Galaxy S25 Edge
The S25 Edge receives consensus praise for its impressively thin and light design with premium materials and durability, excellent 6.7" display, and strong 200MP main camera matching the Ultra.
However, reviewers overwhelmingly agree that the severely undersized 3,900 mAh battery, lack of telephoto lens, missing anti-reflective coating, and flagship pricing over $1,000 are significant weaknesses.
The key disagreement centers on thermal performance under load—some found it adequate while others reported serious throttling and overheating—and on whether the thin design is genuinely innovative or simply form over function given the compromised battery and performance limitations.
[+] Strengths
- +Exceptionally thin and light design that feels impressively portable and comfortable to hold, with unique hand feel compared to typical phones.
- +High-quality 200MP main camera matching the S25 Ultra with excellent detail and sharp image quality in various shooting conditions.
- +Beautiful 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED display with excellent brightness and flagship-quality visuals.
- +Premium materials and solid durability with Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2, titanium frame, and no bending issues despite ultra-thin design.
- +Flagship processor (Snapdragon 8 Elite) and fast performance for everyday tasks, messaging, and media consumption.
[-] Drawbacks
- -Severely undersized 3,900 mAh battery with noticeably poor battery life, often dying well before day's end under typical use.
- -No telephoto lens limits zoom capabilities to digital cropping only, removing flexibility for distant subjects.
- -Lacks anti-reflective/anti-glare coating found on the S25 Ultra, resulting in more reflections and reduced visibility.
- -Slow charging speeds (25W wired, 15W wireless) compared to flagships and other S25 models.
- -Excessive price over $1,000 unjustified by the thinness alone given missing features and compromised performance compared to S25 Plus and Ultra.
[~] Debates
- ~ performance+Thermal performance is surprisingly competent for a device this thin-The thin design causes significant thermal throttling and heat issues
- ~ design+Thin design is a genuine engineering marvel and impressive technical achievement-Design feels generic and underwhelming despite the thinness
- ~ battery+Battery lasts through a normal day with some power remaining for light use-Battery life significantly worse than all other S25 models and insufficient for heavy users
[+]The Consensus
ID_GRP: POSITIVE_FEEDBACK// Exceptionally thin and light design that feels impressively portable and comfortable to hold, with unique hand feel compared to typical phones.
"it is really thin and light. It's kind of crazy... genuinely impressively thin and light"
"it is so incredibly thin. And actually, I think not just the thinness, but it's the lightness as well."
"combination of the thinness and its weight that makes it just feel very different from a typical phone. ... a phone is this light and this agile. It's just it's neat."
"the Edge effectively subverts it because it does feel slimmer and lighter than what should be possible."
"Wow, it is skinny... if you look at the actual thickness of the body, that is darn impressive."
// High-quality 200MP main camera matching the S25 Ultra with excellent detail and sharp image quality in various shooting conditions.
"they've managed to actually stuff the same main camera as the S25 Ultra in this phone, which is kind of crazy. Great camera... It makes these nice, sharp images in a big variety of scenes."
"They've taken the same 200 megapixel main lens straight from the S25 Ultra... it is still a terrific camera system"
"You do get the same 200 megapixel sensor that's only found in the S25 Ultra, aside from the Edge now, which is very good"
"I honestly really love the pictures that I've taken on this phone. It does a really great job taking sharp, vibrant images that aren't over or under saturated."
// Beautiful 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED display with excellent brightness and flagship-quality visuals.
"From the front, it's literally a Galaxy S25 Plus. Same size, 6.7 in display, 1440p, 120 Hz, plenty bright, it's beautiful."
"120 Hz quad HD plus AMOLED... and it is very nice"
"that is a really slim bezel on an absolutely gorgeous display."
"it's such a beautiful display. It's flagship quality."
// Flagship processor (Snapdragon 8 Elite) and fast performance for everyday tasks, messaging, and media consumption.
"we do still have a flagship chip. We have the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy."
"I ran some tests just to see how this device handles a thermal load and it's surprisingly good for a device that is so thin."
"for me, I'm a social media browsing, video watching, music listening, messaging kind of guy... It can handle all of those tasks just fine in that light performance mode."
"This phone packs that same Snapdragon 8 Elite processor as the rest of the S25 lineup, which is a nice perk. Apps launch quickly, and the phone doesn't get hot when taking photos and videos."
[-]The Drawbacks
ID_GRP: NEGATIVE_FEEDBACK// Severely undersized 3,900 mAh battery with noticeably poor battery life, often dying well before day's end under typical use.
"the battery. And yep, there's no way around it. It's definitely worse... smaller battery than the regular S25. So, yeah, you notice it."
"The Edge gets a 3,900 mAh battery"
"this is a 3900 mAh battery. It's smaller than the batteries on the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra, but it's even smaller than the battery on the regular S25. And that had a smaller screen than this."
"with only a 3900 mAh battery."
"The Galaxy S25 Edge has a 3,900 mAh battery, which is the smallest amount that you'll find across the S25 series."
// No telephoto lens limits zoom capabilities to digital cropping only, removing flexibility for distant subjects.
"unlike the rest of the S25 lineup, there are no telephoto cameras on this phone."
"The only thing we're missing are the telephoto cameras"
"There is no telephoto lens. It's just a two camera system. If you want any kind of zooming, it's done through the cropping of the sensor and or digital zooms."
"basically means it doesn't have an optical zoom."
// Lacks anti-reflective/anti-glare coating found on the S25 Ultra, resulting in more reflections and reduced visibility.
"without that fancy anti-reflective coating on the Ultra."
"One of my absolute favorite features about the Ultra is this anti-glare screen... Unfortunately, the Edge doesn't... which is a bit of a shame."
"sadly no sign of the anti-reflective coating from the Ultra."
"you're not going to find the anti-glare properties on this one"
// Slow charging speeds (25W wired, 15W wireless) compared to flagships and other S25 models.
"It also only supports 25 watt charging... so it doesn't charge particularly quickly."
"as well as slower charging speeds compared to the S25 Ultra."
"sadly the S25 Edge only supports 25 watt wired charging and 15 watt wireless charging, which is also pretty slow for a phone in 2025."
// Excessive price over $1,000 unjustified by the thinness alone given missing features and compromised performance compared to S25 Plus and Ultra.
"who's buying a Galaxy S25 Edge when you consider it starts at £1,99? Basically the same price... but you know, with a smaller battery, no S Pen, missing a couple of camera lenses, no anti-glare coating."
"the S25 Edge is very expensive."
"At over $1,000 for either variant of this, it's very much priced like a flagship, even though for gaming, for instance, it might not hold up against other flagships."
"this is over $1,000. Let's not do that... I don't want to be paying $1,000 just for the sake of a phone being super thin."
[~]The Great Debates
ID_GRP: CONTESTED_POINTSperformance
Reviewers disagree on thermal performance under heavy loads. Some found thermal management surprisingly good despite the thin design, while others reported significant throttling, heat buildup, and even app crashes from overheating during intensive tasks.
[+] For
"I ran some tests just to see how this device handles a thermal load and it's surprisingly good for a device that is so thin."
"Apps launch quickly, and the phone doesn't get hot when taking photos and videos."
[-] Against
"because it's so much thinner, it is also throttling quicker and more significantly."
"This gets a little toasty... you really do feel it in your fingers."
"the phone got so hot that Google Maps started crashing"
"you can see that the performance drops off substantially. And this is just down to not being able to fit as much cooling into a tiny little phone like this."
design
Opinions diverge on the overall design execution. Some reviewers celebrated the thinness as a genuine achievement and appreciated the unibody feel, while others found the design underwhelming, complained about table wobble from the camera bump, and criticized buttons that are too small and hard to press.
[+] For
"the most impressive thing to me about the S25 Edge is the technical and just engineering complexity that's required to be able to pull this thing off, to be able to shrink components small enough to be able to fit it into a frame of this thickness in one generation. It's actually really impressive."
"ultra thin and light is not a gimmick. At first, I kind of thought it was, but if it's done correctly, I can totally see why people would want a phone like this."
"I'm glad the S25 Edge exists because it's a sign that Samsung's design ambition isn't completely dead."
[-] Against
"hardly seems to be the engineering marvel its maker claims. It doesn't do anything novel with its slender form factor."
"I think the buttons on the phone are actually slightly smaller just because of how thin it is."
"some serious table wobble with no case."
"Typing on it. Honestly, not that comfortable. Like, it's really thin."
"it's so light. Um it's a little disconcerting, actually."
battery
Reviewers had markedly different real-world battery experiences. Some managed to reach the end of day with reserve power under light use, while most found the battery critically insufficient for moderate-to-heavy daily use, often dying by evening.
[+] For
"for my daily use, it actually hasn't been as bad as I thought it was going to be. I definitely got through a normal day's use with some battery to spare"
"it does have fast charging, so you can get up to 55% in about 30 minutes. And you also have fast wireless charging."
[-] Against
"expect closer to 4 and a half to five [hours] out of this, not as hot."
"we're back down to a 3,900 mAh battery... this is like bordering on worryingly small."
"on the weekends... when I don't always have a charger... it's mostly dying towards the end of the early evening."
"we're mere moments from the first death of the day after 11 hours of usage"