After months of previews and rumors, the Galaxy S25 Edge is a reality. And with Galaxy S25 Edge preorders now underway, you've got a decision to make — should this ultra-thin device be your next smartphone or should you turn your attention to a different device?
We can't definitively say where this new model ranks among the best Samsung phones, as we've only spent some initial Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on time. Certainly, we've spotted some impressive things about the new phone, but our final buying advice will have to wait until we complete our S25 Edge testing.
However, some pros and cons for Samsung's latest device are readily apparent, now that we've been up close and personal with the Galaxy S25 Edge. With this preliminary list of reasons to buy and skip the Galaxy S25 Edge, we can help you make an early call on whether this $1,099 phone is the right one for you.
Galaxy S25 Edge: Reasons to buy
It's a thin but durable device
As you might expect for a phone that's biggest selling point is how thin it is, the Galaxy S25 Edge is remarkably slender. It's just shy of 2.5mm thinner than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and while that may sound insignificant, when you stack up the phones against each other, you can really spot the difference.
Comparing the thinness of various devices, the only one that comes close to the Galaxy S25 Edge is the Galaxy Z Fold 6 — and that's when the foldable phone is open and at its thinnest.
The Galaxy S25 Edge is just as lightweight at 5.75 ounces. It essentially weighs the same as a standard Galaxy S25 even though the screen on the Edge is much larger.
The concern with something as thing as the Galaxy S25 Edge would be that the phone snaps in two at the first sign of pressure. But my Tom's Guide colleagues who've held the Galaxy S25 Edge say that it feels pretty durable. Certainly, the titanium frame and Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 display covering help out — and that latter material should guard against scratches and other damage.
You carry your phone around everywhere with you, so portability is a key consideration. And it's hard to imagine a device that's easier to tote around than the Galaxy S25 Edge.
A high-resolution camera
There are just two widely available Samsung phones with 200MP main cameras — the Galaxy S25 Ultra and now this device. (A third model, the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, also has that same camera spec, but it's only available in Korea.) If our experience testing the Galaxy S25 Ultra's main camera is any indication, you can expect detailed, colorful shots from the Galaxy S25 Edge.
It's more than just hardware that will help with camera performance. The S25 Edge will rely on the same ProVisual Engine found on other Samsung flagships to superior photo processing.
Other camera capabilities like Nightograpy for low-light photos and LOG video recording for capturing video with a wide dynamic range are present and accounted for, too. And while we'll discuss Galaxy AI in a moment, the same AI-powered photo-editing features on other Galaxy S25 phones are available through the S25 Edge.
A big-screen experience
The Galaxy S25 Edge may be slender but it doesn't sacrifice size in the display department. The new phone features a 6.7-inch QHD+ display with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. In other words, you're getting the same panel found on the Galaxy S25 Plus.
We'll need to test the Galaxy S25 Edge to see how bright its screen is. The S25 Plus hit 1,350 nits when we measured it with a light meter — a decent amount of brightness, but trailing the readings we recorded with similarly priced phones such as the Pixel 9 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro. The Galaxy S25 Ultra turned in a more impressive 1,860-nit reading. You can guess which model we're hoping the Galaxy S25 Edge takes after.
Double the base storage of the Galaxy S25
Samsung has taken to including more internal storage with its premium phones. For example, both the Galaxy S25 Plus and S25 Ultra feature 256GB in their base model. The Galaxy S25 Edge follows that tradition, and it helps to take the sting out of that four-digit price tag. (Oh, we're going to talk about the price, believe me.)
The extra storage is worth highlighting while preorders are taking place, as Samsung has an offer that's awfully hard to refuse. Preorder your Galaxy S25 Edge through Samsung, and you'll get an automatic upgrade to the 512GB model while paying the same $1,099 price as the 256GB version. That's a $100 savings on double the storage, and a lot more capacity than you'd get from the standard Galaxy S25 and the 128GB of capacity in its $799 base model.
Galaxy AI support
Samsung is all about AI features on its phones these days, so it's no surprise that the Galaxy S25 Edge has full support for the same capabilities introduced earlier this year with the Galaxy S25 series. Still, it's good to know that if you're picking up a Galaxy S25 Edge, you're getting Samsung's full Galaxy AI experience.
That include new features like the Now Brief that uses your information and interests to learn more about you over time and present a daily summary of appointments and information personalized for how you use your phone. You'll also have the ability to use the Gemini assistant to perform tasks across multiple apps, like looking up information about a restaurant and blocking out a reservation on your calendar.
Would it have been even better if Samsung had used the occasion of a phone launch to introduce new Galaxy AI capabilities? Sure. But the features that are available to the Galaxy S25 Edge are pretty polished and should make using your new phone a much better experience than a device that doesn't have the same AI chops.
Extensive software support
Just like AI features are no surprise on a high-end Samsung phone at this point, there's nothing unexpected about the level of support Samsung pledges to this phone. Still, it's worth highlighting because Samsung's support policies are the best in the business.
Like the rest of the Galaxy S25 family, the Edge is getting seven full years of software and security support. That means Android updates — and new AI capabilities — well into the next decade should you hold on to your Edge for that long. Only Google matches Samsung's support for its flagship phones, which is worth keeping in mind if you're the sort who likes to go a long time between device upgrades.
Galaxy S25 Edge: Reasons to skip
No zoom lens
When you've gone this thin with a phone, sacrifices need to be made, and in the Galaxy S25 Edge's case, it's the telephoto lens that winds up on the chopping block. That makes the Edge unique among Galaxy S models — even the lower-cost Galaxy S24 FE has a zoom lens.
Samsung would counter that you're not totally without options for getting up close with your photos. That 200MP main lens also handles zooms, and with pixel binning, you can create shots that approximate an optical zoom — usually up to 2x in my experience. Zoom in beyond that, though, and you're prone to lose sharpness. The Galaxy S25 Edge is capped at a 10x zoom, which is a far cry from what phones with dedicated telephoto cameras can pull off.
There's another limitation. Zoom lens are very useful when it comes to photographing the night sky. My colleague John Velasco has done a lot of astrophotography face-offs for Tom's Guide and he's not optimistic about the Galaxy S25 Edge's chances of measuring up to the best camera phones when it comes to capturing stars.
Battery life concerns
We won't know how long the Galaxy S25 Edge lasts on a charge until we can run our custom battery test on the phone to see how it measures up against devices with the best phone battery life. But the Galaxy S25 Edge will have a steep hill to climb even with the superlative power management features of the Snapdragon 8 Elite that serves as the phone's system-on-chip.
That's because the space limitations inside the phone have limited Samsung to a 3,900 mAh battery. That's a pretty small power pack, especially for a big-screen phone. For example the Galaxy S25 Plus has the same-size display as the Edge, yet it has the benefit of a 4,900 mAh battery. In fact, even the compact Galaxy S25 uses a bigger battery than what the S25 Edge has to work with.
Battery size isn't everything when it comes to longevity, so there's a chance the Galaxy S25 Edge surprises us with how long it can last. But the odds are definitely stacked against this thin phone.
It's very expensive
As noted above, the Galaxy S25 Edge starts at $1,099. And that's an awful lot to pay for any phone, no matter how thin Samsung has made it.
The thing about premium phones is that they generally have premium features to match. Take the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which may cost $1,299, but also comes with a powerful zoom lens and a giant battery — two features missing from the S25 Edge.
Really, Samsung is betting that the thin-yet-durable frame will be enough to convince people to pay up for the Galaxy S25 Edge, since it really offers many of the same features as the slightly less expensive Galaxy S25 Plus. (And that phone has a zoom lens and a bigger battery, too.) And that thinness may be enough for some shoppers, though others may wind up expecting more value in return.
Galaxy S25 Edge outlook
We have more testing to do before we determine whether the Galaxy S25 Edge delivers value for the money Samsung's charging. At first glance, though, the biggest arguments in favor of the phone center around its unique design and powerful main camera. Whether that's enough to overcome the Edge's limitations is something we hope to soon find out.
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