Samsung’s Clever Marketing Ploy: The Galaxy FE, A Renamed Relic of Smartwatch History

Samsung is preparing to launch the Galaxy Watch FE, a $200 rehash of the three-year-old Galaxy Watch 4. It gives customers a cheaper alternative to Samsung’s flagship smartwatches, but it’s an odd duck.

This announcement left me dumbfounded. The Galaxy Watch FE’s hardware is identical to that of the Galaxy Watch 4 . Both use an Exynos W920 chipset, a 1.2-inch Super AMOLED display, a 247mAh battery with 5-watt charging, a BioActive sensor (heart rate, EKG, etc), Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, 1.5GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage. Samsung upgraded the Watch FE’s glass to Sapphire Crystal, but that’s the only difference between these two devices.

The Galaxy Watch FE launches with One UI 5, which arrived on the Galaxy Watch 4 last year. To be fair, the software situation will change as Samsung ends support for the Galaxy Watch 4 in 2026. (But if Samsung can support the Galaxy Watch FE beyond 2026, why not do the same for the Watch 4?)

And, for those wondering, the Galaxy Watch FE doesn’t have a rotating bezel. Some rumors claimed that this smartwatch would be a retooled Galaxy Watch 4 Classic —nope, it’s just a standard Galaxy Watch 4, and it only comes in a 40mm size.

This feels like a very old-school approach to smartwatches. Google and Samsung teamed up a few years ago to develop Wear OS 3, an operating system that forced chipset designers like Qualcomm to stop reusing outdated processors . While Galaxy Watch FE’s dual-core Exynos W920 isn’t “outdated,” it’s substantially less powerful than the Galaxy Watch 6’s quad-core 5nm Exynos W930 chipset. And when critics inevitably compare the Galaxy Watch SE to the upcoming Watch 7, which is expected to use a five-core 3nm chipset, the gap in processing power will feel massive.

I should also note that a refurbished Galaxy Watch 4 currently sells for less than $100. The only problem is that the Galaxy Watch 4 will stop receiving updates in 2026. If you need something that’ll last a bit longer, the Galaxy Watch FE is genuinely a better choice, assuming that Samsung sticks with its five-year update commitment.

The Galaxy Watch FE launches on June 24th with prices starting at $200. An LTE variant will arrive in October for $250. Samsung has only announced a 40mm size, so don’t hold your breath for a 44mm model.

Source: Samsung

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