The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has been imminent, delayed, or cancelled at various points this year. It is now back in "postponed" status, with a handful of reliable leakers now gathering information that it will be announced in January 2022.

This is a direct response to the somewhat sketchy rumor that the Galaxy S21 FE will be announced at Galaxy Unpacked Part 2 on October 20.

The rumor was thoroughly squashed by those in the know historically.

First, display supply chain analyst Ross Young said that according to his company's analysis, a Galaxy S21 FE release is unlikely to be imminent." We do not expect the S21 FE to ship before the end of October," he tweeted, "as it will be announced next week and will not go into production until December." We have set the S21 FE launch for January."

John Prosser, a leaker with a solid track record of getting things right, corroborated this in his reply.

In a later tweet, Prosser made a more accurate prediction, saying it would be January 11, 2022. He then brought out another leaker, Max Weinbach, who agreed with that date.

Of course, it is technically possible that the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE could be announced at the October event, but if the January release date is indeed correct, that would be odd from a marketing perspective. Why announce something so far in advance that no one will buy a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 today? It's just not done.

If the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is indeed coming in January, I have to think it is too late to make a serious impact. By then, Qualcomm will have announced its new Snapdragon chip, and the Galaxy S21 FE's biggest selling point - class-leading internals at a more attractive price - will no longer be true.

And every time Samsung delays the launch, it becomes less attractive due to the rate at which the value of the company's other high-end phones depreciate. Right now, you can buy a "renewed" Samsung Galaxy S21 for under $500 on Amazon Marketplace. For comparison, the Galaxy S20 FE is available for $699, and it seems unlikely that Samsung will lower it any further.

And that's before considering the fact that Samsung is said to be launching the Galaxy S22 family in early 2022, to further overshadow the Galaxy S21 FE.

Frankly, if I were in Samsung's shoes, I would cut my losses right now. I would give the Galaxy S21 FE one last long delay... .all the way to October 2022. Then I would rename it the Galaxy S22 FE and give it a fighting chance.