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Samsung Galaxy Watch FE Offers Almost All Galaxy Watch 6 Features for Less Cash

Samsung now has a true budget smartwatch in its lineup.

Headshot of Lexy Savvides
Headshot of Lexy Savvides
Lexy Savvides Former Editor at Large
Lexy was a producer and on-air presenter who covered consumer tech, including the latest smartphones, wearables and emerging trends like assistive robotics. She won two Gold Telly Awards for her video series Beta Test. Prior to her career at CNET, she was a magazine editor, radio announcer and DJ.
Expertise Wearables | Smartwatches | Mobile phones | Photography | Health tech | Assistive robotics Credentials
  • Webby Award honoree, 2x Gold Telly Award winner
Lexy Savvides
2 min read
Galaxy Watch FE
Samsung/Screenshot by CNET

Samsung is adding a new budget wearable to its smartwatch lineup for the first time. The Galaxy Watch FE is a $200 watch that shares many features with the $300 Galaxy Watch 6, including sleep monitoring, workout tracking and a body composition sensor.

The more wallet-friendly smartwatch comes in either black, pink or gold and echoes the same circular design as the Galaxy Watch 6. It is IP68 rated and runs Wear OS with Samsung's One UI 5 Watch, just like Samsung's pricier watch. That means the FE will have the same software features as the Galaxy Watch 6, including high and low heart rate alerts, irregular heart rhythm notifications, running analysis and a personalized heart rate zone during workouts. 

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Watch this: Samsung Galaxy Watch 6: Full Review

There's also an electrocardiogram app, which sets Samsung's watch apart from other similarly priced competitors like the $250 Apple Watch SE, which lacks an ECG app.

Where the two Galaxy watches differ is the battery and processor. The Galaxy Watch FE's battery capacity is slightly lower, at 247 mAh compared to 300 mAh on the 40-millimeter Galaxy Watch 6. The FE also uses the older Exynos W920 chip previously found in the Galaxy Watch 4 and 5. Unlike Samsung's Galaxy Watch 6 series, the Galaxy Watch FE only comes in one 40mm case size. The Galaxy Watch 6 has a 40mm or 44mm option, while the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic with the rotating bezel is 43mm or 47mm.

The Galaxy Watch FE will come in two variants: a $200 Bluetooth model available starting June 24, and a $250 LTE version coming later in the year.

Samsung is expected to announce even more wearables soon with the new Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch 7. Reports from Korean news outlet ETNews and blog SamMobile say the next Unpacked event is planned for July, which aligns with last year's timing.

Samsung is also bringing a range of AI-powered health features to its watches later in the year with One UI 6 Watch. These include Energy Score, which uses metrics like heart rate, activity and sleep data to provide a score that reflects your current state. It's not yet clear if the Galaxy Watch FE will also get this update. CNET has reached out to Samsung to confirm and a company spokesperson said Samsung will support software updates for the Galaxy Watch FE but doesn't have more details to share beyond that right now.

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