Hot off the back of its acclaimed Galaxy Z Fold 7, Samsung’s back with a new smartphone. And while this one doesn’t fold up like a map, the Galaxy S25 FE could be a pretty enticing device this holiday season.
The Galaxy S25 FE, announced this morning alongside the Galaxy Tab S11 series, doesn’t break from tradition. This phone looks nearly identical to the rest of its namesake S25 series, coming close to matching the Galaxy S25+’s dimensions nearly identically. That’s a big upgrade over last year’s Galaxy S24 FE, though — despite that phone’s 6.7-inch display, it was larger than its true flagship sibling in practically every way. This year, the S25 FE keeps its 6.7-inch 120Hz 1080p display, but slims the chassis alongside its surrounding bezels to feel much more manageable in-hand.
At 7.4mm thick and just 190 grams, Samsung has done a great job slimming out the 8mm, 213 gram build used for last year’s device, and that’s all in spite of the larger 4,900mAh battery. Plenty has remained unchanged, though, including its 8GB of RAM, 128GB or 256GB of storage, and 45W charging options. The chipset is also fairly familiar, with Samsung moving the Galaxy S25 FE away from the Exynos 2400e that powered last year’s chipset and towards the standard Exynos 2400. That sort of power should give just a bit more overhead for Galaxy AI, should you be interested in the company’s suite of AI tricks.
Those are plenty of positive changes, but unfortunately, not everything has seen an improvement. Samsung hasn’t touched the triple-lens lineup here, leaving the 50MP f/1.8 main sensor once again paired with 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide and 8MP f/2.4 3x telephoto lenses. The front-facing camera has been swapped to a 12MP f/2.2 sensor, at least. On the software side, the device ships running Android 16 and One UI 8. It comes in Navy, Jetblack, White, and Icyblue.
Our own Ben Schoon went hands-on with the Galaxy S25 FE ahead of launch; here’s what he had to say:
The Galaxy S25 FE in person feels like, well, another Samsung phone. My immediate thought was just how uninspired it feels. The build is good and the screen is solid, as you’d expect from any Samsung phone in 2025, but there’s just nothing remotely standout from this device. Even the colors are pretty middling. The dark blue color looks nice, but it’s not even as nice as what you get with the standard Galaxy S25 series. No one will be unhappy with this device, but I’m not sure who it’s for besides carriers looking to offer a freebie to their subscribers.
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 FE might not be the most exciting smartphone release this year, but it’s looking like a pretty decent leap forward over last year’s FE entry. It’s also keeping the same price tag: $649.99 when purchased unlocked. Those are some pretty steep savings over the standard S25+, and considering we’re expecting that lineup to get replaced by the Galaxy S26 Edge next year, it’s possible this device could be that much more impactful after the holidays. The Galaxy S25 FE is available beginning today, September 4th.
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