The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is a good upgrade for anyone but newer FE owners

The Galaxy S20 FE marked the debut of the Fan Edition for Samsung, and it was a sensation upon its release back in 2020. It was a genuine flagship-tier Android phone that didn’t break the bank. I’ve long felt like subsequent releases have failed to live up to that initial device, as the Galaxy maker chose penny-pinching conservatism over a truly exciting product.

Samsung has recently released the Galaxy S25 FE ($549.99 at Amazon), and I’ve spent just over two weeks with it. The good news is that the company is stepping up its game with a couple of long-overdue upgrades. But is this enough to make the phone worth buying? Let’s dive into our Galaxy S25 FE review.

Upon unboxing the phone, I have to admit that I had a tough time telling this apart from the Galaxy S24 FE and Galaxy S23 FE. That’s not necessarily a problem, as you’ve still got a glass back that won’t attract fingerprints, along with a flat aluminum frame and rounded corners. The rear cover also has individual camera cutouts, much like the previous two phones. Fortunately, the phone is a little lighter and thinner than its predecessor. It’s not something I immediately noticed upon holding the phone, but it definitely grew on me as I’ve used the device, and I’ve come to appreciate this trimmer design.

Samsung has also opted for an IP68 rating along with Gorilla Glass Victus Plus on the front and back, so it should be well protected, even if that isn’t Corning’s very top glass.

Turn on the phone and you’ll see a 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED screen that’s effectively the same panel seen on last year’s phone. It’s even got the same 1,900 nits of peak brightness as the S24 FE, although I had no issues with outdoor viewing. This appears to be an LTPS panel rather than an LTPO screen, which means the phone isn’t capable of dropping down to 1Hz or even 10Hz. Instead, the screen generally dropped down to 60Hz, although I did notice a 30Hz refresh rate when watching a recorded video. I also noticed that the screen appears to simply not refresh at times (e.g., after a few seconds without touching the screen), ostensibly in a bid to save battery life. That’s not a bad strategy in lieu of more granular refresh rate options.

Another notable budget trapping is the choice to stick with an optical in-display fingerprint sensor for another year. Fortunately, I had no problem with this scanner during my time with the phone, as I found it to be fast and accurate. So while I would’ve liked to finally see an ultrasonic scanner (which also works with wet fingers), I didn’t really feel this cutback in everyday usage.

Charging and battery get a boost, but what about performance?

Ever since the original Galaxy S20 FE, Samsung has stubbornly stuck to a 4,500mAh battery and 25W wired charging speeds. So I was deeply skeptical when I first heard rumors of a bigger battery and faster charging. Thankfully, the rumors turned out to be true.

The Galaxy S25 FE ships with a 4,900mAh battery, which is on par with the Galaxy S25 Plus. Samsung put this increased capacity to good use, and I was able to regularly get just over eight hours of screen-on time with everyday usage (WhatsApp, Reddit, and the odd YouTube video via loudspeaker). It’s worth noting that my review unit is seemingly stuck on pre-release or initial firmware, so Samsung may have improved battery life with subsequent updates. But I was definitely happy with the phone’s endurance.

I’m also pleased to report that 45W wired charging makes a noticeable difference to charging times. We previously reported that the S24 FE took 75 minutes to reach 100% capacity via 25W charging. By contrast, the Galaxy S25 FE hit 100% in roughly an hour via my ZTE 65W PPS charger. That’s not as fast as other brands on the market, but this is a significant improvement over the Galaxy S24 FE, and it’s worth noting that the S24 FE had a smaller battery. Either way, I’m glad to see this upgrade, even if 45W charging isn’t best-in-class. Samsung also states that the phone is “Qi2-Ready,” meaning you can use magnetic accessories with the aid of a compatible case.

The bad news is that Samsung has stuck with what is effectively the same chipset as last year’s model. All models globally ship with the Eyxnos 2400 chipset, which is a slightly faster version of the Exynos 2400e seen in the S24 FE. Samsung has increased the vapor chamber size this time, though, which should theoretically result in better sustained performance and reduced temperatures. So what does this all mean for performance?

Geekbench 6 CPU benchmarks show that the Galaxy S25 FE is unsurprisingly behind the S25 Plus in both single- and multi-core tests. It’s slightly faster than the S24 FE in terms of single-core performance, likely due to the small boost to peak clock speed, and noticeably faster for multi-core performance.

Switching to GPU stress tests reveals that the S25 FE throttles more than last year’s phone, maintaining 59-66% of its performance versus the S24 FE’s 71-72% stability. The device also features somewhat higher peak and average temperatures. Remember, it’s supposed to have a larger vapor chamber. Either way, the S25 FE starts generally starts out with a performance advantage, but draws level with its predecessor after seven to 10 minutes. In fact, the S24 FE ended each stress test with a very slim advantage over the new device. Again, there’s the caveat that my phone is stuck on initial firmware, so it’s possible Samsung may have tweaked the S25 FE’s performance. However, these results suggest that you might be disappointed with performance during long gaming sessions, or if you live in a hot climate. What about real-world performance, though?

Fortunately, the phone handles demanding games just fine. I did notice an odd bout of judder while playing GRID Legends, but it was a very smooth experience most of the time, especially with HD textures. I was also able to crank up the graphics and ray tracing to maximum in War Thunder Mobile while running at mostly smooth 60fps. The phone only got very warm at worst, rather than hot, when running either game. So I imagine that demanding mobile games and console ports should run fine for a while yet.

I have to note that the cheapest S25 FE ships with just 8GB of RAM and 128GB of fixed storage. I understand that this is an FE model and that compromises will be made somewhere, but I wish the company offered more RAM or more storage after all this time. I lean towards more storage as that’s more practical for everyday life, but more RAM means the phone could theoretically benefit from more advanced AI features down the line. It could also be a must if you want higher-quality visuals in some games, as GRID Legends actually requires 8GB of RAM for HD textures.

It wouldn’t be a Galaxy flagship phone without Galaxy AI capabilities, would it? The FE model is generally a step behind mainline phones when it comes to receiving advanced features, but the S25 FE brings plenty of welcome additions out of the box. Some of the most prominent features this time are Audio Eraser, Best Face, Now Brief, and Now Bar.

Audio Eraser, as seen on Galaxy S25 phones, allows you to minimize distracting sounds in any video clip on your phone. But as colleague Ryan Haines revealed in his Audio Eraser versus Audio Magic Eraser comparison, there are limitations in some situations. So it won’t let you truly eliminate that off-key person standing next to you at a concert. Meanwhile, Best Face is similar to Google’s Best Take and lets you change someone’s expression in a photo (as long as Motion Photos are enabled). Now Brief and Now Bar are two other high-profile Galaxy S25 series features, with the former offering morning/afternoon/evening summaries while the latter displays contextually relevant info and controls on your lock screen. Thankfully, Now Brief has evolved since the S25 series launch and certainly feels more polished than Google’s Daily Hub feature.

These features join existing smart capabilities like Instant Slow Mo, call recording/translation/summaries, webpage summaries, Writing Assist tools, the Reimagine tool for generative photo editing, and more. And if you want even more features, the company still offers the Good Lock suite of downloadable apps. I would like to see all the Good Lock apps launched broadly, though, as some apps still aren’t available in my market. I would also like to see less bloatware, as I could do without the pre-installed Spotify, Netflix, and Microsoft apps.

Samsung also offers seven years of OS and security updates, matching Google for the best update policy among major manufacturers.

I love a good camera phone with a versatile set of shooters, but it’s clear that the S25 FE’s rear cameras are exceedingly long in the tooth. The 50MP primary camera, 8MP 3x telephoto shooter, and 12MP ultrawide lens are all effectively the same cameras we’ve seen for years now. And the world has moved on in many ways since then.

These cameras generally take photos with pleasant colors, but I found that even 1x images taken in daytime conditions are flat and particularly soft. It’s like the phone’s cameras have a light coating of Vaseline. I also encountered color fringing at times, and it wasn’t something I was actively looking for, either. Meanwhile, photos taken with the ultrawide camera continue the trend of softness, but also tend to exhibit soft corners and visible noise — check the wall and curtains in the last sample image.

Perhaps my biggest annoyance is that Samsung still hasn’t upgraded the 8MP 3x telephoto camera. Meanwhile, a brand like Nothing is offering a mid-ranger with a 50MP telephoto camera. I understand Samsung has a balancing act to follow with the S25 FE and base S25, but even a 12MP sensor would be a notable upgrade. You can still take usable if flat 10x photos in ideal conditions, and these are suitable for Instagram Stories. However, you don’t have to zoom in to see the watercolor effect and blown highlights.

There is one camera change, though, and that’s the move from a 10MP selfie camera to a 12MP sensor. It still lacks autofocus, unlike mainline Galaxy S phones, but this camera captures solid images in most conditions.

It’s possible Samsung has fixed some of my camera complaints with subsequent firmware releases, but there’s only so far software can go. At least the company offers a good variety of features and tools. Best Take joins other established Samsung camera features such as Single Take, Dual Recording, object/reflection/shadow erasing, and Generative Edit. This is in addition to downloadable tools like Camera Assistant and the Expert RAW app.

I’m also a little disappointed that, unlike the main camera, I can’t shoot 4K/60fps video via the ultrawide. Samsung doesn’t let you shoot 4K/60fps video via the telephoto camera, either. That’s not a surprise as the telephoto camera is too low-res to support 4K video in the first place, so Samsung crops in from the 1x camera for 4K/30fps capture. But again, this is more evidence that the FE line needs upgraded camera hardware. You can view full-resolution photo samples via our Google Drive folder.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE really feels like two steps forward and one step back for Samsung’s pseudo-flagship line. The larger battery and faster charging speeds are overdue improvements that both pay off in real-world usage, while putting the base Galaxy S25 to shame. The slimmer and lighter design is another decision that I increasingly appreciated during my time with the phone. Throw in the array of software features and the seven-year update commitment, and this certainly seems like a welcome release.

However, Samsung still refuses to offer meaningful upgrades to performance, cameras, and/or the display. That makes it a hard sell if you have a recent Galaxy FE phone. Everyone else should definitely keep the S25 FE in mind, as it still offers a pseudo-flagship experience and top-notch software at an attractive price.

There are a few Galaxy S25 FE alternatives worth considering, though, and the Google Pixel 10 ($799 at Amazon) is certainly one of the better choices. Both phones offer similar performance, near-identical battery capacity, an IP68 rating, a ton of AI features, and seven years of updates. However, the Pixel also brings a variety of exclusive features (like Now Playing and Add Me) and a 5x periscope camera. It even features native Qi2 MPP support, allowing you to use magnetic accessories without a case. But you’ll need to pay $150 more for this phone.

Perhaps the best Galaxy S25 FE alternative in its price bracket is the OnePlus 13R ($549.99 at Amazon). The OnePlus phone lacks full water resistance, wireless charging, and a best-in-class update pledge (only 4+6 years), but it beats the S25 FE in most other categories. Expect a more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, a 6,000mAh battery with 80W wired speeds, a single 12GB/256GB model, and a 50MP 2x tele camera.

Finally, the Galaxy S25 Plus ($999.99 at Amazon) is also worth considering if you want a Samsung phone and don’t mind spending more money. The two phones have the same battery capacity and charging speed, but the S25 Plus has a brighter screen with better protective glass, a significantly more powerful processor, more RAM and base storage, and a slightly better telephoto camera. I don’t think these features are worth ~$300 extra, but you should still consider the S25 Plus if you find a great deal.