The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE was totally absent from Galaxy Unpacked earlier this week, but that doesn't mean it's not coming. One Samsung executive claimed the phone’s announcement was “imminent”, and now a new listing at the Wireless Power Consortium suggests he was being truthful.
The Wireless Power Consortium is the organization behind Qi wireless charging. Typically if a device supports the Qi standard, the consortium will have a cerification page in its database featuring key specs and information. It’s similar to how all Bluetooth devices are certified by Bluetooth SIG, or wireless devices by the FCC.
Naturally this sort of thing only happens when a phone is close to launching, which means the Galaxy S23 FE could be arriving very soon. How soon isn’t clear, but we don’t expect the phone will be announced until after the release of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 on August 11.
The WPC listing doesn’t just imply that the Galaxy S23 FE will be arriving in the near future, either. It actually features some additional details about the phone we otherwise didn’t know. Primarily the fact that it’s capable of receiving up to 4.4 watts of power via wireless charging. That’ll presumably be rounded up to 5W in all the marketing material.
The listing also features an image of the phone in question, though there’s very little we can actually glean from this. The screen isn’t on, and as expected the design is pretty-much identical to that of the standard Galaxy S23.
5W wireless charging is, admittedly, not great — though it’s hardly a surprise. The standard Galaxy S23 offers up to 15W wireless charging, while the mid-range Galaxy A54 doesn’t support wireless charging at all. Then again the Galaxy S21 FE, which is the last time we got an FE-model Galaxy, supported 15W wireless charging as well.
Funnily enough, the S21 FE also offered up to 4.5W reverse wireless charging. That means it could be used to wirelessly charge its predecessor just as well as any wireless charging pad. Assuming this listing is accurate, and right now we have no reason to assume it’s not.
Disappointing as it may be, this reduced wireless charging capability is probably just a cost-saving measure. The FE series is supposed to offer a taste of flagship features at a lower price, and by limiting wireless charging capabilities Samsung may be able to offer a better screen or camera without increasing the price.
Leaks suggest that the Galaxy S23 FE could be getting some solid performance too. The U.S. model appears to be getting a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, and while not as good as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 or Gen 2 for Galaxy chips, it’s still one of the best Android chipsets available. But again, that’s likely been chosen in an attempt to save money. The same goes for any international models that could arrive with a Samsung-made Exynos 2200 chipset.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Galaxy S23 FE, but all signs are pointing towards the phone launching rather soon. So we shouldn’t have too long to wait before we find out more, and whether Samsung really can ensure the Galaxy S23 FE and Galaxy A54 can co-exist properly.
