Samsung’s skinny telephone is right here. The Galaxy S25 Edge — first teased again in January — is actually a slimmed-down S25 Plus, with the identical 6.7-inch OLED show, Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, and AI options. The compact design comes at a value although, and also you’ll should do with out the telephoto lens or beefy battery.
At 163g (about 5.7 ounces), the Edge is only a gram heavier than the common S25, with its dinky little 6.2-inch display, and at 5.8mm thick it’s comfortably thinner than any Samsung slab telephone in years. It’s nonetheless barely thicker than Samsung’s Tab S10 tablets or Z Fold 6 foldable, which have sufficient house to get thinner by spreading their batteries out slightly extra, however in case you want conventional telephone type elements then that is among the many thinnest you should purchase proper now — not less than till the rumored iPhone 17 Air comes alongside.
Pictures appear to undersell the impact, which I believe will probably be Samsung’s problem advertising the Edge: it mainly simply seems like an everyday telephone till you decide it up, which is when everybody appears to ooooh involuntarily.
The “Edge” title means that Samsung goes to lean on how skinny the telephone is, however for me the burden is extra spectacular. It solves not less than half the issue folks have with huge telephones, and is way extra noticeable than a barely slimmer physique. Moreover, the second you place a case on this it received’t really feel very skinny any extra, nevertheless it ought to nonetheless be fairly mild.
Samsung hasn’t taken the excuse to make the Edge any extra frail than the opposite S25 telephones, and in reality has leaned the opposite manner. It makes use of the identical titanium body because the S25 Extremely — more durable than the aluminum of the opposite fashions — together with the newly introduced Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the display, and an IP68 ranking for mud and water-resistance. Merely put, this ought to be fairly sturdy.
Nonetheless, there are two huge sacrifices it’s a must to make. The primary is the digital camera: you solely get two rear lenses, with no telephoto in any respect. Once more although, Samsung has borrowed from the Extremely to make up for issues — the 200-megapixel primary shooter right here makes use of the very same sensor as that telephone, however crammed right into a smaller digital camera housing. On paper that ought to imply a primary digital camera that’s about nearly as good because the Extremely’s — and higher than the Plus’ — however with much less versatility than both of these telephones.
The larger fear for many would be the battery. The three,900mAh cell right here is the smallest throughout the S25 vary — in comparison with 4,000mAh within the S25 and 4,900mAh within the Plus — and with a giant display to energy too, there’s no manner this received’t have the worst battery lifetime of the lot.
Samsung insists that that is nonetheless a full-day telephone, estimating that it could ship 24 hours of nonstop video playback, although that’s 5 fewer than the S25’s quoted 29 hours or the Plus’ 30. When my colleague Allison Johnson reviewed the common S25, she stated it obtained by means of “a full day of average use,” and the Edge shouldn’t be an excessive amount of worse. Chipset and software program optimizations imply most trendy telephones have battery to spare, making a smaller cell like this possible once more.
However that’s on day one. Batteries don’t final ceaselessly, and I don’t belief that the Edge will probably be a full-day telephone ceaselessly. Samsung is committing to seven years of OS and safety updates, according to the opposite S25 telephones, however I’d be slightly fearful concerning the Edge’s battery life effectively earlier than that.
Regardless of these downsides, you’ll truly should pay extra for the S25 Edge than you’d for a Plus. Preorders are open now forward of an official launch on Might thirtieth, and the telephone prices $1,099.99 for a mannequin with 256GB storage, and $1,219.99 for 512GB, which places this midway between the Plus and the Extremely in Samsung’s pricing.
So no, this most likely isn’t essentially the most sensible telephone buy you may make proper now — nevertheless it was by no means meant to be. As with Samsung’s foldable telephones, there’s greater than a touch of type over perform to the Edge. I’m impressed that Samsung has managed to maintain a lot of the telephone on par with the opposite S25 fashions, however the digital camera and battery are hardly small concerns. They’re huge compromises to make for the sake of getting slightly pocket house again, however till I’ve had the prospect to check the digital camera totally and push the battery for just a few days, it’s not possible to say if it’s a commerce price making.
That is one telephone the place you must undoubtedly look forward to the evaluations.
Images by Dominic Preston / The Verge