Samsung Galaxy Watch FE review: a bogus bargain

Everybody loves a deal. That’s the whole point of budget devices like Samsung’s Galaxy Watch FE: it may lack the flagship watch’s flashy features and premium hardware, but you save a good chunk of cash in exchange. It’s a fair, sensible tradeoff — but only when companies strike the right balance between price and features. And with the $199.99 Galaxy Watch FE, Samsung is way off the mark.

Here’s the thing. Design-wise, the Watch FE is a lot like the brand-new Galaxy Watch 7, which sells for $299.99. They look nearly identical! They share most of the same software features, like activity tracking, notifications, and advanced health features like EKGs and body composition analysis. Most of the things you can do on the Watch 7, you can do on the Watch FE. 

But under the hood, the Watch FE is really just a rebadged Galaxy Watch 4, which launched in 2021. The FE comes in only the smaller 40mm size, uses Samsung’s last-gen smartwatch processor, lacks a skin temperature sensor, and sports a slightly smaller battery. The only upgrade over the Watch 4 is a more durable sapphire crystal lens and the newer one-click strap mechanism.

Because it’s essentially a Galaxy Watch 4, it performs like one, too. Swiping through screens is consistently laggy, which doesn’t instill confidence that the FE will smoothly handle future versions of Wear OS. I might’ve written off a jittery, slow screen if I were buying a refurbished Watch 4. But this is marketed as a new watch, and paying $200 (or $250 if you want LTE) for laggy performance feels wrong.

Battery life isn’t quite as good as the Watch 7, either. I got it to last 24 hours, but that was with the always-on display disabled and ample use of the power-saving mode. You can probably get more mileage if you tweak settings, but with normal usage (sans low-power mode), I got around 18–20 hours. This is most definitely a watch that requires daily charging. The 40mm Watch 7 isn’t that much better, but I can reliably get through the day without thinking too hard about it. I found myself needing to keep an eye on the FE and often got caught by low-battery notifications.

The Watch FE feels like Samsung getting its branding ducks in a row to mirror Apple. If you look at the lineups now, there’s a one-to-one analog of Galaxy Watch to Apple Watch. The FE is less egregious of a clone than the Galaxy Watch Ultra, but I just don’t think Samsung nailed the right mix of features, hardware, and price. With the Apple Watch SE, you lose the always-on display and some advanced health features like EKGs, while still getting good performance and a larger $150 discount. Apple bet on the same performance and fewer features, whereas Samsung bet on more features with worse performance. The former works. The latter doesn’t.

Samsung wouldn’t have to tweak much to get the mix right. Knock the price down to $180, offer the same battery as the Watch 7, and focus on basic health and SOS features. I’m sure that version of the FE would sell like hotcakes. Call it wishful thinking, but I have a gut feeling that the FE is the victim of a messy transition year where Samsung scrambled to make big changes to its smartwatch lineup. Down the line, I’m hopeful that future versions of the FE will make more sense.

As it stands, it’s simply a much better value for bargain hunters to buy last year’s Galaxy Watch 6 on sale. Either way, you’d be saving money while getting a newer processor, multiple size options, and a larger battery. Again, a great budget gadget should make you feel like it’s a steal. But right now, the FE feels less like a deal and more like overpaying for a “new” Galaxy Watch 4.