Samsung has finally released the Galaxy S21 FE, which will likely serve as a cheaper alternative to the upcoming Galaxy S22 series. Even though the initial retail price of $699 seems like a relatively good deal, the sales and promotions are starting immediately, just as they did for the S20 FE. Case in point: if you buy a Galaxy S21 FE from Amazon, the store will throw in a $100 Amazon gift card.

Best Buy has an exclusive blue color option to help it sell the Galaxy S21 FE (though the blue is fairly understated), but Amazon's solution is to simply offer store credit. There's a 'S21 FE + Amazon Gift Card' option available on the retailer's product page for the Galaxy S21 FE that you have to select, but all the same color options and storage capacities appear to be available. Amazon says the gift card is "affixed inside a mini envelope" in the package, so it's not just a code sent to your email.

The Galaxy S21 FE has a 6.4-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, 6GB RAM, a 4,500mAh battery, 25W wired fast charging, three rear cameras (12MP primary, 12MP ultra-wide, and 8MP telephoto), a 32MP front camera, IP68 water/dust resistance, and One UI 4.0 based on Android 12. Two hardware configurations are available: 128GB storage for $699, or 256GB storage for $769. Unlike the Galaxy S20 FE, there's no microSD card slot for adding additional storage.

If you're curious about our thoughts on the phone, check out our Galaxy S21 FE hands-on article. We'll have to wait to see how the Galaxy S22 series turns out, but if you need a phone right now, this isn't a bad deal at all. You can keep the gift card for yourself to use on future Amazon purchases, or give it to someone else.