Samsung’s S25 Edge is a thin phone with two big tradeoffs

Samsung’s skinny telephone is right here. The Galaxy S25 Edge — first teased back in January — is actually 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 need to 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 house to get thinner by spreading their batteries out just a little extra, however for those who desire conventional telephone kind components then that is among the many thinnest you should purchase proper now — at the very least till the rumored iPhone 17 Air comes alongside.

Pictures appear to undersell the impact, which I believe will probably be Samsung’s problem advertising the Edge: it mainly simply seems to be like an everyday 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 very least half the issue folks have with massive telephones, and is way extra noticeable than a barely slimmer physique. In addition to, the second you place a case on this it gained’t really feel very skinny any extra, nevertheless it ought to nonetheless be fairly mild.

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 — more durable than the aluminum of the opposite fashions — together with the newly introduced Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the display screen, and an IP68 score for mud and water-resistance. Merely put, this must be fairly sturdy.

Nonetheless, there are two massive sacrifices you must 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 essential 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 essential 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 gained’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 acquired by “a full day of average use,” and the Edge shouldn’t be an excessive amount of worse. Chipset and software program optimizations imply most fashionable 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 probably be a full-day telephone eternally. Samsung is committing to seven years of OS and safety updates, in keeping with the opposite S25 telephones, however I’d be just a little nervous in regards to the Edge’s battery life nicely earlier than that.

Regardless of these downsides, you’ll really need to pay extra for the S25 Edge than you’ll for a Plus. Preorders at the moment are open at Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung’s online store forward of the telephone’s official launch on Might 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 in all probability 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 perform 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 issues. They’re massive compromises to make for the sake of getting just a little pocket house again, however till I’ve had the possibility 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 you need to undoubtedly anticipate the critiques.

Images by Dominic Preston / The Verge