Samsung's Galaxy S22 is expected to launch in early 2022, but that date may not be as soon as some people expect. The reason for the delay in the Galaxy S22 launch seems to be that Samsung is trying to find room to bring another phone to market.

It is the Galaxy S21 FE, a long-rumored but rarely seen version of the Galaxy S21 that is supposed to offer Samsung fans a cheaper alternative to this year's flagship. We were expecting a Galaxy S21 FE in October, but that hasn't happened - well, unless you like last-minute October surprises - and the absence of the S21 FE had some people speculating that the phone had been canceled.

Now Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser is reporting that pre-orders for the Galaxy S22 will be placed in February, suggesting that the flagship will not debut in January as the Galaxy S21 did last year. Instead, Prosser points to earlier reports that the Galaxy S21 FE will launch on January 11.

Another Sammobile report earlier this month made a similar claim - the Galaxy S21 FE will launch in January and will postpone the arrival of the S22 to make room. [The Galaxy S21 FE should be a scaled-down version of the flagship phone, which will have been on the market for about a year by the time the S21 FE is rumored to arrive. Its predecessor, the Galaxy S20 FE, proved to be a popular phone because it was $300 cheaper than the Galaxy S20 that came before it. [The Galaxy S21 FE has the same Snapdragon 888 chipset and 120Hz display as the S21, with reportedly inferior camera performance.

Samsung has a precedent of releasing a light version of its flagship just before a major product launch; in January 2020, it did exactly that with the Galaxy S10 Lite just before the debut of the Galaxy S20 in February of that year.

Of all the phones rumored to be coming from Samsung, the Galaxy S22 will clearly be the big story. In addition to a brighter screen, an under-display camera, and S Pen support, it is expected to feature a newer processor. Samsung will have to claim that this phone is an improvement over the Galaxy S21 - if it is not still busy trying to justify releasing the Galaxy S21 FE a month early.

Another rumor has it that Samsung's Galaxy S22 lineup will be priced higher, and the Galaxy S22 Ultra will be significantly priced higher. So let's hope that there are some solid improvements that can justify this rumored price increase.