Samsung's traditional annual "lightweight" flagship with the Fan Edition designation has already gone on sale. The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE, at first glance, is not much different from last year's S24 FE. But there are some rather pleasant changes: reduced dimensions and weight with a similar display diagonal and a slightly larger battery capacity. Faster charging and a more practical design. Now we'll tell you about everything in more detail.
Specifications
| Dimensions and weight | 161.3 × 76.6 × 7.4 mm, 190 grams |
| RAM and storage | 8 GB RAM, 128/256/512 GB storage |
| Processor | Samsung Exynos 2400 |
| Graphics processor | Xclipse 940 |
| Wireless modules | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.4, NFC |
| Display | 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X, resolution: 1080×2340 pixels, 385 ppi, refresh rate: 120 Hz, peak brightness 1900 nits, HDR10+ |
| Main cameras | 50 MP wide-angle, 1/1.57", 1.0µm, ƒ/1.8, dual pixel PDAF, optical stabilization; 8 MP telephoto, 1/4.4", 1.0µm, ƒ/2.4, phase detection autofocus, optical stabilization, 3x zoom; 12 MP ultra-wide-angle, 1/3.0", 1.12µm, ƒ/2.2, 123° |
| Front camera | 12 MP, ƒ/2.2 |
| Audio | Stereo speakers |
| Battery | 4900 mAh |
| Exercise | Wired 45W, wireless 15W, reverse wireless charging |
| Connectors | USB Type-C 3.2 |
| Operating system | Android 16 + One UI 8 |
| Recommended price | from 30,999 UAH |
Package contents
The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE arrived for review without a set. But you shouldn't expect anything unusual in the box: a smartphone, a USB Type-C cable, a tray eject tool, and documentation.
Design and ergonomics
At first glance, it may seem that the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is practically no different from its predecessor. The general design features have indeed been preserved. But there are some important improvements: with the same diagonal, the smartphone has become smaller thanks to thinner frames around the perimeter. Samsung claims that they are 1.47 mm.
The screen is flat, Gorilla Glass Victus+ is used as a protective glass. The front camera is in a small round hole. Above is a speaker slot, which is also used to play stereo sound. Everything is quite familiar.
The side frame is made of a reinforced version of Armor Aluminum with a nice matte finish. It has a flat shape with very slight rounding on the edges. In our color version, the frame is silver.
Almost all the functional elements remain in the same places as in last year's Galaxy S24 FE. On the right side are the standard volume and power buttons. They are quite large and placed at a comfortable height.
There are only two additional microphones on the top edge. The tray has moved to the bottom edge of the smartphone.
At the bottom of the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE are the main speaker, another microphone, a USB Type-C version 3.2 connector, and a tray. It can accommodate two physical SIM cards, and there is also eSIM support.
The back cover of the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is made of the same Gorilla Glass Victus+. It is flat and has a matte finish, unlike the glossy Galaxy S24 FE. We received the light blue version. Black, white and dark blue are also available.
The camera is designed as three separate modules, placed vertically. Next to it is an LED flash. The camera lenses protrude noticeably above the back panel and a little dust collects near them.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE has become smaller than S24 FE: 161.3×76.6×7.4 mm. The difference in thickness is especially noticeable: the previous model was 8 mm. The weight has decreased from 213 to 190 g, which is also noticeable. The smartphone has full protection against dirt and water according to the IP68 standard.
Display
The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE seems to have the same screen as the previous model. It's a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X with a FullHD+ resolution of 2340×1080 and a pixel density of 385 PPI. The maximum refresh rate is 120 Hz, and the peak brightness is 1900 cd/m². The Always on Display feature is supported.
The settings are the same as in other models from the manufacturer. Dark and light display themes with the ability to automatically switch, adaptive color temperature function depending on the ambient lighting, interface scaling, fonts, display modes (saturated with color temperature adjustment and natural) and a refresh rate of 60 Hz and Adaptive.
According to hardware measurements, in manual mode, the screen has a slightly lower brightness than its predecessor. But in automatic mode, the brightness is quite enough for comfortable use in the summer sun. In "Saturated" mode, the maximum brightness is 425.84 cd/m², and the color gamut is slightly wider than sRGB. At the same time, there is a slight deviation towards cool shades:
In the "Natural" mode, the maximum brightness is 412.77 cd/m², and the color gamut is close to sRGB. There is a slight deviation towards cool shades, the color temperature is about 8000K.
Security
The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is equipped with a typical modern optical fingerprint scanner under the screen. In my opinion, it is located a little lower than I would like. There are no other complaints about it. It works accurately and quite quickly. Although, of course, ultrasonic scanners in older flagships work faster and recognize even wet fingers.
Traditionally, only the front camera is used for recognition without additional sensors. So this is not a very reliable method of protection. It works very quickly in good lighting, but in the evening it is more difficult. In the settings there are options for recognition only with open eyes, as well as increasing the brightness of the display when recognizing in dark places.
Productivity and software
Unlike older flagships, the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE received a proprietary Exynos processor, not a Snapdragon. This is last year's flagship Exynos 2400. Recall that the Galaxy S24 FE had its slightly simplified version, the Exynos 2400e. The difference is minimal, so the performance is close. This is a 4-nanometer 10-core processor with one Cortex-X4 core with a frequency of 3.2 GHz, two Cortex-A720 at 2.9 GHz, three more Cortex-A720 at 2.6 GHz, and four Cortex-A520 at 2 GHz. Xclipse 940 graphics accelerator and a separate NPU unit for AI tasks.
RAM can be only 8 GB LPDDR5X, storage — 128, 256 or 512 GB. For some reason, Samsung decided to leave the option with 128 GB, although this is already not enough for a modern smartphone. Samsung Galaxy S24 FE dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, Bluetooth 5.4, as well as an NFC module. Global positioning systems GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and BDS are supported.
In synthetic performance tests, the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE shows good results, higher than the previous model.
The Exynos 2400 heats up quite noticeably under prolonged maximum loads. Performance can drop to 71%, and the case becomes noticeably warm, especially the metal frame.
Games run very well, you can expect a stable 60 FPS with medium to high graphics settings. But in heavy games the smartphone heats up quickly.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE runs on the latest Android 16 OS with the updated One UI 8.0 shell. The company promises 7 years of OS updates. The shell is already familiar from older flagships. It is, as always, functional and convenient, has a standard logic with desktops and a separate menu with all applications, which can be turned off, and extensive customization options.
The quick settings panel has been updated and now has two options: classic and with split notification curtains and switches. There is a split-screen mode, launching applications in a window, and a side panel with quick access to applications or tools.
And the Galaxy AI platform is already familiar: real-time translation of telephone conversations, Chat Assist text writing assistance, automatic text formatting, generating short summaries from large texts with main points, generating wallpapers, images based on sketches, improvements when working with the camera, the ability to search for objects on the screen in Google, etc.
The Ukrainian language is still not supported, but there is Google Gemini.
Sound
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE has the usual scheme for reproducing stereo sound: the main and conversational speakers. The speakers are well balanced, the difference is practically not noticeable. The volume margin is very solid, there is a little low frequencies. But you should not expect miracles from the speakers in the smartphone.
Software-wise, everything is standard, like in other Samsung models: there is Dolby Atmos support with separate presets for music, games, or movies, an equalizer with ready-made and manual settings, as well as the Adapt Sound function for adjusting the volume based on the listener's age.
Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE received a similar set of three rear cameras to the previous model: main, telephoto, and ultra-wide-angle.
- 50 MP main with 1/1.57" sensor size, 1.0µm pixel size, ƒ/1.8 aperture, dual pixel PDAF and optical stabilization. Maximum video resolution 8K 30 FPS;
- 8 MP telephoto, 1/4.4", 1.0µm, ƒ/2.4, phase detection autofocus, optical stabilization 3x zoom, 4K video 30 FPS;
- 12 MP ultra-wide angle, 1/3.0", 1.12µm, ƒ/2.2, 123° viewing angle, no autofocus, 4K 30 FPS;
- The front camera has improved slightly: 12 MP ƒ/2.2, 1/3.2", 1.12µm
The camera app is standard for Samsung smartphones. The viewfinder screen has all the basic settings, including flash, aspect ratio, resolution, timer, etc. Shooting modes in a horizontal carousel. Additional modes are in a separate menu, they can be pulled out into the main carousel.
The main one takes excellent photos in almost any conditions. In the daytime, there is excellent detail, correct white balance, very close to natural colors and a wide dynamic range. At night, the photos mostly remain of good quality and with relatively natural colors. Only in the most difficult conditions do the obvious effects of the processing algorithms appear in the form of orange hues:
The ultra-wide-angle camera does its job well, although the detail and dynamic range are lower than the main one. Evening photos also come out quite clear, although there is still minimal blurring around the perimeter of the picture. The camera still lacks autofocus, although for several years now, a lot of more affordable models have received ultra-wide-angle cameras with autofocus:
2x zoom (crop from main camera):
The telephoto camera with 3x zoom takes excellent detailed photos in good lighting. At night, clarity is generally maintained, but there are some subtle digital noises:
The smartphone shoots videos well. Quite high detail and good stabilizer performance. A few examples:
Battery life
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE received a battery with a capacity of 4900 mAh, which is slightly more than the previous model with 4700 mAh. The difference is minimal, but it is not bad, considering the noticeably thinner body. With an average load without games, the smartphone lasts a little more than a day. This is a few calls, a browser, instant messengers, mail, social networks, YouTube, a little camera and music in Bluetooth headphones. Unfortunately, the smartphone refused to pass the PCMark battery test, so there will be no clearer numbers.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE received support for faster charging with a capacity of 45 W, last year it was 25 W. They promise 65% in the first half hour. It takes a little more than an hour to fully charge. The smartphone supports 15 W wireless charging (including the Qi2 standard ) and 5 W reverse wireless charging.