Samsung Galaxy S25 FE leak just tipped bad news about performance

With the release of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7, Samsung is rumored to be turning its attention to its next big release, assumed to be the Galaxy S25 FE. However, a new leak has revealed some potentially troubling news for the device.

According to a recent post on X by known leaker Arsène Lupin, the Galaxy S25 FE could come with 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 26GB of internal storage. The post also states that the phone should have four color options: Navy, IceBlue, Jetblack and White.

I can understand why Samsung would elect to keep the 8GB of RAM we saw in the Galaxy S24 FE, after all, the FE range is designed to be more affordable and RAM can be expensive to increase. On top of the price, it’s also worth noting that 8GB of RAM is more than enough for the average user. For instance, it’s the same amount as we see in the iPhone 16 series after all.

While this likely isn’t an issue for the phone when it releases, it might be for the future of the phone and its usability. Currently, the average user keeps hold of their smartphone for 2 years and seven months, and that’s expected to go up to three years by 2026. With that in mind, and considering the rapid advancement in AI, I have to wonder if 8GB will be enough down the line.

More RAM means a higher price for parts, and Samsung clearly wants to keep the FE cheaper than other flagship-grade phones. But it should be noted that the Galaxy S24 FE launched with many of the same AI features that we saw on the mainline Galaxy S24 models while still being affordable. The same would, hopefully, be true for the Galaxy S25 FE, but the lack of RAM is only a single nail in the performance coffin.

Another thing to note about the Galaxy FE range is that it often makes use of less powerful chips. The Galaxy S24 FE, for instance, launched with the Exynos 2400e, which wasn’t exactly stellar. Meanwhile, the most recent leaked benchmarks have the Galaxy S25 FE running the Exynos 2400, which is a modest upgrade, but still falls behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite seen in Samsung's Galaxy S25 series.

Why is this a problem, I hear you ask? The reality is that Samsung’s latest FE phone will need to compete with the iPhone 16e, and in more than a few ways, it needs to exceed it. As it stands, Samsung phones tend to offer a better AI experience, helped, in part, by Apple Intelligence’s limitations and Samsung devices featuring more RAM. However, if the Galaxy S25 FE launches with the same RAM and a weaker chip, I worry about how it will compete when it doesn’t have access to all the Galaxy AI features due to its hardware limitations.

Now, in the interest of fairness, not every person buying a Samsung FE phone is invested in AI features. In that case, the real issue becomes the price of the phone and how it compares to the mainline Galaxy S25. As it stands, we don’t know a lot about the price of the phone, but we’d expect it to be roughly around the same price as the Galaxy S24 FE, due to the Galaxy S25 not seeing a price increase, would would mean a price of around $649.

It’s also worth noting that we can’t confirm these rumors until we actually see the phone officially announced, so it’s best to take these things with a pinch of salt. On that note, many of the rumors seem to indicate that Samsung will aim for an October launch for the phone.

So, with the possibility of the Galaxy S25 FE only featuring 8GB of RAM, are you still interested, or will you look elsewhere for a more affordable phone?

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