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Need-to-knows
- S25 Edge is just 5.8mm thick, the S25 Ultra is 8.2mm
- Very light at 163g
- Dual rear camera system with 200MP main camera with limited optical zoom lengths
- Similar price to the S25 Ultra
Phones have been getting bigger for quite some time. Now, they’re getting thinner and, predictably, the first brand to throw its weight (or lack of it) into the ring is Samsung with the Galaxy S25 Edge.
First teased at Unpacked earlier this year, the S25 Edge is now available for pre-order and has beaten Apple to the post – if those ‘iPhone 17 Air’ rumours are actually true.
I had a brief hands-on session with the S25 Edge last week in London, and what you’re about to read is the specs you need to know about, my first impressions of the device, and some thoughts I have on this category as a whole.
The important specs
It’s rare I start with weight and dimensions for smartphone reviews, but it really does make sense to do so here. Here’s the full breakdown:
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 5.8mm thickness |
| Weight | 163g (vs. S25: 162g / 7.2mm, iPhone 16: 170g / 7.8mm) |
| Build | Titanium frame, Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 (front), Gorilla Glass Victus 2 (back) |
| Colours | Silver, Jetblack, Icyblue |
| Display | 6.7″ QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED, 120Hz variable refresh, 2,600 nits peak brightness |
| Anti-glare | No |
| Water/Dust Resistance | IP68 |
| Main Camera | 200MP (same as S25 and S25 Ultra) |
| Ultrawide Camera | With autofocus and macro (above regular S25) |
| Video Recording | Up to 8K at 30FPS |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Elite |
| Battery | 3,900mAh, 24-hour video playback claimed |
| Charging | 25W wired, 15W wireless |
| Software | One UI 7 with full S25 AI suite (Now Brief, image editing, etc.) |
| Updates | 7 years of OS and security updates |
| Storage Options (UK) | £1,099 (256GB), £1,199 (512GB) |
| Pre-order Date | 13th May 2025 |
| General Sale Date | 30th May 2025 |
The S25 Edge weighs in at 163g and is 5.8mm thin. For comparison purposes, the regular S25 is 162g and 7.2mm, and the iPhone 16 is 170g a./nd 7.8mm, respectively.
It comes in three colours – silver, Jetblack and Icyblue and the frame is made from titanium. Corning Gorilla Class Ceramic 2 covers the 6.7” display, and the back glass is made from Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. Water and dust resistance are taken care of with an IP68 rating.
Related: My full Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review!
That display is a QHD+ panel with a 120Hz variable refresh rate and 2,600 nits of peak brightness. There’s no anti-glare coating, as can be found on the S25 Ultra, but it is essentially the same display as Samsung’s flagship smartphone.
The 200MP main camera is the same one you’ll find on the rest of the S25 lineup, but the ultrawide gains autofocus and macro capabilities above the regular S25. Video recording tops out at 8K/30FPS.
Inside, there’s the Snapdragon 8 Elite with all of the ‘for Galaxy’ tweaks that can be found on the rest of the S25 lineup, and a 3,900mAh battery which Samsung suggests will deliver 24 hours of video playback time and, in general, “all-day” battery life. The S25 Edge supports 25w wired charging and 15w wireless charging.
More on Samsung: Full S25 Ultra vs OnePlus 13 guide!
As you might suspect, the S25 Edge is powered by One UI 7 and, therefore, contains all of the AI features we’ve seen already on the S25 series, including the Now Brief and the fancy media editing stuff. Samsung is also including seven years of OS and security updates.
In the UK, the S25 Edge will be priced at:
- £1,099 (256GB)
- £1,199 (512GB)
Pre-orders start on 13th May and it’ll go on general sale on the 30th. As one might suspect, there will be a couple of early adopter offers, including double storage until the end of the month and Gemini Advanced free for six months.
Samsung has also introduced Galaxy Club, which enables members to upgrade every year and obtain 50% of the device’s RRP when they upgrade within 12-15 months of buying the previous device. It also includes a value guarantee for their phone, Samsung Care+ and 0% finance over 24 months. The membership price will be £100 as an introductory offer.
Returning to the S25 Edge’s positioning, it sits squarely between the S25+ and S25 Ultra in terms of price. The question is whether or not the specs are enough to obtain that position.
First impressions
The S25 Edge is genuinely surprisingly thin. Alongside the M4 iPad Pro, it’s one of the toughest things I’ve had to focus my camera on while capturing product footage. You can forget autofocus, basically – this is a manual focus-only phone for side profile stuff.
For a laugh, I placed the S25 Edge against the iPhone 16e to check the difference in thinness, and it was laughable; Apple’s entry-level phone looks like a right porker next to Samsung’s latest squeeze.
At the press briefing, the sample units were wedged into thin rails on the presentation stand to ensure they stood upright. The Samsung staff appeared to have no qualms about ramming the devices into their respective slots and giving them a couple of knocks on the top to secure the fit. Whether or not that was an intentional display of how tough the S25 Edge is, I have no idea, but it did feel like a pretty robust device.
A fair comparison? Read my iPhone 16e review to find out!
The colours are pretty muted. The blue variant, for instance, looks far more silver than the colour after which it is named, just like the ‘blue’ M4 MacBook Air. I know this is the raison d’être of modern tech colours, but it would be lovely to see something a bit more funky, particularly on a product whose marketing will be largely aesthetic-based.
Those performance specs sound great, but an hour with the S25 Edge (most of which was spent capturing footage of it) doesn’t enable me to offer any meaningful feedback on how it feels compared to, say, the S25 Ultra. I’m pretty sure it’ll feel identical in everyday use, though – and the benchmarks for more intense use will obviously flood YouTube as soon as we’re all sent review units.
Colour clash: Check out my M4 MacBook Air review
The camera specs are to be expected for such a thin device. The presence of the 200MP main camera, which we know and love from the rest of the S25 series, is encouraging, although it’s hard to ignore the limited optical zoom lengths that will give the S25 Edge. At least we get that impressive-sounding ultrawide, though – and the predictably ludicrous video recording specs.
Once again, the limited time I had with the device this time around means I can’t offer any meaningful feedback just yet on camera performance. I will, of course, put it through its paces during my full review.
Best budget phone? Read my Google Pixel 9a review
Design is clearly going to be the leading factor for Samsung’s marketing push behind the S25 Edge. That, and the “I’ve got the new thin Samsung phone”, are likely the factors that will drive interest and sales. Which is quite refreshing in this age of forced consumer AI features.
Who is it for?
I think the S25 Edge use case falls into a couple of brackets. The first is, obviously, uber Samsung fans. Given the relatively lofty price, you need to really love the brand to place so much trust in a brand-new phone which has a few limitations.
The second is people who want the latest Android innovation wrapped up in the safety and familiarity of a Samsung product. Beyond Apple’s rumoured entry into the thin phone market, it’s a dead cert that we’ll see other brands follow suit, but just like foldables, Samsung will have got there first. And Samsung is Samsung, right?
Related: Samsung Galaxy A56 review
Beyond that, I’m not sure who else has been calling for a thinner phone. A smaller phone, yes, but one that’s thinner for the sake of being thinner? I genuinely don’t know – but I’m looking forward to seeing how the market reacts.
Hopes
I’m hopeful that the introduction of an ultra-thin smartphone into Samsung’s flagship lineup will kickstart a new era of (re-) focus on smartphone design. I’ve missed that. I’m not sure about you, but I’ve been AI’d to death over the last couple of years when it comes to smartphone launches. I am utterly done with it.
Remember when a smartphone launch used to be primarily about the device itself? That’s what the S25 Edge launch feels like. We’re focusing on the hardware and the undeniably brilliant engineering that has made such a thin device possible.
Related: Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE review
The S25 Edge could also be more affordable than Apple’s rumoured iPhone 17 Air, which would be a feather in the cap for the Android fraternity (and a brilliant narrative for tech reviewers like me).
The other thing I’m hopeful for following the introduction of the S25 Edge is the eventual emergence of an additional category – thin, small smartphones. Imagine that.
Concerns
There are some unavoidable concerns related to the S25 Edge.
Is it too thin? As noted earlier, my first impressions of the hardware are of a robust and confident device, but we won’t know for sure in terms of bendability until normal people get hold of it and start sitting on it.
Is it too expensive? It feels like Samsung have pitched it just about right, given the design effort required to make such a thin phone possible, but there’s no escaping that the RRP immediately places the S25 Edge in the flagship bracket, despite some hardware limitations.
Those concessions need further exploration, too. Will the battery be good enough? Is the camera system considerately specced and not hampered? I’ll be saving my judgement on these points for my full review, so stay tuned!
