Samsung to launch Galaxy S20 Fan Edition in October
It will sport 3x optical zoom camera, 32MP selfie shooter Smartphone will be 20% cheaper than standard S20
Samsung Electronics will launch a budget-model version in the Galaxy S20 series in October that will have a price tag of around 900,000 won (around US$750) in South Korea, sources within the company told TheElec on Friday.
Called Galaxy S20 FE (Fan Edition), the South Korean conglomerate is aiming to ship 5 million units of the phone by the end of the year.
The smartphone will have a triple camera set-up __ a 12 megapixel (MP) wide-angle, a 12MP ultra wide and a 8MP 3x optical zoom telephoto __ on its rear.
Galaxy S20 FE won’t have 3D Time of Flight (ToF). The front camera will have a 32MP camera for selfies.
The standard Galaxy S20 model and Galaxy S20 Plus launched earlier this year had a 12MP wide-angle, 12MP ultra wide and a 64MP telephoto triple camera set-up. The front camera was 10MP. The Plus model had ToF applied.
In terms of hardware, Galaxy S20 FE falls behind the Galaxy A71 launched in December last year. The A71 had a 32MP front shooter, and on its back, it had a 64MP wide-angle camera, a 12MP ultra wide camera, 5MP macro camera and a 5MP depth camera.
Galaxy S20 FE’s final price will likely be set at 999,000 won, which is 20% cheaper than the standard Galaxy S20’s price of 1.2485 million won, in South Korea.
Samsung is using multiple camera module suppliers for the smartphone to keep component prices down. Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Partron, Cammsys, Powerlogics and Namuga in South Korea are supplying the modules. China’s Sunny Optical was also participating as a secondary supplier, the sources said.
Samsung will also use the FE smartphone to use its remaining stocks of 12MP wide-angle camera modules. The modules can be easily reused in any re-designed smartphone and are basically a genera-purpose camera.
Galaxy S20 FE is expected to sport a screen size between 6.5-inches to 6.7-inches. Korea Circuit and DAP are supplying the display modules. Galaxy S20 had a 6.2-inch screen, Galaxy S20 Plus a 6.7-inch one and Galaxy S20 Ultra 6.9-inch.
The company was aiming to ship 5 million units of FE to offset the less-than-expected shipment of the Galaxy S20 series, which is expected to have moved some 20 million units.