Even when it was first teased, the biggest question a lot of people had with the Galaxy S25 Edge was how much of a compromise would there be in engineering a phone with a 5.8mm thin chassis.
I was one of them, and after spending 24 hours with the Galaxy S25 Edge, my short day’s worth of using it left me a little concerned.
That’s because with each passing hour, I could tell that the phone’s battery was dropping much faster than other phones I use. Although, I was taking a lot of photos and videos for the first few hours, which isn’t something I typically do on a regular basis.
While my exact usage will differ from yours, the one way we’re able to judge a phone’s battery life performance is to put it through a battery benchmark test that delivers a more objective result. Honestly, I’m not surprised by the results here because it has just about the same hardware as the Galaxy S25 Ultra — but with a much smaller battery. Here’s what I found.
Galaxy S25 edge battery capacity
In order for Samsung to achieve its engineering marvel with the Galaxy S25 Edge, the company had to cram a much smaller battery into its svelte frame. This turns out to be a 3,900 mAh battery cell, which is actually a smidge smaller than the 4,000 mAh battery in the regular Galaxy S25.
There’s clearly a size difference between them, but the Galaxy S25 Edge is actually closer in overall size to the Galaxy S25 Ultra — which packs a massive 5,000 mAh battery. That’s about the size found in devices that make our best phone battery life list, but this difference between the S25 Ultra and S25 Edge is huge. This turns out to be roughly a 25% difference in battery capacity.
Galaxy S25 Edge battery life compared to competition
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Battery Size (mAh) | Battery Life (hrs:mins) |
Galaxy S25 Edge | 3,900 | 12:38 |
Galaxy S25 | 4,000 | 15:43 |
Galaxy S25 Plus | 4,900 | 16:55 |
Galaxy S25 Ultra | 5,000 | 17:14 |
Our battery benchmark test allows us to get a better idea of how they perform because of how it’s standardized to ensure accurate results. Basically, the test involves simulating web surfing continuously on a phone while on cellular connectivity — up until its battery is completely drained.
This is performed with the display set to 150 nits of brightness with the use of a light sensor, so that the test is consistent across all phones we test.
For the Galaxy S25 Edge, it pulls in an average time of 12 hours and 38 minutes — far below the time recorded by the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Samsung’s flagship goes the distance with a time of 17 hours and 14 minutes running the same test. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 with its 4,000 mAh battery manages to outlast the Edge by almost 3 hours.
Interestingly, I asked Google Gemini to calculate the battery depletion rate based on these findings. This turns out to be 308.71 mAh/hr for the S25 Edge, 254.51 mAh/hr for the S25, and 290.13 mAh/hr for the S25 Ultra. Meaning, the Galaxy S25 Edge is the least efficient in this group.
Galaxy S25 Edge charging speeds compared to competition
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Charging % in 15 minutes | Charging % in 30 minutes |
Galaxy S25 Edge | 27% | 54% |
Galaxy S25 | 28% | 57% |
Galaxy S25 Plus | 38% | 70% |
Galaxy S25 Ultra | 37% | 71% |
I know that I can accept shorter battery life, assuming that its charging speeds can help offset it. Despite having a smaller capacity battery, the S25 Edge charges a tad slower than the Galaxy S25. In fact, the S25 Edge’s 25W wired charging speed gets it to 27% and 54% after charging it for 15 and 30 minutes respectively.
What’s sobering about this is that the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup charges faster than the Edge. Obviously it would’ve been better if Samsung opted to give the S25 Edge the same 45W wired speeds found with the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra — which I suspect would make a tremendous difference, but it doesn’t.
Outlook
Well it’s evident that battery life is the biggest compromise to the Galaxy S25 Edge. This comes as no surprise given the size of its battery. Unless the battery tech makes a revolutionary leap, there’s simply no way for future ultra thin phones to outlast today’s flagships.
If you’re willing to accept having to charge it more frequently, then this won’t be as much of a concern. Also, it’s probably a good idea to invest in any one of the best portable battery banks as a backup when you don’t have access to an outlet — because trust me, you’ll need it for the S25 Edge.
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