Samsung Galaxy S25 FE hands on: this ‘affordable’ flagship has a lot to offer

By John McCann Published September 4, 2025

I’m told the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is “the gateway to the latest and most powerful Galaxy AI experiences” during my briefing for the firm’s latest ‘affordable’ flagship phone.

Samsung’s FE series has been running for over five years now, providing a more attainable entry point to the firm’s latest technology.

And with the Galaxy S25 FE, Samsung’s made some eye-catching upgrades from last year’s variant, with a slimmer, lighter phone which boasts a larger screen-to-body ratio and the biggest battery ever for a FE device.

The Galaxy S25 FE price starts at $649.99 for 128GB, rising to $799.99 (256GB) and $999.99 (512GB), and it’s available to order from launch, September 4 2025.

That’s comparable with to another paired-down flagship, the iPhone 16e.

The Galaxy S25 FE succeeds 2024’s Galaxy S24 FE, and Samsung has made a couple of noticeable design improvements with it’s latest handset.

It’s managed to slim down the thickness and reduced it’s weight, while somehow also increasing battery capacity.

I’m not sure what voodoo has been untaken to achieve this, but it’s impressive.

The result is the Galaxy S25 FE is just 7.4mm thick (8% thinner vs S24 FE, 8mm), while it tops the scales at 190g (11% lighter vs S24 FE, 213g).

Picking up the phone it does feel light in the hand, but it avoids feeling ‘cheap’.

Plus, the FE gets the same Enhanced Armor Aluminum frame as Galaxy S25 and S25+, and there’s Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the front and back.

The aesthetic improvements continue when you turn attention to the 6.7-inch AMOLED display.

Samsung has slimmed down the bezels, while making them more uniform, providing you with an improved screen-to-body ratio.

This gives the phone a more premium appearance, keeping it closer to it’s pricier S25 sibling.

While resolution (FHD+) and peak brightness (1900 nits) aren’t as high as the rest of the S25 series, you do still get a 120 refresh rate.

Yet for scrolling social, snapping pics and watching the odd video, the screen is colorful and smooth in operation.

The only letdown I noticed during my hands-on time with the phone were the color options: Navy, Icy blue, Jet black, White.

Samsung has opted for these muted tones to carry over the premium look from the S25 range, but I’d like to see at least one bold, playful color option – like the Mint and Yellow options we got with the S24 FE.

The Samsung Galaxy FE comes with triple rear camera setup, featuring a 12MP ultra-wide, 50MP wide angle, and 8MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom.

The 12MP front snapper has been upgraded, getting a 20% boost in resolution over the S24 FE, for what Samsung claims will result in clearer, richer selfies.

The busy hands-on space I had to experience the phone wasn’t particularly photogenic, nor was it lit in an overly useful way – making it difficult to judge the camera quality.

Look out for our full Galaxy S25 FE review in the coming weeks where we’ll put all four cameras to the test.

This phone benefits from photography AI features taken from the S25 series, including Instant Slow-Mo (one-touch, super-smooth slow motion – no need to enable a mode), Generative Edit (for effortless photo editing), and Audio Eraser (to remove distracting sounds from video for clear audio).

Compromises are always going to be made with these ‘affordable’ flagship variants, so it’s no surprise the Galaxy S25 FE doesn’t pack top-tier power.

The Samsung-made Exynos 2800 chipset is paired with 8GB of RAM, which should be serviceable enough to run OneUI 8 – but it won’t be setting any speed records.

Plus, if you shop around you can pick up more powerful Android handsets for similar money – the OnePlus 13R is one example.

On the plus side, Samsung offers a trio of storage options with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB.

One of the major new features for the S25 series was the introduction of the Now Bar & Now Brief.

The personalized and context aware AI looks to deliver you helpful, relevant information when you need it – such as what time to leave to make an appointment, taking into account current traffic conditions and travel restrictions.

The S25 FE has a personal data core, which learns your usage patterns and what you access, and when. The more you use the phone, the better Now Bar notifications and the Now Brief will become.

The Galaxy S25 FE is also the first Samsung phone to ship with OneUI 8 – the latest interface overlaid on Android 16. It’s coming to the rest of the Galaxy S25 family this month.

Samsung’s pushing software longevity too, with seven years of OS upgrades and security updates guaranteed for the phone.

And things get even better when we look at the battery, with the Galaxy S25 FE boasting the largest battery Samsung has put in a FE handset.

You get a 4,900mAh power pack, up from 4,700mAh in the S24 FE, and with 45W charging Samsung says you can replenish up to 50% in 30 minutes.

There’s also 15W Qi2 wireless charging, but there’s no MagSafe compatibility like we’ve seen with PixelSnap on the new Pixel 10 series.

Instead, the S25 FE retains its power share feature, allowing you to use the phone to wireless charge other devices – such as phones and earbuds.

You’ll have to wait for our full Galaxy S25 FE review to find out how well the battery performs, and whether the chipset and RAM combo have enough grunt to deliver the AI experiences with reasonable speed.

Samsung has made a number of notable upgrades over the previous generation to make the Galaxy S25 FE feel like a worthy addition to the S25 family.

While it might not quite be the “no compromise” phone Samsung is billing it as, there’s plenty to like and there’s enough features to keep it competitive against it’s Apple and Google rivals.

Just how well it can perform remains to be seen – keep an eye out for our full review – but the early signs for the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE are positive.

And with months before it’ll be troubled by an iPhone 17e or Pixel 10a, the S25 FE has plenty of time to enjoy the spotlight.