The hotly anticipated Samsung Unpacked event has come and gone, and for the most part, there weren't any true surprises. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Flip 5 are the most iterative updates to the company's foldable lineup in a long time, and we already knew that new tablets and watches were coming thanks to extensive leaks. However, there is one more device many people are waiting for this year, and that's the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, which would be the company's latest budget flagship phone. It might be closer than you should think at this point.
In a conversation with Android Authority, Samsung's vice president of mobile for Samsung South Africa Justin Hume all but confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is coming soon. Asked about an "FE-sized gap" between the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G and the S23, he said, “There is an FE-sized gap in there, right now. There is going to be an announcement made. Imminently.”
This is what current renders envision the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE to look like
While Hume didn't confirm the exact name of the device, we currently only expect one phone in the FE lineup. The company has reportedly given up on a long-rumored Samsung Galaxy S22 FE, and it would be weird to announce a phone that references a more than one year old lineup at this time in 2023. Instead, we've been hearing a lot about the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE these past few months, with many rumors and leaks pointing to a launch in Q3 2023, though some markets may only get it in Q4 or Q1 2024.
You might not love everything about the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, though. Current leaks point to a switch to the Exynos 2200 as the chipset. These Samsung-made CPUs have historically had worse performance than Snapdragon processors, which is why many people were happy to see Samsung switching to Snapdragon everywhere in the world with the regular Galaxy S23 series. At least it looks like the S23 FE might have a major camera upgrade in store, offering a 50MP camera, which would match what the regular S23 has.
Either way, we'll likely learn a lot more about this phone, with Samsung now having all but confirmed that it's coming.