Samsung Announces Galaxy Watch FE: Samsung's New Budget-Friendly Smartwatch

Samsung's Galaxy Watch has made a name for itself by offering a great Wear OS experience. With the Galaxy Watch 7 series launch just weeks away, Samsung has now announced the Galaxy Watch FE. It's a budget Wear OS smartwatch and the first 'FE' (Fan Edition) device in the Galaxy Watch line. Here's everything you need to know about this new release

Specifications of Galaxy Watch FE

The Galaxy Watch FE looks like a rebranded Galaxy Watch 4. Watch FE has a size of 40mm and a 1.2-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 396 x 396 pixels. The case is aluminum and comes in four colors – Black, Gold, Silver and Pink.

The watch is powered by the Exynos W920 chip, the SoC that powers the Galaxy Watch 4. Internal storage and RAM are also the same, 1.5GB and 16GB respectively, and so is the battery (247 mAh with WPC, still not charging Qi). Even the dimensions are almost identical (39.4 x 40.4 x 9.8mm).

One of the changes on the front is the use of Sapphire Crystal glass which is not present on the Galaxy Watch 4. Like the Watch 4, the Galaxy Watch FE is rated IP68 for water and dust resistance.

In terms of connectivity, there is LTE, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 2.4 and 5GHz, NFC. The watch will run on Wear OS-based One UI 5 Watch. The watch will be available in both LTE-only and Bluetooth-only variants.

In addition, the Watch FE also has Samsung's BioActiove sensor that can monitor optical heart rate, electrocardiogram and bioelectrical impedance analysis. Other sensors include Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyroscope, Geomagnetic, and Light sensors.

Availability and pricing

As for price, the Bluetooth-only version of the Galaxy Watch FE will be available for $199 from June 24. The LTE version is priced at $249.99 and will launch later this year (possibly in October).

Samsung is definitely targeting this at the budget-conscious audience and it will be interesting to see if this stimulates the budget Wear OS market. The Wear OS smartwatch market will see many smartwatches launch in the coming months, including the Galaxy Watch 7 series, Pixel Watch 3 and 3 XL.

Samuel Daniel

Update 19 June 2024