5 years after the discharge of the Galaxy S20 FE, Samsung has settled right into a predictable sample with its "Fan Version" line of telephones. Every new cellphone doesn't supply a lot new or completely different from its rapid predecessor, with the corporate opting to supply iterative updates as a substitute.
That may have been fantastic earlier than, however with the arrival of the Nothing Telephone 3a Professional and Pixel 10 — units that modified the worth proposition of their respective classes — the S25 FE feels woefully out of contact with a market that's altering to fulfill individuals's calls for. There's not a lot right here that makes the brand new Galaxy S25 FE stand out, and any "upgrades" aren't substantive.
{Hardware} and show
Once I first took the S25 FE out of the field, I believed Samsung had performed a merciless trick on me. The cellphone appears to be like an identical to its predecessor, sporting the identical brushed aluminum body that's been the corporate's go-to for years now. I needed to dig the S24 FE out of my devices drawer to check the 2 telephones earlier than I confirmed they have been the truth is completely different units.
The bodily variations are minor. Samsung has tweaked the size of the brand new cellphone, making it barely shorter, wider and thinner. Particularly, the S25 FE measures in at 6.35 x 3.02 x 0.29 inches, whereas its predecessor was 6.38 x 3.04 x 0.31 inches. The brand new cellphone can also be protected by Samsung's "enhanced Armor" aluminum body.
Extra noticeable is that the S25 FE is lighter than final yr's mannequin, coming in at 6.7 ounces, down from 7.51 ounces. That is regardless of the actual fact the brand new machine has a higher-capacity 4,900mAh battery. Collectively, these adjustments don't make the S25 FE simpler to carry if in case you have small palms (simply ask my girlfriend), but it surely does really feel higher balanced than its predecessor. One situation with the dimensions of the S25 FE is the location of the in-display fingerprint sensor. It's proper on the backside of the display. I discovered this made it awkward to unlock the cellphone with my thumb — and I'm somebody with massive palms.
One other slight distinction is the end on the again of the cellphone. This time round, Samsung has gone with a matte coating, as a substitute of the shiny end it used on the S24 FE. It's a welcome change because it makes the brand new mannequin much less vulnerable to smudging and attracting fingerprints. I simply want Samsung had determined to supply the S25 FE in additional enjoyable colours. At launch, it's accessible in 4 colorways: white, icy blue, jet black and navy (pictured). So, for those who don't like blue, I'm sorry.
Amid the slight design tweaks, Samsung has gone with the identical display it did final yr. The S25 FE has a 6.7-inch AMOLED show, with a panel that gives a 120Hz refresh charge and 1080p decision. The S24 FE's vibrant display was among the best elements of final yr's mannequin, and it's the identical with S25 FE. It's straightforward to see the display in brilliant daylight, due to the actual fact it could possibly push 1,900 nits of peak brightness. It's additionally vibrant, and with HDR10 help included, nice for watching movies on YouTube, Netflix and elsewhere.
Cameras
Samsung made a single tweak to the Galaxy S25 FE's digital camera {hardware}. Like final yr's mannequin, the brand new cellphone has a 50-megapixel foremost digital camera with optical picture stabilization (OIS) and a quick f/1.8 aperture lens. As soon as once more, it additionally has an 8MP telephoto digital camera with a 3x optical zoom and a 12MP ultrawide angle that gives a 123-degree subject of view.
The one addition is a better decision 12MP front-facing digital camera with a quicker f/2.2 aperture lens. For selfies, the S24 FE made do with a 10MP sensor and f/2.4 lens. If the brand new front-facing digital camera included section detection autofocus (PDAF), it might be the identical one which's accessible on the Galaxy S25. Sadly, it doesn't and that's a disgrace as a result of PDAF enormously will increase the probability your pictures will come out sharp and in focus.
It's additionally a disgrace Samsung determined to not replace the FE's telephoto digital camera. Earlier than the Nothing 3a Professional, that was one of many options that made the S24 FE stand out in its value vary. In 2025, nonetheless, the S25 FE's telephoto feels outdated. It doesn't supply the 5x optical zoom of the Pixel 10 nor the 50MP of decision and periscope zoom you get with the 3a Professional. Coming from the previous, the FE's telephoto digital camera felt limiting. With solely 8MP of decision, making an attempt to snap a photograph at something past 5x zoom was pointless; it might simply prove a blurry mess.
As for FE's different cameras, they're respectable if uninspiring. The 50MP digital camera is the very best of the bunch, able to capturing detailed, handsome pictures even in low gentle. The ultrawide, in the meantime, is usually forgettable. It does an okay job of capturing massive scenes, but it surely's missing in dynamic vary and element. The selfie digital camera is a noticeable improve from the one which got here with final yr's mannequin, and produces pleasing pictures which can be on par with what you’ll be able to count on from the S25's front-facing digital camera.
In any other case, snapping photos with the S25 FE appears like utilizing a flagship cellphone from just a few years in the past. The one factor that saves it from being a whole blast from the previous is the inclusion of Samsung's generative photograph modifying software program, which you need to use to take away distracting objects from pictures. Of the AI photograph apps I've examined, Samsung's is among the many finest at modifying out objects with out smearing the background. You can even use the generative edit so as to add issues to a photograph, however as you may count on, this doesn't work in addition to eradicating them.
Efficiency and battery life
On paper, the S25 FE ought to supply higher efficiency than its predecessor, due to Samsung's determination to equip the cellphone with its Exynos 2400 chipset over the cut-down Exynos 2400e it used on final yr's mannequin. In apply the 2 are about on par with each other. On Geekbench's processor check, the Exynos 2400 delivered a 2,144 single-core rating and a 7,059 multi-core rating. That's not significantly better than the two,140 and 6,690 I recorded final fall on the S24 FE.
Nonetheless, it's a extra spectacular displaying than both the Pixel 9a and Nothing 3a Professional had when my colleague Sam Rutherford and I put their Tensor G4 and Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chips by means of Geekbench earlier this yr. For comparability, the previous delivered a modest 1,665 on single-core efficiency and 4,294 on multi-core efficiency. The latter scored a fair much less spectacular 1,115 and three,082 respectively.
In real-world use, the Exynos 2400 feels snappy. Scrolling is quick and fluid, as is opening apps and switching between them. Gaming efficiency can also be spectacular, with the chip in a position to deal with the 60 fps modes in graphically demanding video games like Diablo Immortal and League of Legends: Wild Rift with out dropping frames.
Final yr, Samsung mentioned it redesigned the S24 FE's vapor chamber to make it larger and enhance cooling. With the S25 FE, that part is an extra 10 % bigger. Nonetheless, if the brand new vapor chamber made a distinction to the cellphone's thermals, I had a tough time telling. Each the S25 FE and S24 FE obtained heat after about 15 to twenty minutes of gaming. The brand new cellphone by no means obtained scorching to the purpose I couldn't maintain it anymore, but it surely additionally didn't really feel noticeably cooler than the S24 FE operating the identical video games.
As talked about on the prime, the S25 FE has a bigger 4,900mAh battery. That's about 4 % extra capability than the S24 FE provided. In consequence, any distinction in battery life is minimal. I'm certain there are some eventualities the S25 FE could last more than its predecessor, however in my testing the 2 telephones have been equal by way of longevity. With three to 4 hours of lively screentime, I managed to get a full day of battery life from the S25 FE, with sufficient energy left over to get the cellphone by means of the night time earlier than charging it within the morning. That's just like the expertise I had final yr.
Talking of charging, the S24 FE, with a 25 watt wired restrict, was painfully gradual at it. Going into this assessment, my hope was the S25 FE would do higher and I had good purpose to be hopeful. Samsung lists the brand new cellphone as able to charging at 45 watts. Nonetheless, in my testing the S25 FE was solely barely quicker than its predecessor. Plugged right into a 130 watt Razer GaN charger, it took the cellphone about an hour and 14 minutes to cost to full from a battery at 10 % life. Once I replicated that very same check with a 25 watt charger, it took the S25 FE simply over an hour-and-a-half to cost again up.
Both approach, if battery life is essential to you, the Nothing 3a Professional and Pixel 9a are higher bets. Each include larger batteries (5,000 and 5,100mAh, respectively), and with the previous, you additionally get 50 watt charging.
Software program
The S25 FE ships with Android 16 and Samsung's One UI 8 out of the field. Samsung has promised to help the cellphone with a minimum of seven generations of platform updates, so it ought to keep present with Google's yearly launch schedule up till a minimum of Android 23 in 2032. Notably, this implies the S25 FE could find yourself on a newer model of Android than the S25, S25 Edge and S25 Extremely, all of which launched with Android 15.
With One UI 8, the S25 FE has entry to all the newest AI options from each Samsung and Google. A few of these instruments are helpful; others replicate performance that has been current in Android for a very long time. For instance, Google's Circle to Search is nice. It makes it straightforward to do a visible search of something on the cellphone's display. However, I may do with out Samsung's Now Transient, which provides a lot of the identical utility you'll discover on Android's Uncover web page (a function that comes normal on each Android cellphone).
Every S25 FE additionally comes with six months of free entry to Google AI Professional. Usually priced at $20 per thirty days, the service provides you entry to a number of the firm's finest fashions, together with Gemini 2.5 Professional, within the Gemini app. Inside Movement, Google's AI filmmaking app, you additionally get restricted entry to Veo 3.1, Google's newest video era system. Another perks embody 2TB of cloud storage and better charge limits when utilizing NotebookLM.
Wrap-up
With adjustments that quantity to window dressing, I can't suggest anybody purchase the S25 FE at full value. There's simply sufficient right here to justify spending $650 on a cellphone that’s barely an improve over its predecessor. In the event you're a Samsung fan, I'm certain the S25 FE will likely be continuously discounted, however why reward the corporate for a lazy effort? Moreover, the S25, following a $200 low cost for Prime Day, was solely $10 greater than the FE earlier this month.
Over the previous few years, Google and Nothing have proven midrange telephones don't should be boring, iterative affairs. For Samsung, I believe it's time to rethink its FE technique. If these telephones provided one thing completely different — say precise fan favourite options like a headphone jack — there might be compelling causes to suggest them. However as issues stand, there's simply no purpose to purchase a brand new FE cellphone when the corporate's flagships see steep value reductions inside months of their launch.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cell/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s25-fe-review-iterative-to-a-fault-183026577.html?src=rss