Samsung already had a lineup of stable telephones on its fingers with the Galaxy S25 collection, and it opted to spherical out the gathering by making an extra-thin mannequin: the Galaxy S25 Edge. The place the opposite telephones can push as much as 8mm thick, the S25 Edge trims down to simply below 6mm. That positive is skinny for a telephone, but when a matter of millimeters doesn’t sound like a significant distinction, you’re already catching on to the largest problem the S25 Edge faces. The Galaxy S25 Edge could also be constructed like a high-end smartphone, however that pursuit of thinness comes with a number of key compromises that impression the telephone’s general high quality.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge – Design and Options
Samsung has undeniably managed to trim down the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge in comparison with the remainder of its latest telephones, to not point out most of its competitors. The S25 Edge is simply 5.8mm thick, down from the Galaxy S25 Extremely’s 8.2mm. The distinction is delicate within the pocket however plain to the bare eye. There’s additionally a tangible weight distinction, with the telephone weighing 2 ounces lower than the S25 Extremely at simply 5.7 ounces.
However the S25 Edge nonetheless isn’t razor sharp, partially as a result of it has flat edges. After I dug out some previous telephones for comparability, I discovered it actually doesn’t really feel meaningfully skinny in comparison with the place smartphones had been about 9 years in the past. My previous OnePlus 5 felt about as skinny because of its curves (even when it’s 7.3mm thick), and the unique Moto Z nonetheless has the S25 Edge beat by 0.1mm. In fact, the S25 Edge is the one of those telephones packing the newest {hardware}. That comes with caveats of its personal, although.
The S25 Edge may appear to be the S25 Extremely, all the way down to the colour scheme, however flipping it over to the again, the easy two-camera setup is markedly missing subsequent to the quad-camera setup that the Extremely provides. In fact, there’s no S Pen both.
Samsung did go for a big, 6.7-inch show, giving it extra room to squeeze in different essential internals, like the three,900mAh battery – albeit a bit small for a telephone as of late. It’s not less than a top quality LTPO AMOLED show, providing a pointy 1440×3120 decision that runs clean at as much as 120Hz. It additionally will get lots shiny for simple visibility typically, although doesn’t have the identical anti-glare coating of the S25 Extremely both.
Whereas the display is fairly good, I did discover some odd shade shift when viewing it from an angle. It’s hotter straight on, however at angles of even simply 10-20 levels, it beneficial properties a cooler tone. It’s most perceptible in giant areas with a stable shade, although it will possibly in any other case be arduous to detect. Fortunately, this implies most media isn’t going to be impacted. And with the potent stereo audio system the S25 Edge has on board, motion pictures and TV are nonetheless simple sufficient to get pleasure from on the telephone.
Like its siblings, the S25 Edge provides a fingerprint scanner constructed into the show together with facial recognition for unlocking the telephone. Each have labored rapidly and reliably in my testing. Different stowaway options from the S25 Extremely: The S25 Edge saved the titanium body and 15W wi-fi charging, although wired charging peaks at 25W. It could survive dips into 1.5-meter deep water for as much as half-hour. It has some totally different blends of Gorilla Glass, however it’s nonetheless powerful stuff. Alas, even that is not resistant to blemishes, with the rear of the telephone exhibiting ugly scratches after the couple weeks I spent with it.
Detailing the design and options of the S25 Edge ultimately begins to really feel a bit like discussing issues Samsung packed into the S25 Extremely and gave up for the Edge. And that brings us to a key level: All you’re actually getting is a telephone that shaves hairs of the scale of the telephone and its weight, and leaves rather a lot on the desk within the course of. By no means thoughts that the digital camera bump virtually doubles the thickness of the telephone at its nook. The digital camera additionally has a small recess round it that’s more likely to accumulate mud and gunk over time, and I can solely hope it doesn’t pop off as simply because the digital camera housings on the S25 Extremely, as Zack from JerryRigEverything demonstrated so nicely.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge – Software program
The Galaxy S25 Edge comes working Android 15 and can get seven years of OS and safety updates. Samsung’s One UI is fairly customizable, even permitting for issues like mirror navigation buttons on the backside of the show for people who haven’t switched to gesture navigation. I’ve all the time revered Samsung’s flexibility however been irritated by its insistence on signing in with a Samsung account prior to now. Fortunately, the S25 Edge may be arrange with simply your Google account. The telephone will nonetheless include a few of Samsung’s tackle numerous apps although, like Contacts, My Recordsdata, Calendar, and its personal web browser.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge – Gaming and Efficiency
Like different flagship Android telephones this yr, the Galaxy S25 Edge runs on a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. For different units, this chip has enabled excessive efficiency, and the Galaxy S25 Edge isn’t any exception. Here is the factor: Warmth has been a difficulty on nearly each system I’ve examined with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. They beautiful a lot all find yourself throttling a bit when performing heavy hundreds for a very long time, even when they’ve lively cooling or giant vapor chambers. Due to the Galaxy S25 Edge’s measurement, it has neither of these issues and experiences thermal throttling points a lot sooner and extra severely than different telephones.
Although it carried out nicely in single benchmark runs, largely holding tempo with the Galaxy S25 Extremely and different high-end Android telephones, its efficiency throttles rapidly in sustained hundreds. In 3DMark’s Metal Nomad Gentle Stress Take a look at, which repeats the benchmark 20 instances in a row, the telephone had one good run after which rapidly dropped, shedding 16% of its efficiency after the primary run and over 50% by the tip of the 20 runs. One other benchmark noticed the CPU temps rise from 84.2 levels Fahrenheit to 105.8 levels after a single run. Working the identical benchmark instantly after, temps rose even additional and the efficiency dropped by 20%.
Whereas this doesn’t forestall the telephone from being a speedy system in on a regular basis operation, particularly with 12GB of reminiscence holding continuously accessed apps available, it does imply that heavier workloads will show problematic. Other than mild video games, you’ll be able to count on efficiency to sag rapidly and temperatures to rise simply as quick. The warmth is basically localized close to the digital camera sensors, so the S25 Edge not less than avoids changing into uncomfortable to carry in a one-handed grip.
As talked about earlier, the slim design comes with a smaller battery than you’d count on in a telephone with this large a display. Fortunately, this hasn’t prevented it from managing an affordable all-day battery life. However with telephones just like the OnePlus 13 readily pushing into two-day territory, the S25 Edge’s battery efficiency actually doesn’t really feel that spectacular.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge – Cameras
The Galaxy S25 Edge isn’t fairly the digital camera powerhouse that its siblings are. It borrows a few of the identical sensors, however not a few of the finest ones. With simply two rear sensors, it’s not providing the identical type of versatility that even the bottom Galaxy S25 offers. Right here’s a fast rundown of the cameras onboard the Edge:
- 200MP large, f/1.7, 1/1.3”, OIS, EIS
- 12MP ultrawide, f/2.2
- 12MP Selfie, f/2.2, 1.12-micron, 1/3.2”
Unsurprisingly, the Galaxy S25 Edge has a superb essential digital camera sensor, borrowing the identical one discovered on the Galaxy S25 Extremely. The telephone snaps sharp pictures, although it bins down from 200MP to simply 12MP. Samsung’s processing tends to spice up shade saturation, which might have a enjoyable and full of life look to it, however doesn’t all the time result in essentially the most lifelike photographs. The big sensor and large aperture have good light-gathering potential, permitting the telephone to take pictures pretty rapidly in darker environments. That, mixed with the evening mode, makes for surprisingly shiny pictures with out as a lot threat of movement blur.
What the Galaxy S25 Edge particularly lacks is high quality zoom. Its essential sensor can crop in to provide a digital zoom, however the high quality drops tremendously additional out. At 2X zoom, pictures look moderately near the standard of the sensor at 1X, they usually actually look sharper than a 1X blown as much as 200%. Push to 4X, although, and peculiar digital zoom artifacts like softer particulars and weird auras round some objects and folks within the shot start to noticeably crop up.
The ultra-wide is a downgrade from the S25 Extremely. It doesn’t have as excessive a decision nor as a lot light-gathering potential, which may end up in softer-looking particulars, particularly in dimmer eventualities. Taking pictures in the identical circumstances, the ultra-wide sensor will produce extra noise than the principle sensor.
Sadly, the principle sensor struggles to get very near topics, so in these tight photographs, the telephone will attempt to change over to a Macro mode that crops in on the ultra-wide sensor. The end result is a photograph that’s in focus, however with softer particulars and a better probability of noise.
The selfie digital camera is identical shared among the many S25 household. It produces moderately crisp pictures and provides the identical vibrant colours you’ll discover from the principle sensor. It gained’t be as sharp or succesful in low-light settings, however it will get the job completed in any other case.
