Samsung’s Fan Edition phones have always lived in a strange space, caught between flagship ambitions and a mid-range price. But with the new Galaxy S25 FE, Samsung seems to have finally found its footing.
From our brief hands-on, the S25 FE feels like its own product. It’s not a watered-down Galaxy S25 or a supercharged Galaxy A. It’s the phone that borrows the best of the flagships like Galaxy AI and a more premium design while packing in practical upgrades like what promises to be better battery life. The result is a device that feels lighter, smarter, and more confident than any FE before it. Here are my first impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE based on the short time we spent with the phone.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE Design and Build
Samsung hasn’t reinvented the wheel with the Galaxy S25 FE’s design, but it didn’t need to. The phone looks and feels every bit like a member of the S25 family, and that’s very much the point. The device carries forward the S-series design language, complete with clean lines, minimalist camera rings, and a balanced frame that feels both sturdy and premium. The Armor Aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus Plus are the same materials used on the pricier S25 and S25+, giving the FE genuine flagship durability. It also comes with an IP68 rating, so dust and water resistance are part of the package, something that’s still not guaranteed at this price point.
ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy S26 Dummy Units Leaked: Qi2 Magnets and iPhone-Inspired Designs
The refinements over the S24 FE are subtle but noticeable. The bezels are slightly thinner, the camera rings are a touch larger, and the device is slimmer, measuring 7.4mm, a 0.6mm reduction in waistline, and approximately 11% lighter than last year’s model.
That’s a meaningful drop from last year’s chunkier S24 FE (8 mm, 213 g), and the difference is obvious the moment you pick it up. It feels less like a brick and more like something you can actually use comfortably one-handed, even for long stretches.
Samsung is offering the S25 FE in three colors for India: Jet Black, Navy, and White. Each carries a matte finish that resists fingerprints better than glossy alternatives, keeping the phone looking clean without constant wiping. The palette is understated, but it gives the device a professional, almost flagship-level polish.
ALSO READ: Exclusive: OPPO Set to Launch Find X9 Series Globally on October 28th
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE Display
Samsung appears to be sticking with the same formula for the screen. Up front is a familiar 6.7-inch Dynamic Super AMOLED panel that feels just as smooth and vibrant as you’d expect, thanks to its 120Hz refresh rate. The bezels look slightly slimmer, giving it a more modern, immersive feel.
As a reminder that this is still an FE model, you don’t get a sophisticated LTPO panel that dynamically adjusts the refresh rate to save power. It’s a choice between 60Hz and 120Hz. The big new trick here is Vision Booster, which aims to solve the problem of washed-out colors in bright sunlight by tuning tone and contrast on the fly. We’ll need to test this thoroughly outdoors, but it’s the kind of practical feature that could make a real difference day-to-day.
ALSO READ:BYD Sealion 7 Review: Breaks Many Stereotypes
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE Hardware & Software
Under the hood, the Indian variant we handled is running the Exynos 2400 SoC, a slightly better version of the Exynos 2400e. It’s paired with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM across all models, and storage options scale from 128GB to 512GB using UFS 4.0. Samsung has made the decision to cap memory at 8GB, which could feel limiting in a segment where 12GB is becoming common.
What’s even more interesting is Samsung’s focus on thermal management. The S25 FE gets a 10% larger vapor chamber along with a new MS Liquid Thermal Interface Material, the kind of cooling solution Samsung usually reserves for its Ultra model. Having said that, this setup should theoretically handle multitasking, gaming, and heavy camera use without breaking a sweat.
Impressively, Samsung has apparently managed to pack in a larger 4,900 mAh battery while making the phone slimmer. Charging gets a boost to 45W wired, though you won’t find a charger in the box. While we couldn’t test charging speeds in our brief time with it, the combination of a bigger battery and a more efficient chip is promising.
The Galaxy S25 FE runs One UI 8 on top of Android 16, and Samsung is promising an industry-leading seven years of OS and security updates. But the real story here is the full suite of Galaxy AI features.
Features like Circle to Search, Live Translate, and Generative Photo Editing are all here, just as they are on the pricier S25 models. Most of these Galaxy AI toolkit features also work on devices, which gives it an edge over the competition if it works as advertised. How well these AI features run on the FE’s chipset will be a key focus of our full review.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE Cameras
On paper, the rear camera setup appears familiar. The Galaxy S25 FE mirrors the S24 FE, featuring a 50MP main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide, and an 8MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. While a decent package, especially considering mid-range rivals like the Pixel 9a and iPhone 16e omit telephoto altogether, Samsung hasn’t made significant hardware improvements in this area.
The real change is on the front: the selfie camera climbs from 10MP to 12MP. That’s not a dramatic leap, but it should give you slightly sharper portraits and a bit more flexibility in dim light. Whether that claim holds up under scrutiny is something we’re eager to test.
What Samsung really wants you to pay attention to isn’t the hardware at all the AI magic layered on top. The S25 FE inherits the Pro Visual Engine and Object Aware Engine from its flagship siblings, along with headline features like Generative Edit, Instant Slow-mo, and Audio Eraser. How well do they work? Well, you have to wait for the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE review to come out.
ALSO READ: Flipkart’s Big Billion Days vs. Amazon’s Great Indian Festival: The 2025 Sale War Is On
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE First Impressions
The Galaxy S25 FE seems like a slim, durable, budget flagship that borrows just enough from the S25 without stepping on its toes. It’s polished, it’s lighter in the hand, and it comes with a bag of Galaxy AI tricks that used to be reserved for pricier models. Samsung is sweetening the deal with six months of Google AI Pro, which brings access to Gemini Pro with 2TB of Google Cloud storage, but whether that bonus actually tips the value equation remains to be seen.
On paper, the S25 FE looks like Samsung’s most convincing FE yet. The real question is whether it performs as well in practice as it does in marketing slides. We’ll only know once we put it through a full review.
You can follow Smartprix on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google News. Visit smartprix.com for the latest tech and auto news, reviews, and guides.
1.FE series battery backup is disaster, Buy it if you can charge two times a day 2. Ram size 8GB for Exynos processor is minus 3. Fan edition price falls after 6 months of launch . If anyone want to purchase, plan for Republic day or independence day offers 4. Seven years of OS and Security updates is amazing but phone lags