Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: A mid-range phone that falls flat

Last year's Galaxy S24 FE turned out to be one of the most under-rated phones I tested in all of 2024, mainly because it was essentially a better, cheaper version of the Galaxy S24 Plus. Now that the Galaxy S25 FE has arrived as a successor, I’m hoping for more of the same as this Samsung model aspires to be a promising flagship-grade phone for less.

There’s been a lot of heated competition in this space, as both the iPhone 17 and Pixel 10 offer their own set of advantages, despite costing more than the Galaxy S25 FE. If that’s not enough, there are also the other best cheap phone contenders, like the Pixel 9a and iPhone 16e, that you can grab for less.

Samsung’s new phone might seem like it’s in no man’s land against those phones, but I’ll tell you in my Galaxy S25 FE review what new improvements are available — and what kind of value the S25 FE brings to the table.

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: Specifications

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: Price and availability

I really like the Galaxy S25 FE’s price. At $649 for the base model, that's a really attractive figure compared to the $999 cost of the comparably sized Galaxy S25 Plus. You get 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM in the base Galaxy S25 FE, which is about what I’d expect at this price.

Compared to $799 flagships, like the iPhone 17 and Pixel 10, the Galaxy S25 FE still has a compelling value proposition. I also feel the same way comparing it to the cheaper Pixel 9a and iPhone 17, which both come in at $499 and $599 respectively.

The Galaxy S25 FE was released on September 4, 2025, with a total of four color options to choose from: White, Jetblack, Navy, and Icyblue.

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: Design

Nothing is out of the ordinary with the Galaxy S25 FE’s design, as it pretty much looks exactly like its predecessor (and Galaxy S25 Plus), offering an enhanced Armor Aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus+ construction. At this point, I’d say it’s a boring design that’s long overdue for a makeover, but at least it feels solid in the hand.

But despite a premium look and construction, I’m really shocked by how easily scuffed the Galaxy S25 FE can get. I usually keep the phone in my pocket, but there have been times when I’ve thrown it into my backpack with other gadgets. The back side of the S25 FE looks like it went to war with scars to prove it, as the rear surface is covered with superficial scratches.

I thought the iPhone 17 "Scratchgate" was bad, but this is even worse. That’s why I’m a big proponent of using phone cases and screen protectors to keep your handset looking pristine for a lot longer.

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: Display

On paper, it doesn’t look like Samsung has changed the display with the Galaxy S25 FE — it’s still a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display with FHD+ resolution and an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. It looks good for most things, like the occasional YouTube clip when I’m bored, but the screen doesn’t look as bright as before.

In our testing, the Galaxy S25 FE reaches a peak brightness of 1,133 nits, which is shockingly less than the 1,516 nits achieved by the Galaxy S24 FE. I noticed this downgrade the moment I took the newer phone out from my pocket while it was sunny outside. Compared to other phones, the Galaxy S25 FE definitely doesn’t get quite as bright as I’d like, which makes it a chore trying to use.

Indoors, it’s obviously not an issue, especially when the AMOLED panel produces deep and vibrant color tones that don’t distort at slight angles.

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: Cameras

On the camera side of things, the Galaxy S25 FE appears to have the same triple camera setup as before — which is a shame because I was hoping for an upgrade of some kind.

The Galaxy S25 FE camera setup consists of a 50MP main shooter, 12MP ultrawide camera, and 8MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. Even the apertures of each camera are identical to last year.

The only change is to the Galaxy S25 FE's front facing camera, which is now a 12MP selfie shooter with an f/2.2 aperture. That’s an upgrade from the previous 10MP selfie cam.

Despite a lack of meaningful upgrades, the Galaxy S25 FE sells itself as a serious camera shooter thanks in large part to Samsung’s robust camera app. Not only does the app have plenty of modes, including a Dual Recording one, but it’s better suited to enthusiasts with its manual modes. Plus, the S25 FE offers 8K 30fps video recording and slow motion up to 1080p 240fps.

The 50MP main camera holds up well when there’s plenty of good lighting, like the scene above. In fact, the Galaxy S25 FE offers a stronger contrast compared to the Pixel 10, but details like the parking signs near the front of the store appear a smidge softer.

Sticking with the same scene and snapping it with their ultrawide cameras, the Galaxy S25 FE again holds up well with its slightly stronger contrast. However, I do like how the Pixel 10 paints a more even exposure across the entire scene.

Surprisingly, the main camera also delivers excellent dynamic range with complex lighting conditions. It does nicely to even out the strong exposure of the sun with the areas in shadow with the parked cars facing me, but the iPhone 17 tones down the over-exposure of the sun better.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy S25 FE isn’t cut out for macro shots, evident in the closeup of the rusty bolt I captured with it and the iPhone 17. There isn’t a dedicated macro mode on the S25 FE, so I’m forced to shoot with the main camera — which subsequently can’t get as close or capture as much detail.

While the panorama shot the S25 FE stitches together is usable, the iPhone 17 does better by boosting the exposure of the shadows. As a result, the shot looks much brighter and more inviting than the Galaxy S25 FE offering.

The upgraded 12MP selfie camera definitely delivers good results. Most notably, it rivals the iPhone 17's detail capture with my facial features, but the iPhone 17 is better for two reasons. First of all, its new Center Stage camera offers a wider field of view. And secondly, I like how it has a more natural look with my skin tone because the S25 FE really brightens my face too much.

I will say that the Galaxy S25 FE handles low light very well with its dedicated night mode. You can see how it manages to brighten the shot of the tree above, but its overly warm color temperature makes the final shot not as realistic-looking as what the iPhone 17 produces.

Finally, I wanted to test the telephoto camera performance of the Galaxy S25 FE against what’s arguably the best camera phone for $799 price — the Pixel 10.

I started off at 2x to illustrate how they effectively perform a sensor crop with their main cameras to get to 2x zoom. Both phones do a good job here, but the Pixel 10’s image processing algorithms are pulling out more of the wooden fence’s textures.

At 3x zoom, the advantage clearly goes to the Galaxy S25 FE because it’s now switching to its dedicated 8MP telephoto shooter with 3x optical zoom. There’s certainly more detail and definition from the Galaxy S25 FE, which I expect, considering the Pixel 10 is applying a digital zoom to get to 3x.

There’s a reversal at 5x zoom because now it’s the Pixel 10 that captures more of the wooden fence’s details — but it does come at the expense of muting the colors.

Finally, there’s the 20x zoom shots above that clearly give the Pixel 10 the big advantage. The Galaxy S25 FE’s insufficient details capture becomes exemplified at this zoom, capturing less of the wood grain.

For a midrange phone, I really like the Galaxy S25 FE's camera performance. While the Pixel 10's the one to chase when it comes to zoom output, the S25 FE still offers a well-rounded performance that delivers good results no matter the situation. Plus, I really love the AI-editing tools the S25 FE offers in making my photos look better.

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: Performance

This is another area where Samsung fails to take the opportunity to prove the Galaxy S25 FE is a worthy successor to last year's model. The Exynos 2400 chip that’s powering this model barely manages to beat its predecessor in many benchmark tests — including GeekBench 6 where the Galaxy S25 FE posts a lower score in the single-core text.

Samsung does introduce a larger vapor chamber with the Galaxy S25 FE, which appears to mitigate the heat buildup that normally occurs with gaming. The 92.59 fps average frame rate the S25 FE generated with 3DMark’s Wild Life Original Unlimited test is an improvement from the Galaxy S24 FE's result, but I also notice the new model keeping cool with graphically intensive games like Diablo Immortal.

Despite the meh performance gains, the Galaxy S25 FE still handles most tasks with ease. For example, it continues to exhibit fluid animations navigating across the home screen — while running apps is a breeze. Even when I push its performance by running two apps in split screen mode, I don’t notice any performance issues with them.

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: Battery and charging

Samsung somehow manages to cram in a larger 4,900 mAh battery this time around, compared to the 4,700 mAh one in the S24 FE. You’d think the Galaxy S25 FE would have a better battery life as a result, but with an average time of 9 hours and 46 minutes on our battery drain test with adaptive display mode on, the new phone falls way short of the Galaxy S24 FE’s time.

I suspect the Exynos 2400 is the culprit for its worse battery life. In my day-to-day usage, I do find the Galaxy S25 FE draining faster than most phones I test out. On a typical work day, I find myself having to charge the phone before I leave for home because it’s under 30% capacity. I’m not confident about the Galaxy S25 FE getting me through the rest of my day on just battery power alone.

Luckily, the S25 FE's 45W wired charging speed does offset things, getting it to 40% with 15 minutes of charging, then to 71% in 30 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: Software and AI

While the hardware performance does suffer a bit, the software experience with the Galaxy S25 FE remains its hallmark. That’s because the S25 FE offers many of the same Galaxy AI features I regularly use with the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip 7.

The S25 FE gains newer features, like the Now Bar and Now Brief, among all the other productivity features Galaxy AI offers — like Call Assist, Writing Assist, Interpreter, and much more. And with the Galaxy S25 FE running One UI 8 out of the box, it lets me access split-screen mode and pop up mode to get upwards to three apps running simultaneously.

When it comes to content creation, the Galaxy S25 FE has the same Galaxy AI features that make it incredibly easy to make complex photo edits a breeze. For example, there’s Generative Edit that accurately removes unwanted subjects from the background, Drawing Assist that turns my chicken scratch sketches into realistic images, and audio eraser to remove background noise from video.

The visual aesthetic of One UI 8 isn’t as flashy compared to iOS 26’s Liquid Glass on the iPhone, but it suffices and doesn’t get in the way of how I use the phone for everyday things. It’s definitely an iterative update, like how the Now Bar functions similarly to the iPhone’s Dynamic Island.

And just like the Galaxy S24 FE before it, the S25 FE remains to be the cheapest phone you can buy brand new with Samsung DeX. As someone that uses the feature heavily, I cannot stress how valuable it is when it comes to getting that desktop-PC like experience.

Finally, the good thing about getting the Galaxy S25 FE is that Samsung pledges to give it 7 years of major Android and security updates. That's on par with the support the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup receives.

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review: Verdict

Following up from the Galaxy S24 FE is tough, but I’m bummed that Samsung didn’t do more to overhaul the S25 FE. In many ways, it’s a downgrade of sorts because there’s not a whole lot different about the device.

While the Galaxy S25 FE packs in all the Galaxy AI features I’ve come to use on other Samsung phones, its weak processing performance and battery life mean that it's not as appealing as a follow-up. Sure, the Galaxy S25 FE offers more value at $649 than other phones, like the iPhone 16e, but it has a tougher time convincing me it’s better than the Pixel 10.

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