Samsung’s skinny telephone is right here. The Galaxy S25 Edge — first teased back in January — is basically 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 worth although, and also you’ll must 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 screen, 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 area to get thinner by spreading their batteries out slightly extra, however in case you choose conventional telephone kind components then that is among the many thinnest you should buy proper now — at the least till the rumored iPhone 17 Air comes alongside.
Images appear to undersell the impact, which I feel will likely be Samsung’s problem advertising and marketing the Edge: it mainly simply seems to be like a daily telephone till you choose it up, which is when everybody appears to ooooh involuntarily.
The “Edge” identify means that Samsung goes to lean on how skinny the telephone is, however for me the burden is extra spectacular. It solves at the least half the issue folks have with huge telephones, and is way extra noticeable than a barely slimmer physique. In addition to, the second you set a case on this it received’t really feel very skinny any extra, nevertheless it ought to nonetheless be fairly gentle.
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 method. It makes use of the identical titanium body because the S25 Ultra — harder than the aluminum of the opposite fashions — together with the newly introduced Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the display screen, and an IP68 ranking for mud and water-resistance. Merely put, this must be fairly sturdy.
Nonetheless, there are two huge sacrifices you need 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 fundamental 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 fundamental 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 an enormous display screen to energy too, there’s no method this received’t have the worst battery lifetime of the lot.
Samsung insists that that is nonetheless a full-day telephone, estimating that it may well 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 regular S25, she mentioned 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 eternally, and I don’t belief that the Edge will likely be a full-day telephone eternally. Samsung is committing to seven years of OS and safety updates, consistent with the opposite S25 telephones, however I’d be slightly frightened concerning the Edge’s battery life properly earlier than that.
Regardless of these downsides, you’ll truly must pay extra for the S25 Edge than you’d for a Plus. Preorders are open now forward of an official launch on Could 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 kind over operate 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 area again, however till I’ve had the prospect to check the digital camera absolutely and push the battery for a couple of days, it’s unimaginable to say if it’s a commerce value making.
That is one telephone the place it is best to undoubtedly look ahead to the evaluations.
Images by Dominic Preston / The Verge