Samsung to launch Galaxy S23 FE as early as October

Samsung Electronics Co. is slated to release the Galaxy S23 Fan Edition (FE), a cheaper model than those in the high-end Galaxy S23 series, as early as next month, following the launches of rival models from Apple Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co. this month.

According to industry sources on Tuesday, Samsung has informed its overseas subsidiaries and parts suppliers of the Galaxy S23 FE launch as early as October.

Samsung’s Spanish subsidiary recently added the Galaxy S23 FE to the Galaxy S lineup on its website.

It has been two years since the 2021 launch of the Galaxy S21 FE model.

Galaxy S23 FE will come on the heels of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro released early this month and the iPhone 15 series, which was available for preorders on Sept. 15 before its official launch later this week.

It shares the main features of the Galaxy S23 series. But the specifications of its application processor (AP), which acts as the brain of the smartphone, and the camera are lower than those of the Galaxy S series. So, its price is 30-40% cheaper than the premium Galaxy S smartphones.

EXYNOS 2200

Now market eyes are on which application processors will power Galaxy S23 FE.

The new model would run either on Samsung's application processor Exynos 2200, or Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, industry watchers said.

The two APs were installed in the Galaxy S22 series released last year.

By comparison, the entire line of Galaxy S23 series, launched in February this year, used only Qualcomm’s next-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 due to quality issues with the Exynos 2200.

Samsung is understood to be installing a new Exynos AP model in the Galaxy S24 lineup, expected to be unveiled next year.

Meanwhile, Huawei’s latest Mate 60 Pro smartphone was reported to be equipped with SK Hynix Inc.'s advanced memory chips.

Nikkei reported early this month that SK Hynix was investigating the Chinese company’s use of its chips because it stopped supplying memory chips to Huawei due to US export restrictions.

SAMSUNG LSI DIVISION

If the Exynos 2200 is embedded in the Galaxy S23 FE, it will boost earnings of Samsung Electronics' system large-scale integration (LSI) division in charge of AP development.

Samsung Electronics' mobile AP purchases amounted to 7.63 trillion won ($5.7 billion) in 2021 and 11.38 trillion won last year.

In the first quarter of this year, the division posted 3.15 trillion won in sales, with the average selling price up 37% from the previous year.

According to market tracker TrendForce, Samsung took the top spot in the global smartphone market with a 19.8% share in the second quarter of this year. It shipped 53.8 million units during the quarter.

Apple came next with a 15.4% share and shipment of 42 million units.

Xiaomi Inc. ranked third with the shipment of 35 million units, taking 12.9% of the market.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.