With prices starting at $799, the Samsung Galaxy S21 is already $200 cheaper than the Galaxy S20. But that doesn't mean Samsung doesn't have ways to make this phone even cheaper.

According to some leaked information, there may be a cheaper Galaxy S21 variant that skips 5G connectivity altogether.3]

Samsung announced three Galaxy S21 variants at Galaxy Unpacked on January 14, each with 5G network support. However, things may be changing, as a new version of this phone was found in the Bluetooth SIG database.

This model has a model number of "SM-G990F," indicating that it is below the SM-G991X (aka the standard Galaxy S21 model). The consensus is that it will be exactly the same as the standard Galaxy S21, just without 5G.

Interestingly, this is not the first time we have been told about a 4G-only Galaxy S21; WinFuture's Roland Quandt revealed in November that such a device exists, but his information points out that it is intended for markets that benefit from low-cost phones, such as Brazil He noted that it is intended for markets that benefit from low-priced phones, such as Brazil. [The Galaxy Note 10 series, Galaxy Note 20, S20, and Galaxy S20 FE also had 4G-only versions. Unfortunately, the U.S. missed out on the latter three, so the absence of the U.S. from the 4G S21 list is no big surprise.

It is not entirely clear how Samsung intends to save money by omitting 5G; both the Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 chipsets have 5G built in, so such a phone would require either an entirely different chipset or some sort of custom LTE-only variant may be needed.

However, since Samsung develops its own Exynos chips, such a chip could be developed for exactly this purpose.

If the phone does exist, it is almost certain to have the exact same specifications and features as the standard Galaxy S21. That is, the same 4,000 mAh battery, 25W fast charging, triple-lens rear camera, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, and a new design for the phone. However, it will not have a 5G component and may have other changes to the chipset as a result.

Unfortunately, there is no information on when this phone might appear. With the rest of the S21 series currently set for release on January 29 in the US, it shouldn't take us too long to find out.