yet, Amazon will also sell you the
Galaxy S23 FE as well as a $49.99 pair of all-new noise-canceling Galaxy Buds FE in addition to the aforementioned free gift card if you’re interested in such a set, saving you up to $150 at total.
Oddly enough, Samsung’s official US online store is unable to match these undeniably impressive launch promotions on Amazon, simply offering trade-in credits capped at a rather modest $300 and even more bizarrely listing unlocked credits. Galaxy S23 FE priced at $629.99 and $689.99 in 128 and 256 GB variants respectively instead of $599.99 and $659.99.
Should you get the Galaxy S23 Fan Edition?
As you can imagine, this is a complex question that we simply cannot answer in a simple, “universal” way. For starters, the competition is incredibly tough, with the aforementioned non-Pros Pixel 8 costs $700 and up, which obviously makes the S23 FE look good and affordable, but the “normal” Motorola Edge (2023) costs $500 in a US launch deal, sans card -gift or anything else of that sort involved.
Then there’s the matter of internal competition if you will, as the S23 FE looks extremely similar to the Galaxy A54 5G at first glance. Samsung’s mid-ranger released in early 2023 is of course significantly more humble under the hood than the newest member of the Galaxy S23 family, but it also costs a lot less money, normally costing $450 and very often getting discounts of $50, or even $100 lately.
This is neither the time nor the place to engage in an in-depth comparison between Galaxy S23 FE and all of its rivals, competitors, and relatives, but it’s pretty obvious that this bad boy stands out in its price bracket in terms of software support with four guaranteed OS promotions and five years of security patches while also shining in the camera department (especially compared to its predecessor) and suffers a bit when it comes to battery capacity and expandable storage (or lack thereof).
