Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on: Much less smartphone, extra compromises

After teasing us for months, Samsung has formally revealed the Galaxy S25 Edge. At simply 5.8 millimeters (0.22 inches) thick, it’s the slimmest member of the S25 household — and its slimmest smartphone ever. It’s obtainable to preorder now and launches on 30 Could, beginning at $1,100.

Samsung mentioned that S25 Edge “unlocks a brand new period of development for the cell business” — and it’s straightforward (too straightforward!) to cynically see this as a approach of hawking one other Samsung cellphone right into a thinner — and but related — slice of {hardware}, with acquainted cameras, technical specs and AI software. This isn’t an Extremely, neither is it a brand new foldable. Nonetheless, it could possibly be a brand new path for Samsung’s flagship S collection.

What’s the distinction between the S25 and S25 Edge?

Shock! The Edge is thinner. Whereas the S25 Edge measures in at lower than the base S25, which is 6.4mm (0.25 inches) skinny, it weighs virtually the identical. The truth is, there’s solely a gram’s distinction between the 2, regardless of the S25 Edge packing a a lot greater 6.7-inch display screen than the S25’s 6.2-inch one.

And boy, are you able to inform the distinction. Essentially the most modern comparability I could make is when Apple switched to a titanium body for the iPhone 15 Professional. Spec sheets and numbers be damned: I may sense how a lot lighter the system was. Regardless of having a a lot greater display screen than my iPhone 16 Professional, the thinner S25 Edge felt mild but premium. I simply slipped it out and in of my pants pockets, as a result of, properly, how else am I going to evaluate the most important promoting level for Samsung’s newest cellphone?

The factor is: Machine thickness isn’t a problem I’ve with flagship smartphones — it’s the display screen measurement. The bottom Galaxy S25 (or the Pixel 9 Professional) hit the candy spot for my arms. Whereas this new S25 Edge could also be simpler to carry than similar-sized telephones, a 6.7-inch display screen isn’t for everybody.

Like most telephones (the Pixel 9a is a curious outlier), the S25 Edge nonetheless has a considerable digicam unit derailing in any other case clear {hardware} strains. The twin-camera setup protrudes a superb 4.5mm (0.17 inches), though it options the identical 200-megapixel sensor packed into the pricier S25 Extremely.

Samsung says it re-engineered the digicam unit to make sure it may match on the Edge, but it surely nonetheless stands out — loads. Earlier than I acquired to deal with the cellphone, I believed this might result in the brand new cellphone being oddly unbalanced and top-heavy. However no matter Samsung has finished to rearrange the element furnishings contained in the S25 Edge, it labored. The cellphone doesn’t really feel lopsided or fragile in any respect, however like every other premium flagship smartphone.

The Galaxy S25 Edge’s cameras

Alongside the first 200MP sensor, Samsung included a 12MP ultrawide digicam with autofocus and macro images help. And… that’s it. There’s no devoted telephoto system, which generally takes up more room . The 2 lenses are stacked in a vertical association, which I feel appears to be like cleaner than the digicam cornucopias discovered on different units — however many of us are going to overlook the flexibility of a real telephoto. Positive, you possibly can digitally zoom by cropping in on that massive 200MP sensor, but it surely’s not the identical.

The S25 Edge can even seize as much as 8K video and packs all the opposite images methods you’d count on in an S-Sequence cellphone, like night time images and lossless zoom. Of cours,e it additionally handles post-capture AI instruments like generative enhancing (eradicating photobombers and undesirable objects out of your photographs) and Audio Eraser for cleansing up video in loud environments.

And relating to AI — or Galaxy AI — you’re getting the identical array of options that we noticed within the base S25 and S25 Extremely, powered by a customized Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and 12GB of RAM. These AI instruments embody the Now Temporary and Now Bar which takes contextual clues out of your apps and smartphone to put out a plan on your day, remind you of the climate and extra. Samsung’s integration of Google’s Gemini now contains Gemini Reside, so you possibly can faucet into your digicam feed to ask questions on your photographs and issues in your environment.

It’ll probably decide up any future Gemini and Android upgrades, too: The Galaxy S25 Edge will obtain seven generations of OS updates and 7 years of safety updates.

At a media briefing, Samsung additionally outlined the way it’s attempting to make sure the S25 Edge runs cool regardless of all of the packed-in {hardware}, utilizing a brand new Thermal Interface Materials (TIM) for higher warmth dissipation inside that restricted house. I didn’t actually get the time to push the system to its limits through the briefing, so we’ll look ahead to a evaluation to evaluate whether or not it really works properly sufficient.

The corporate did should make compromises to suit all of the S25 Edge’s options into this svelte profile. It has a 3,900mAh battery, which is small for a cellphone with a 6.7-inch show that prices greater than $1,000. As compared, the bottom S25 has a 4,000mAh cell — that is a much bigger battery on a less expensive cellphone with a smaller display screen. Then, there’s the S25+, which has a 4,900mAh battery with the identical display screen measurement because the S25 Edge.

In its defence, Samsung has made appreciable progress on the battery lifetime of its units (significantly with this 12 months’s crop of Galaxy S telephones). The corporate claims the S25 Edge can run video for as much as 24 hours. Nonetheless, with a much bigger display screen inside a thinner system, battery life could be the greatest compromise—and it’s one thing we should check once we evaluation the Edge correctly.

The Galaxy S25 Edge is priced at $1,100 (£1,100) with 256GB of storage. It’ll launch on Could 30 in three colours: Silver, Jet Black and Icy Blue. It’s onerous to attract any concrete conclusions on whether or not the S25 Edge’s compromises for a smaller system footprint are value it, however count on our evaluation within the subsequent few weeks.