Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge review: The perils of pretty privilege in a phone

Note: This review was first published on 30 May 2025.

Can a skinny, slim design change how we view today's phones?

We’ll start with a confession. 

Having already tested the Ultra, the Plus, and the regular Galaxy S25 variants, we didn’t think there was a real need to review the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. However, this pencil-thin phone feels far too special to ignore, even if it’s yet another Samsung premium-grade handset.

It is a high-end Galaxy S device on paper. It boasts equal processing power and display quality to the Galaxy S25+, as well as main camera components (200MP) that are equal to those of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It also checks out all the high-grade boxes, right down to an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.

What makes Galaxy S25 Edge stand out is the cramming all of that into a 5.8mm body. It’s significantly thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold6 (12.1mm) and the Galaxy S25 (8.2 mm). Some users who have seen the phone in person would know that the side-by-side comparisons to the 8.2mm Ultra don’t do the Galaxy S25 Edge any justice.

However, such engineering feats come with trade-offs, like a missing telephoto camera and a 3,900mAh battery that’s 100mAh lower than the Galaxy S25. 

Another problem is the phone’s asking prices of S$1,628 (256GB) and S$1,808 (512GB), which means you can’t just chalk it up as another premium alternative in Samsung’s handset offerings. It’s not cheap, and people want to know if it will be unwise to pay that much for a phone that might not last as long while out and about.

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With such significant cuts to its components and a premium placed on its figure, we worry if Samsung has grown addicted to unfettered success, to the point of adopting unrealistic body standards. Additionally, we delve into the meat of its uptime to see if it’s all just skin deep.

That is why we need to review the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. Let’s go.

Pretty privilege is real 

Much has already been said about the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge’s 5.8mm body, given that Samsung made it the main point of the phone. We’ve gone into great detail here about how it measures against other Galaxy S25 series handsets.

In day-to-day use, we were more impressed by its 163g weight, which offered exceptional handling for a phone with a 6.7-inch AMOLED display (equal to the Galaxy S25+’s panel). You can find other lightweight phones, but their screens are typically more claustrophobic (e.g. the 6.2-inch Galaxy S25) or lack the durability expected from flagship-tier handsets.

The Galaxy S25 Edge’s physicality is most practical during active use, especially if you like to rest your phone in the middle phalanx of your pinky finger when texting, browsing, or scrolling (per the photo above).

It’s lighter than the Galaxy S25+, but you still get the same, 6.7-inch AMOLED that feels super smooth (120Hz refresh rate) and super sharp (3,120 x 1,440 pixels resolution), so much that it can tempt kaypoh commuters next to you to sneak a peek at your screen.

Its weight also plays a huge role in making it more suitable for everyday carry. Since the phone is much lighter than a flagship 200-220g mobile phone from Apple, OPPO, or even Samsung, the Galaxy S25 Edge’s graceful frame offsets other going-out items you might carry, like a lip tint, sunblock cream, or a lighter (Zippo ones, in particular, are approx. 65g). Folks who habitually stuff their pockets or tiny purses full with trinkets will appreciate the perks of Galaxy S25 Edge’s svelte, lightweight design.

All this engineering aside, Samsung chose to use a titanium frame, sandwiched between two different types of Corning Gorilla Glass (Ceramic 2 in front and Victus 2 behind). The Koreans even maintained the phone’s IP68-rated water and dust resistance, matching the durability you’d expect from the rest of the high-end Galaxy S25 series.

Most videos, reviews, and hands-on experiences don’t do justice to the Galaxy S25 Edge’s practicality, beyond showcasing its pencil-thin design. It draws you in with its thinness, but the lightweight build makes you stay when you put the phone through its paces.

What’s new with One UI 7 in the Galaxy S25 Edge?

Galaxy AI, the combined effort of Google’s Gemini and Samsung’s AI development effort, has not seen any significant updates since One UI 7 (Android 15) features were added to the Galaxy S25 series at the start of this year. The Galaxy S25 Edge attempts to reintroduce some of the key features upon its first startup, but it assumes you haven't tried One UI 7 on earlier Galaxy S25 series devices.

Some noteworthy minor updates include third-party app support for call translation, now available in Google Meet, WhatsApp, and other call-based apps. Webpages could be translated and summarised before, but now they also support “read aloud” to free up the eyes of drivers and commuters who need their eyes on the road.

Another reason not to delve deeply into One UI 7 is that we fully expected the Galaxy S25 Edge to be similar to the one you get on other Galaxy S25 series handsets. Thankfully, the 5.8mm body doesn’t change how you interact with the phone, so there’s no need to yield to user needs to accommodate an unorthodox phone design. 

According to Samsung, the security updates for Galaxy S25 Edge last until 31 January 2032, which gives the device ~6.6 years of support (if you count from its 30 May 2025 retail date). It’s a couple of months shy of the seven years offered by the best of these phone brands, but it’s not something we find pearl-clutchingly scandalous.

Imaging Performance

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge's rear cameras:

• 200MP main camera, f/1.7, OIS
• 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.2, 120˚ FOV
• 2x "optical quality" zoom, 10x digital zoom

Samsung aims to offer more value by equipping this device with a 200MP main camera. The brand claims it’s the same primary shooter used on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and therefore making the Galaxy S25 Edge a manufacturing marvel with a lumpy camera housing. Samsung added that its main camera makes the variant a device positioned between the Galaxy S25+ and Ultra.

However, unlike the Galaxy S25+ and Ultra, this slim phone lacks a dedicated telephoto lens. That hurts, because telephoto cameras are needed for full-body or half-body portraiture shots, as well as recordings at concerts and other lively venues. Not having that option on a premium phone feels underwhelming.

The other rear camera is a 12MP ultrawide, the same as the Galaxy S25+’s.

Besides the standard 1x shooting. The Galaxy S25 Edge features a decent 2x in-sensor crop zoom and an additional 4x zoom built into its interface, with a total zoom capability of up to 10x. Since it lacks a crucial telephoto camera, it does not offer either the S25+’s 3x optical zoom or the Ultra’s 100x Space Zoom.

From the imaging performance, we agree that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge takes excellent photos and has the colourisation, clarity, sharpness, and contrast handling we’d want from a S$1,600+ device. However, its versatility is limited, similar to that of a midrange or entry-level phone, as it lacks a zoom range wider than 10x, and an optical zoom performance beyond 1x.

 If you take it as a whole package, it’s not worth paying S$1,600 to compromise your mobile shooting capabilities. Even though most users primarily use the main camera, they don’t limit themselves to 1x and 2x zoom. You also lack the crucial Space Zoom to go gaga over your favourite performers and idols when they finally decide to grace our hot and sweaty island with an all-out concert.

Yes, you can always buy a compact mirrorless camera if you're serious about photography, but there are plenty of great phone options with strong camera performance and versatility to cover the majority of shooting scenarios you’ll find yourself in (like the S$1,478 Galaxy S25!).

Fortunately for Samsung, cameras aren’t the only metric most people use to judge a phone. Let’s examine how it performs in other areas.

Benchmark Performance

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge contains the same processor used in its other S25 series siblings:  the 8-core Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. In short, this 2025 flagship Qualcomm took its 2025 flagship Android system-on-chip and tweaked it for Samsung’s latest high-end phones. The Galaxy S25 Edge also features 12GB of RAM, matching the other S25 handsets.

(Note: The “for Galaxy” variant comes with two higher-clocked prime cores at 4.47GHz, up from the base Snapdragon 8 Elite’s 4.32GHz).

Naturally, the S$1,628 (256GB) Galaxy S25 Edge goes up against its other S25 series to see if it’s equal in “for Galaxy” performance. It’s also up against other Snapdragon 8 Elite handsets (or their MediaTek equivalent) to see if it’s competitive. 

Putting it to the test

To find out how the competitors line up specs and price-wise, check them out in this link.

To find out more about the tests we conduct and what they relate to, we've jotted them down here.

Benchmark remarks

On paper, the Galaxy S25 Edge’s performance is almost on par with the regular-sized Galaxy S25 series devices. The phone maintained a temperature of 40°C during testing, which was lukewarm to the touch and similar to that of most flagship phones.

While it’s impressive for a super slim handset, it’s less so when you look at its S$1,628 (256GB) price tag. The performance passes our expectations, given how much Samsung wants you to pay for it. Additionally, the upkeep of performance often comes at the expense of battery life, which is not a luxury the Galaxy S25 Edge can afford. We will explore that in our next section.

Battery life

Our battery benchmark uses PCMark for Android’s Work 3.0 Battery Life test to determine a modern Android-based smartphone's battery uptime in minutes. This controlled benchmark simulates real-world usage with a combination of both web and social media browsing, video and photo editing, parsing data with various file formats, writing (on documents), and more. 

The biggest bugbear for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is its 3,900mAh battery, which Samsung’s harshest critics have said is something “nobody asked for” and a needless sacrifice for a superficial design. 

Initially, we reserved our judgment. Specs are not conclusive and merely a partial indication of actual performance in real-world scenarios. Sadly for Samsung, these party poopers are right. 

The smaller battery capacity is keenly felt, particularly in its significantly shorter uptime; we attribute this to several aggravating factors. The phone’s design offers less room to dissipate heat, and it must maintain its performance while running on a higher-quality display (1440p) and a larger panel (6.7-inch). They compound the phone’s challenges to keep up with your day outside. If you own the Galaxy S25 Edge and need to hustle hard to afford bills and Singapore’s cost of living, please consider carrying a power bank with you (we happen to have a good Anker one that was recently reviewed).

In real-world experience, the phone saps 10% of its battery when left idling overnight and takes 12% for an hour of 60FPS gaming. It also burns about 10% when watching YouTube or scrolling through Instagram for an hour. This means that you’re looking at around 10 hours of “normal”, productive usage, notwithstanding the idling battery the phone needs.

For reference, not only do the other Galaxy S25 series phones have more power to work with, but the Galaxy S25 is only 6.2 inches with a maximum 1080p resolution (the display is usually the biggest battery drain), which helps with its battery life.

The Galaxy S25+ features a chip, display quality, and resolution equal to those of the Galaxy S25 Edge’s. Still, it comes with an additional 1,000mAh battery, allowing for an extra 2 hours and 25 minutes of uptime.

The phone features a maximum 25W wired charging, which delivers a 0-50% charge in just 25 minutes, and takes around 90 minutes for a full 0-100% charge. Conveniently, it offers wireless charging, but we only tested its functionality to see if it meets premium-grade expectations.

Fun to be around with, but tough to bring it home

We really like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, but we cannot easily recommend it to others.

Let’s talk about the good parts first. The performance is, by and large, what you expect from premium handsets. A 1440p high-quality AMOLED display paired with the best Qualcomm phone processor available today makes it excel in flagship phone duties.

Its key proposition — the 5.8mm body — is a winner in both aesthetics and practicality. Yes, there are real-world advantages of using a slim phone, even if nobody asked for one. Your pinky finger, pockets, and purses will thank you for even considering it, and we do not say that lightly. 

Tying it all together are the hygiene factors, such as its double Gorilla Glass protection, IP68 rating, fast RAM and storage, an excellent main camera, and software that’s both familiar in terms of user experience and security.

It has the potential to be a game-changing device if it suits the lifestyle of some users. Maybe you don’t need to spend so many hours on your phone, and you’re huge on optimising equipment or baggage you need to haul around for work or pleasure. Perhaps you have access to reliable charging points, like your office desk. These people would see nothing but perks with a Galaxy S25 Edge.

However, a significant portion of modern work and leisure activities now occur on mobile devices at all hours of the day. Even the worst kind of slave-driving towkay needs to stay digitally connected to make others do their bidding. A fitness trainer needs to stay online to coach clients, arrange appointments, and even record instructional videos. Regardless of your profession, phones that can survive most of the day and have reliable charging are essential, even if the handset itself is a luxury.

That, amazingly, is the less grievous reason for holding back on the Galaxy S25 Edge. As true tech lovers, we think it’s the asking price of S$1,628 (256GB) that makes it odious.

Given that the Galaxy S25 Edge shares the same display quality, size, and chipset as the S$1,478 Galaxy S25+, it’s essentially a modified Galaxy S25+ that sacrifices a telephoto camera and smaller battery for its slim design.

Yes, it uses the Ultra’s 200MP camera, but Samsung wants to charge more for a phone that already needs concessions for its battery life. It also doesn’t account for the missing camera features that both the Galaxy S25+ and Ultra have, such as mid-range shooting and concert-worthy close-ups.

If the phone were priced between the Galaxy S25 (S$1,288) and the Galaxy S25+ (S$1,478), the categorisation might have felt clearer. Starting from the compact Galaxy S25, you can move up to the Galaxy S25 Edge for a better display and main camera, all while maintaining the same weight. Alternatively, opt for the Galaxy S25+ for the full-fat version, complete with an extra telephoto camera and a larger battery.

Another way out for Samsung was to charge the same S$1,478 price and label it as an "Edition" of the Galaxy S25+, indicating that it’s essentially the same quality, with some tailored differences for a specific subset of users. 

Neither of those happened.

By pricing it at S$1,600+, Samsung placed its Galaxy S25 Edge against other premium Android phones that are equally powerful, long-lasting, with magical photo-taking capabilities and pleasant designs. 

We like you, Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, because you’re fun, you’re attractive, and you feel terrific in our hands. But alas, we cannot bring you home — you’re not going to survive the day, after all.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is available at S$1,628 (256GB) onwards in Titanium Silver, Titanium Jetblack, and Titanium Icyblue at the Samsung Online Store and Samsung Official Stores on Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok. For a full list of retail touchpoints, go here.