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 Might, beginning at $1,100.

Samsung mentioned that S25 Edge “unlocks a brand new period of development for the cellular trade” — and it’s simple (too simple!) to cynically see this as a means of hawking one other Samsung cellphone right into a thinner — and but comparable — 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 may very well be a brand new route 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 nearly the identical. In actual fact, there’s solely a gram’s distinction between the 2, regardless of the S25 Edge packing a a lot larger 6.7-inch display screen than the S25’s 6.2-inch one.

And boy, are you able to inform the distinction. Probably the most up to date 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 machine was. Regardless of having a a lot larger 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, effectively, how else am I going to evaluate the most important promoting level for Samsung’s newest cellphone?

The factor is: Gadget thickness isn’t a difficulty 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 palms. 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 digital camera unit derailing in any other case clear {hardware} traces. The twin-camera setup protrudes a very good 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 digital camera unit to make sure it may match on the Edge, but it surely nonetheless stands proud — loads. Earlier than I bought to deal with the cellphone, I believed this could result in the brand new cellphone being oddly unbalanced and top-heavy. However no matter Samsung has completed 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 some other premium flagship smartphone.

The Galaxy S25 Edge’s cameras

Alongside the first 200MP sensor, Samsung included a 12MP ultrawide digital camera 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 cleaner than the digital camera cornucopias discovered on different gadgets — however many people are going to overlook the flexibility of a real telephoto. Certain, you may digitally zoom by cropping in on that vast 200MP sensor, but it surely’s not the identical.

The S25 Edge also can seize as much as 8K video and packs all the opposite images tips you’d anticipate in an S-Collection cellphone, like evening 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 pictures) and Audio Eraser for cleansing up video in loud environments.

And on the subject of 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 Transient and Now Bar which takes contextual clues out of your apps and smartphone to put out a plan to your day, remind you of the climate and extra. Samsung’s integration of Google’s Gemini now consists of Gemini Reside, so you may faucet into your digital camera feed to ask questions on your pictures and issues in your environment.

It’ll doubtless choose 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 machine to its limits in the course of the briefing, so we’ll anticipate a evaluate to evaluate whether or not it really works effectively sufficient.

The corporate did must 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 an even 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 gadgets (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 an even bigger display screen inside a thinner machine, battery life would be the greatest compromise—and it’s one thing we should check after we evaluate the Edge correctly.

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