Samsung’s ‘Fan Edition’ range of stripped-back more affordable versions of their latest flagship phones and tablets has a new member that may well be the best one yet.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE takes all the ‘fan favourite’ features (hence the FE name) of the Galaxy S25 and S25+ and jams them in a slick “clean matte finished” body roughly the same size as the S25+ for significantly less money.
In this case, the S25 FE retails for $1199 compared to the S25+’s $1899, or the standard S25’s $1599.
The S25 FE may be the cheapest way into the latest S25 model family, but you sure wouldn’t know it from its superbly slick and surprisingly fast performance. The biggest upgrade the S25 edition of the FE scores over its S24 predecessor is the addition of the same Exynos 2400 processor that the flagship S25 models pack, as well as the vibrant 6.7-inch AMOLED display that packs a 120Hz refresh rate.
The screen looks fantastic, with bright colours, but its most impressive trick is just how responsive it is, putting even Samsung’s flagship phones to shame thanks to the super-fast and sensitive responses from its effortless user interface.
That also includes what is easily the best under-screen fingerprint reader I have personally experienced that didn’t once during my time with the S25 FE fail to recognise my fingerprint, no matter how rushed or awkwardly-position my finger was.
The S25 FE has clearly also benefitted from Samsung’s advances on making the new Fold and Flip phones so alarmingly thin with an impressively slim form factor (it’s only 7.4mm thick) that still packs a big 4900mAh battery, which is 200mAh larger than the fatter S24 FE.
Other upgrades over the S24 FE include 45W wired charging and 25W wireless charging (the S24 FE could only handle 25W wired and 15W wireless), and Samsung’s full range of Galaxy AI capabilities, including Gemini assistant, circle to search, live translate, a range of camera AI tools and much more.
Thanks to the S25 FE’s grunty processor and beefy battery it can handle pretty much anything you care to throw at it, with silky smooth gaming and video streaming, and still handle a full day of work or play.
It does have a tendency to get surprisingly warm when you ask a lot of it, with graphically intense games in particular causing the temperatures to rise.
Another slight downside is the fact that the S25 FE uses the same last-gen camera set up as the S24 FE, meaning a triple lens setup that uses a 50MP main sensor, a 12MP ultra wide sensor and an 8MP telephoto sensor with a 3x optical zoom, all of which is... adequate. But little more than that.
The images produced are perfectly fine, but a little drab and lacking in detail when compared to current flagship models from most manufacturers.
But then, that is the. Point of the S25 FE – to offer almost flagship levels of performance and features at a significantly reduced price.
While the camera may be a bit disappointing, the powerful processor, big battery, vibrant display, slickly responsive interface and hefty amount of smart AI features means that the S25 FE ultimately delivers when it matters the most, to the most people.
What’s it like in a car?
The S25 FE is every bit as slick and efficient using it in a car as it is for pretty much everything else. Its Bluetooth connection of fast and stable, while its Android Auto connectivity also seems to be much more stable than even last-generation flagships.
Its slim form factor makes it a perfect fit for a variety of in-car wireless charging pads that are often rapidly out-sized by large flagship phones, while its featherweight design (it only weighs 190 grams) makes it eminently pocketable, even when sitting in a car, something a large amount of current high-end phones can't say.
