Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Review: Beautiful, Bold, and Undeniably Forward-Thinking

The word “Edge” in Samsung’s dictionary has evolved. It once represented bold curves, but now signifies something entirely different: unprecedented thinness. With the Galaxy S25 Edge, that legacy has been rewritten. The curve is gone; this time, “Edge” describes its razor-thin profile. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is arguably the thinnest Galaxy phone ever created.

From the front and back, the Galaxy S25 Edge doesn’t appear drastically different from other smartphones. However, turning it sideways reveals Samsung’s clear intention. While technically part of the flagship Galaxy S25 lineup, the S25 Edge clearly operates in a different realm, prioritizing style, portability, and standing out in a market saturated with bulky phones.

However, this slim profile comes at a significant cost — ₹1,09,999, to be precise. This raises some pertinent questions. With the Galaxy S25 Ultra priced only ₹20,000 higher and offering considerably more raw capability, and the Galaxy S25+ costing ₹10,000 less with nearly identical internal components, the Edge begins to feel like a niche luxury, more focused on aesthetic appeal than practical value. Therefore, the central question isn’t just, “How good is the Galaxy S25 Edge?” but rather, “Is this thinness truly worth the premium price tag?” Let’s delve deeper into that in this S25 Edge review.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Review: Design and Build

Picking up the Galaxy S25 Edge evokes a distinct sensation. Your perception shifts; everything you thought you knew about how a premium phone should feel suddenly seems outdated. Weighing just 163 grams — 15% lighter than the S25 Plus — this Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge defies what seems physically possible for a device packing flagship specifications.

The Galaxy S25 Edge is remarkably thin — not just conventionally thin, but 5.8mm thin. This makes it the slimmest standard flagship currently available. Consider this: it matches the OnePlus Open’s 5.8mm profile when unfolded (impressive for a foldable device) and makes the once-celebrated Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite from 2021 appear practically chunky at 6.81mm. Even Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro, at 8.25mm, feels like it belongs to a different era. Samsung hasn’t just entered the thinness race; they’ve redefined the entire competition.

Compared to its S25 siblings, the Edge stands out, bearing little resemblance to them. It’s as if Samsung’s design team broke free from its usual constraints to deliver something truly unconventional.

A prime example of this ambition is the S25 Edge’s camera setup. Despite the razor-thin profile, Samsung has somehow managed to incorporate the S25 Ultra’s flagship 200MP primary sensor into this incredibly slim chassis. Samsung representatives explained that they completely redesigned the camera housing architecture, reducing its size by 15 percent specifically for the Edge. The dual-camera setup is housed in a pill-shaped module on the rear, which would otherwise have been a completely flat back.

The ergonomics are excellent, fitting naturally in the hand. At a time when one-handed use seems almost impossible with many smartphones, the Galaxy S25 Edge excels, offering comfortable single-hand operation. The volume rocker and power button are intuitively placed on the right edge, while a SIM tray and a down-firing speaker flank the v3.2 Gen 1 USB-C port on the bottom.

Samsung has utilized premium materials: Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for the rear, Ceramic 2 for the front, and a titanium alloy frame. The device feels both sturdy and meticulously crafted despite its incredibly sleek side profile. After ten days of use, it’s clear that it’s built to withstand the rigors of daily life as a reliable companion.

The display takes center stage on the front of the phone, featuring ultra-slim, evenly balanced bezels that contribute to its sleek and contemporary aesthetic. Furthermore, its flat design eliminates issues with screen protectors or accidental touches. The display also houses a selfie camera and an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. The biometrics are so consistent that you’ll likely forget it’s there. Face unlock is also available, though it wasn’t the reviewer’s preferred method.

Overall, Samsung deserves recognition for achieving something unprecedented: a solid, compact, and ultra-thin design that no other manufacturer has dared to offer recently.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Review: Display

The Galaxy S25 Edge offers a similar display experience to the Galaxy S25 Plus, but within a more compact (5.8mm) body. The fundamental display specifications remain consistent: a 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED panel delivering 1440p resolution with adaptive 120Hz refresh rates — identical to the Galaxy S25 Plus. This variable refresh rate can go from 120Hz down to 1Hz for static content. And with its flat design, you won’t encounter problems with screen protectors or accidental touches.

It can achieve 2600 nits of peak brightness in harsh lighting and dim to under 1 nit for comfortable nighttime reading. The reviewer experienced no visibility issues during direct sunlight photography sessions.

Color accuracy is exceptional straight out of the box. Samsung’s display tuning provides vivid yet balanced colors, avoiding the oversaturation seen in earlier Galaxy phones. The display supports HDR10 and HDR10+ formats; however, Samsung continues its resistance to Dolby Vision support. For the world’s slimmest smartphone in 2025, this omission feels increasingly stubborn rather than principled.

Here, the situation becomes more nuanced. The S25 Edge uses 480Hz PWM dimming, which sounds impressive until compared to Chinese flagships. OnePlus, Xiaomi, and even mid-range Chinese phones now offer superior dimming frequencies that can reduce eye strain for sensitive users. I experienced no noticeable eye fatigue during extended use.

The Galaxy S25 Edge also incorporates Samsung’s ProScaler AI technology, which enhances upscale image quality, along with their proprietary Digital Natural Image engine (more details likely available elsewhere) for sharper, upscaled content and more intelligent color optimization. This is particularly noticeable when viewing lower-resolution video content or older apps not optimized for high-density displays.

Clearly, as @mehtab-ansari mentioned in his first impressions, “Samsung has excelled in display technology for years, and the S25 Edge continues this trend with smaller bezels in a more compact form factor, without any major surprises.”

While the PWM dimming could be improved and Dolby Vision support would be appreciated, Samsung has delivered a display that matches their best work, now within a tighter space and with smaller bezels.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Review: Speakers and Haptics

The Galaxy S25 Edge speakers are surprisingly capable, considering the limited internal space. They produce decent sound quality with crisp vocals and highs, and a touch of clean bass, making media consumption acceptable. It features a stereo setup utilizing the earpiece as a complementary speaker alongside the bottom-firing speaker to create two-channel audio.

If you appreciate good haptic feedback, adjusting the settings and increasing it to the maximum will provide a satisfying experience. While not the best in its price range, the haptics are certainly not the worst.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Review: Software

The Galaxy S25 Edge runs Android 15 with One UI 7. This means you get the complete Galaxy S25 Ultra AI experience packed into this incredibly slim device. Samsung hasn’t skimped on bloatware, with over 45 pre-installed apps from Google, Microsoft, Facebook and others. In 2025, Samsung apparently still believes that more is better.

The AI Experience mirrors that of the S25 series phones, with Samsung relying on Google Gemini for its core AI features. Tasks like generating custom images and performing Cross-app Actions are executed effectively, often surpassing the experience on competing phones.

AI Select enhances Smart Select functionality, enabling the creation of GIFs from Instagram reels or wallpapers from any photo. Gallery Generative Edit impressively adds or removes objects with accurate shadow rendering. Writing tools can adapt text tone from casual to professional, and audio transcription handles voice recordings seamlessly.

Now Brief and Now Bar aim to add contextual intelligence to your daily routine. Now Brief offers morning sleep summaries and daily schedule overviews, while Now Bar provides live updates for music, navigation, and sports scores on your lockscreen. While promising, Now Brief and Now Bar currently lack extensive third-party support.

This AI convenience necessitates significant data collection. Samsung assures Knox Matrix encryption is in place. Users can also opt for on-device processing, although this will limit the availability of some generative features.

Samsung Galaxy Review: Performance

The Galaxy S25 Edge shouldn’t exist. Conventional wisdom suggests that cramming flagship performance into a 5.8mm chassis without significant compromises is impossible. Apparently, Samsung disagreed.

I expected Samsung to use a stripped-down Snapdragon 8 Elite variant for the Edge. Instead, we get the full 8-core processor with Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy optimizations. Samsung somehow fit a vapor chamber that’s 15% larger than the S25 Plus version inside this impossibly thin frame. Combined with 12GB of RAM and UFS 4.0 storage (256GB base, 512GB optional), the S25 Edge delivers powerful performance on par with its thicker siblings.

Synthetic benchmark scores offer a more nuanced perspective. Initially, the S25 Edge slightly trailed the S25 Plus, with graphics performance showing a 16% difference in early tests. However, Samsung’s thermal engineering proves its worth here: after 20 minutes of intensive 3DMark stress testing, the performance gap narrowed as the S25 Plus experienced more aggressive throttling.

This results in a fascinating reversal of expectations — the thinner phone maintains performance better over sustained periods.

Synthetic Benchmarks 

This shows up in the benchmarks too, as the numbers are almost similar to other siglings. Here are some benchmarks:

Gaming Performance 

While benchmarks provide data, gaming performance is what truly matters. Genshin Impact runs consistently at 60fps with only mild warming on the rear during extended sessions. BGMI achieves 90fps with smooth graphics and Extreme+ frame rates, dropping to 60fps with HDR enabled. For a phone this thin, these results are quite impressive. I did not notice any overheating, but the phone did get warm around the edges and at the back. Overall, the gaming experience with BGMI and Genshin Impact is fine, but other devices at the same price point do offer slightly better gaming stability.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Review: Cameras

The Galaxy S25 Edge camera system features a flagship-grade setup squeezed into an impossibly thin chassis, with some predictable trade-offs. Samsung deserves commendation for the main camera engineering. The 200MP primary sensor — borrowed from the S25 Ultra but with an 18% slimmer redesigned housing — is paired with a more modest 12MP ultrawide and a 12MP front-facing camera, a combination drawing from both the Ultra and Plus lineups.

The most notable omission is a dedicated telephoto lens. Samsung compensates with digital zoom, offering up to 10x magnification through cropping and AI enhancement.

Photos from the primary rear camera exhibit Samsung’s characteristic vibrant color science, leaning towards punchy, high-contrast results with aggressive HDR that maximizes scene exposure. Dynamic range performance is excellent, preserving shadow detail even if the overall definition in darker areas feels slightly underwhelming.

The 12MP ultrawide lens delivers Samsung’s typical vibrant colors and well-judged exposure; however, consistency with the main camera isn’t a strong point. Detail noticeably suffers in low light, and the resolution difference between the sensors is more apparent than ideal.

The ultrawide also functions as an effective macro shooter, automatically activating when subjects are within 5cm, though the level of detail isn’t exceptional.

The front-facing camera produces notably pleasing results with near-accurate skin tones and respectable facial detail. Background exposure and clothing texture are sharp. Video capabilities include UHD at 60fps for the front camera and 8K at 30fps for the rear cameras.

Samsung’s generative editing suite remains impressive. The ‘Generative expand’ feature convincingly fills gaps in tightly-cropped images, while the AI eraser continues to outperform Apple Intelligence by a significant margin.

Overall, the S25 Edge camera system achieves its primary goal: delivering flagship-level photography capabilities in an ultra-thin form factor.For most users, the S25 Edge cameras will likely exceed expectations. However, photography enthusiasts who prioritize optical zoom or absolute image quality will still find the Ultra a more suitable choice.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Review: Battery Life and Charging

The Galaxy S25 Edge’s 3,900mAh battery represents Samsung’s most significant compromise. While many Chinese flagships are adopting silicon-carbon batteries, Samsung continues to use a single-cell 3900mAh lithium-ion battery, which is approximately 100mAh less than the standard Galaxy S25 and a substantial 1,000mAh less than the Galaxy S25 Plus.

Testing the S25 Edge as a primary device through typical usage (social media, photography, YouTube streaming, gaming, web browsing, email, calls, and messaging) yielded somewhat inconsistent results. On office workdays, the battery typically depletes by 40-45% by 2 PM. By bedtime around 10 PM, the phone was usually in low battery territory, often requiring battery saver mode. On days with more on-the-go usage, constantly engaging with 5G and LTE networks, a power bank was often necessary for quick top-ups to avoid battery anxiety before reaching home.

The PC Mark Work 3.0 battery test yielded 9 hours and 17 minutes starting from an 80% charge — respectable on paper. However, real-world screen-on time averaged 4 hours and 35 minutes, which provides a more accurate picture of daily usability.

Regarding charging, the phone supports up to 15W wireless charging and 25W fast charging via Power Delivery with Samsung’s proprietary PPS. This is notably slow by 2025 standards. When battery drain is faster, slower charging becomes more impactful.

Review Verdict: Should You Buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge?

There’s something quietly radical about the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. Not because it folds, flips, or boasts flashy AI tricks—but because it doesn’t. Instead, Samsung has taken a riskier approach in today’s spec-obsessed smartphone market: creating a super-slim flagship Android phone and asking us to take it seriously.

The Galaxy S25 Edge is fundamentally a design-first device that still manages to deliver a flagship-grade Android experience. One UI operates smoothly, app performance is snappy, and the camera system produces consistently good results in daylight and well-lit conditions.

The crucial question isn’t whether the Galaxy S25 Edge is a good phone—it is. The real question is: who is this phone truly for?

If you prioritize design elegance, portability, and the satisfaction of owning something unique in a sea of similar devices, the S25 Edge delivers in a way few others can. However, if battery endurance, camera versatility, or sheer value for money are your top priorities, you would be better served by the Galaxy S25 Ultra or considering the next generation of foldable phones.

Samsung’s ultra-thin experiment is bold, beautiful, and not without its compromises. But in a market often characterized by safe choices, the Galaxy S25 Edge dares to be different—and that in itself holds significant value.

Smartprix ⭐ Rating: 8/10

• Design and Build: 9/10
• Display: 8.5/10
• Speakers: 8/10
• Software: 8.5/10
• Haptics: 8/10
• Biometrics: 8.5/10
• Performance: 7.7/10
• Cameras: 7.7/10
• Battery Life: 7/10
• Charging: 7/10

First reviewed in May 2025.

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