Samsung Galaxy S25 FE evaluation: Iterative to a fault

5 years after the discharge of the , Samsung has settled right into a predictable sample with its “Fan Version” line of telephones. Every new telephone does not supply a lot new or completely different from its fast predecessor, with the corporate opting to supply iterative updates as an alternative.

That may have been wonderful earlier than, however with the arrival of the and — units that modified the worth proposition of their respective classes — the S25 FE feels woefully out of contact with a market that is altering to fulfill individuals’s calls for. There’s not a lot right here that makes the brand new Galaxy S25 FE stand out, and any “upgrades” aren’t substantive.

{Hardware} and show

After I first took the S25 FE out of the field, I assumed Samsung had performed a merciless trick on me. The telephone seems to be equivalent to its predecessor, sporting the identical brushed aluminum body that is been the corporate’s go-to for years now. I needed to dig the S24 FE out of my devices drawer to match the 2 telephones earlier than I confirmed they have been the truth is completely different units.

The bodily variations are minor. Samsung has tweaked the scale of the brand new telephone, making it barely shorter, wider and thinner. Particularly, the S25 FE measures in at 6.35 x 3.02 x 0.29 inches, whereas its predecessor was 6.38 x 3.04 x 0.31 inches. The brand new telephone can be protected by Samsung’s “enhanced Armor” aluminum body.

Extra noticeable is that the S25 FE is lighter than final yr’s mannequin, coming in at 6.7 ounces, down from 7.51 ounces. That is regardless of the very fact the brand new system has a higher-capacity 4,900mAh battery. Collectively, these adjustments do not make the S25 FE simpler to carry if in case you have small arms (simply ask my girlfriend), but it surely does really feel higher balanced than its predecessor. One problem with the scale of the S25 FE is the position of the in-display fingerprint sensor. It is proper on the backside of the display screen. I discovered this made it awkward to unlock the telephone with my thumb — and I am somebody with massive arms.

One other slight distinction is the end on the again of the telephone. This time round, Samsung has gone with a matte coating, as an alternative of the shiny end it used on the S24 FE. It is a welcome change because it makes the brand new mannequin much less vulnerable to smudging and attracting fingerprints. I simply want Samsung had determined to supply the S25 FE in additional enjoyable colours. At launch, it is out there in 4 colorways: white, icy blue, jet black and navy (pictured). So, when you do not like blue, I am sorry.

Amid the slight design tweaks, Samsung has gone with the identical display screen it did final yr. The S25 FE has a 6.7-inch AMOLED show, with a panel that provides a 120Hz refresh price and 1080p decision. The S24 FE’s vibrant display screen was top-of-the-line components of final yr’s mannequin, and it is the identical with S25 FE. It is easy to see the display screen in vivid daylight, because of the very fact it may possibly push 1,900 nits of peak brightness. It is also vibrant, and with HDR10 help included, nice for watching movies on YouTube, Netflix and elsewhere.

Cameras

Samsung made a single tweak to the Galaxy S25 FE’s digicam {hardware}. Like final yr’s mannequin, the brand new telephone has a 50-megapixel essential digicam with optical picture stabilization (OIS) and a quick f/1.8 aperture lens. As soon as once more, it additionally has an 8MP telephoto digicam with a 3x optical zoom and a 12MP ultrawide angle that provides a 123-degree subject of view.

The one addition is the next decision 12MP front-facing digicam with a sooner f/2.2 aperture lens. For selfies, the S24 FE made do with a 10MP sensor and f/2.4 lens. If the brand new front-facing digicam included section detection autofocus (PDAF), it could be the identical one which’s out there on the . Sadly, it does not and that is a disgrace as a result of PDAF enormously will increase the probability your images will come out sharp and in focus.

It is also a disgrace Samsung determined to not replace the FE’s telephoto digicam. Earlier than the Nothing 3a Professional, that was one of many options that made the S24 FE stand out in its value vary. In 2025, nevertheless, the S25 FE’s telephoto feels outdated. It does not supply the 5x optical zoom of the Pixel 10 nor the 50MP of decision and periscope zoom you get with the 3a Professional. Coming from the previous, the FE’s telephoto digicam felt limiting. With solely 8MP of decision, attempting to snap a photograph at something past 5x zoom was pointless; it could simply end up a blurry mess.

As for FE’s different cameras, they’re first rate if uninspiring. The 50MP digicam is the perfect of the bunch, able to capturing detailed, handsome images even in low gentle. The ultrawide, in the meantime, is generally forgettable. It does an okay job of capturing massive scenes, but it surely’s missing in dynamic vary and element. The selfie digicam is a noticeable improve from the one which got here with final yr’s mannequin, and produces pleasing images which might be on par with what you’ll be able to count on from the S25’s front-facing digicam.

In any other case, snapping footage with the S25 FE appears like utilizing a flagship telephone from just a few years in the past. The one factor that saves it from being an entire blast from the previous is the inclusion of Samsung’s generative picture enhancing software program, which you should use to take away distracting objects from images. Of the AI picture apps I’ve examined, Samsung’s is among the many finest at enhancing out objects with out smearing the background. You can too use the generative edit so as to add issues to a photograph, however as you would possibly count on, this does not work in addition to eradicating them.

Efficiency and battery life

On paper, the S25 FE ought to supply higher efficiency than its predecessor, because of Samsung’s determination to equip the telephone with its Exynos 2400 chipset over the cut-down Exynos 2400e it used on final yr’s mannequin. In apply the 2 are about on par with each other. On Geekbench’s processor check, the Exynos 2400 delivered a 2,144 single-core rating and a 7,059 multi-core rating. That is not a lot better than the two,140 and 6,690 I recorded final fall on the S24 FE.

Nonetheless, it is a extra spectacular displaying than both the and Nothing 3a Professional had when my colleague Sam Rutherford and I put their Tensor G4 and Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chips via Geekbench earlier this yr. For comparability, the previous delivered a modest 1,665 on single-core efficiency and 4,294 on multi-core efficiency. The latter scored a fair much less spectacular 1,115 and three,082 respectively.

In real-world use, the Exynos 2400 feels snappy. Scrolling is quick and fluid, as is opening apps and switching between them. Gaming efficiency can be spectacular, with the chip in a position to deal with the 60 fps modes in graphically demanding video games like and with out dropping frames.

Final yr, Samsung mentioned it redesigned the S24 FE’s vapor chamber to make it larger and enhance cooling. With the S25 FE, that part is a further 10 % bigger. Nevertheless, if the brand new vapor chamber made a distinction to the telephone’s thermals, I had a tough time telling. Each the S25 FE and S24 FE bought heat after about 15 to twenty minutes of gaming. The brand new telephone by no means bought scorching to the purpose I could not maintain it anymore, but it surely additionally did not really feel noticeably cooler than the S24 FE operating the identical video games.

As talked about on the high, the S25 FE has a bigger 4,900mAh battery. That is about 4 % extra capability than the S24 FE provided. Because of this, any distinction in battery life is minimal. I am positive there are some eventualities the S25 FE might last more than its predecessor, however in my testing the 2 telephones have been equal by way of longevity. With three to 4 hours of lively screentime, I managed to get a full day of battery life from the S25 FE, with sufficient energy left over to get the telephone via the night time earlier than charging it within the morning. That is much like the expertise I had final yr.

Talking of charging, the S24 FE, with a 25 watt wired restrict, was painfully sluggish at it. Going into this evaluation, my hope was the S25 FE would do higher and I had good motive to be hopeful. Samsung lists the brand new telephone as able to charging at 45 watts. Nevertheless, in my testing the S25 FE was solely barely sooner than its predecessor. Plugged right into a 130 watt Razer GaN charger, it took the telephone about an hour and 14 minutes to cost to full from a battery at 10 % life. After I replicated that very same check with a 25 watt charger, it took the S25 FE simply over an hour-and-a-half to cost again up.

Both means, if battery life is vital to you, the Nothing 3a Professional and Pixel 9a are higher bets. Each include larger batteries (5,000 and 5,100mAh, respectively), and with the previous, you additionally get 50 watt charging.

Software program

The S25 FE ships with Android 16 and Samsung’s One UI 8 out of the field. Samsung has promised to help the telephone with at the least seven generations of platform updates, so it ought to keep present with Google’s yearly launch schedule up till at the least Android 23 in 2032. Notably, this implies the S25 FE might find yourself on a more moderen model of Android than the S25, S25 Edge and S25 Extremely, all of which launched with Android 15.

With One UI 8, the S25 FE has entry to the entire newest AI options from each Samsung and Google. A few of these instruments are helpful; others replicate performance that has been current in Android for a very long time. For instance, Google’s Circle to Search is nice. It makes it straightforward to do a visible search of something on the telephone’s display screen. Alternatively, I may do with out Samsung’s Now Transient, which affords a lot of the identical utility you may discover on Android’s Uncover web page (a function that comes commonplace on each Android telephone).

Every S25 FE additionally comes with six months of free entry to Google AI Professional. Usually priced at $20 monthly, the service offers you entry to among the firm’s finest fashions, together with Gemini 2.5 Professional, inside the Gemini app. Inside Circulation, Google’s AI filmmaking app, you additionally get restricted entry to , Google’s newest video era system. Another perks embrace 2TB of cloud storage and better price limits when utilizing NotebookLM.

Wrap-up

With adjustments that quantity to window dressing, I can not advocate anybody purchase the S25 FE at full value. There’s simply sufficient right here to justify spending $650 on a telephone that’s barely an improve over its predecessor. Should you’re a Samsung fan, I am positive the S25 FE shall be regularly discounted, however why reward the corporate for a lazy effort? Moreover, the S25, following a , was solely $10 greater than the FE earlier this month.

Over the previous few years, Google and Nothing have proven midrange telephones do not have to be boring, iterative affairs. For Samsung, I feel it is time to rethink its FE technique. If these telephones provided one thing completely different — say precise fan favourite options like a headphone jack — there may very well be compelling causes to advocate them. However as issues stand, there’s simply no motive to purchase a brand new FE telephone when the corporate’s flagships see steep value reductions inside months of their launch.