Samsung has officially taken the wraps off its latest Fan Edition phone, ensuring that CES 2022 doesn't go by without a smartphone announcement from the tech giant.

It's called the Galaxy S21 FE, and takes all the key elements from the regular Galaxy S21 and strips it down to the essentials, simplifying the design.

Despite its differences to the original S21, it's clearly similar. It has the recognisable camera housing that sits in the corner and wraps around the edge of the phone.

Apart from a slightly different look, most of the features are the same or - at least - very similar. That includes the 120Hz capable AMOLED display with a peak brightness up to 1200 nits.

Galaxy S21 fe photo 4
Samsung

Inside, you'll find an octa-core 5nm processor. Samsung hasn't yet confirmed, but it's likely it'll be the Snapdragon 888 in the US and Exynos 1200 internationally.

The triple camera system on the back features a 12-megapixel primary camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide and an 8-megapixel telephoto zoom.

When it's available to buy in the UK - from 11 January - it'll be available in two configurations: 6GB/128GB for £699 and 8GB/256GB for £749. It'll come in four colours: white, graphite (black), lavender and olive green

This begs the question: is it necessary? Since many of its features are similar to the regular S21 - a phone which is now available at almost exactly the same price - do we need this new phone? Especially since the Galaxy S22 isn't far off also being launched. It's peculiar timing indeed.