The Galaxy S20 FE (for 'Fan Edition') was a smash hit last year, thanks to its flagship hardware at a lower cost, but plans for a sequel have been constantly delayed. The phone seemed like it was cancelled for a while, but more recently, a new wave of leaks and renders have cropped up. There might be at least one benefit to the Galaxy S21 FE's late release, though — it could ship with Android 12 out of the box.

SamMobile has reportedly obtained a copy of the firmware for the Galaxy S21 FE, and discovered that it's based on Android 12. That should mean that anyone buying the Galaxy S21 FE will get everything included in Android 12, as well as all of Samsung's One UI 4.0 enhancements, without waiting for a later update. Assuming the Galaxy S21 FE will get the standard three "generations" of Android updates that Samsung provides to its other flagship devices, the phone should receive Android 13, 14, and 15 when they become available.

Android 12 includes 'Material You' themes support (which is slightly different on One UI 4.0), a new Privacy Dashboard with detailed permissions reports, new visual indicators for when apps use your microphone and/or camera, App Hibernation, new splash screens for apps, and many other changes.

The Galaxy S21 FE is reportedly arriving in January, followed by the Galaxy S22 series in February. The phone's design appears nearly identical to the entry-level Galaxy S21, with both Exynos 2100 and Snapdragon 888 variants. A leak from earlier this month indicated the S21 FE in Europe will cost just under 660 Euros for the base 128GB model, and 705 Euros for the 256GB version.

Last year's Galaxy S20 FE had the benefit of releasing several months before the Galaxy S21 series, but this time around, the S21 FE will (reportedly) only have a month of sales to itself before the Galaxy S22 series arrives. It remains to be seen how that will impact the popularity of both phones.