Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge Feels Absurdly Thin—at the Cost of Battery Life

WIRED

13-05-2025

The Galaxy S25 Edge begs the question: Do you want a thin phone or better battery life? Photograph: Samsung; Getty Images
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I've been reviewing smartphones for a decade, and it's rare for a new device to wow me. But that was the only word that came out of my mouth after I picked up Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge. This is the company's ultra-thin smartphone, and it's shockingly lean and lightweight.
Samsung unraveled the full details about the Edge today through a virtual Galaxy Unpacked event, after first teasing the device during the launch of the Galaxy S25 series in January. Preorders are also live, starting at $1,100, with official sales kicking off on May 30. That puts the Galaxy S25 Edge at $100 more than the Galaxy S25+ and $200 less than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Here's everything you need to know. Bleeding Edge
The Galaxy S25 Edge is on the left, and the Galaxy S25 is on the right. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Samsung says it's been wanting to make an ultrathin phone for some time, but it's only now able to achieve this feat without compromising on core features. Various phone makers over the years have dabbled in this space to earn the title of 'World's Thinnest Phone'—even earlier this year, we saw a concept device from Tecno that claimed to be a mere 5.75 mm thick.
The Galaxy S25 Edge comes very close, measuring 5.8 mm and weighing just 163 grams. For context, the iPhone 16 is 7.8 mm thick and weighs 170 grams—the difference might not sound like much, but remember that the iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch screen; the Edge has a 6.7-inch display, so you're getting far more screen. Compared to the same-sized Galaxy S25+, the Edge is 1.5 mm thinner and 27 grams lighter.
It's hard to convey how impressively lightweight and thin it feels without trying it yourself. And you can—Samsung says the Edge will be paired with a new, lighter security bracket at retailers like Best Buy and carrier stores, so interested buyers can get a better sense of the phone without a bulky thing in the way. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
The phone's edges are so thin that it might affect how you hold it for a long period, because there's just not much for your fingers to grab. Time will tell. But once the wonder of the thinness fades away, you'll start wondering about battery life. The S25 Edge has a 3,900-mAh battery capacity, 100 mAh less than what's in the smaller Galaxy S25. It's a laughably small capacity compared to similar-sized phones these days.
Still, Samsung says it's done a lot of work to optimize the display's power, and with the efficiency of the 3-nanometer Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset inside, you should get 'all-day' battery life. This run time supposedly outlasted the Galaxy S24 but fell short of the S25 in Samsung's tests. With average use, you can probably eke out a day, but power users may have to tote along a battery pack. Nothing like slimming a phone down, then forcing you to carry around a portable charger.
It's worth noting that Samsung isn't using silicon-carbon battery technology, which offers denser batteries in a thinner design found in new devices like the OnePlus 13. Edge of Tomorrow Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
This is the big question: Do you want a thin phone? Or a slightly thicker phone with a beefier battery that could last two days? I'd bet most people will say the latter. Samsung says its research found that people who bought its Ultra phones found the phone too big and heavy, but didn't want to downsize to the Galaxy S25+ or S25, as they didn't want to lose out on some features. Opting for the Edge means they'll have a feature-rich phone, but with the worst battery life in the entire Galaxy S25 lineup. It's a little perplexing. The Edge doesn't even support the fast charging speeds of the S25 Ultra, tapping out at 25 watts wired and 15 watts wireless.
The S25 Edge has a titanium frame, just like the Ultra, to keep it lightweight. It also employs Corning's new Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2, which is similar to what's on the Ultra, minus the anti-reflective coating used to reduce glare. That allows the glass to be a little thinner on the Edge.
The Galaxy S25 Edge is on the bottom, and the Galaxy S25 is on top. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
The other area where things are different is the cameras. Instead of the usual triple-camera setup on most Samsung flagship phones of the last few years, you get a dual-camera system. It's led by a 200-megapixel primary camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide, with a 12-megapixel selfie camera. There's no telephoto zoom camera, but you can get 'optical-like' image quality at 2X zoom, going up to 10X with AI-enhanced zoom.
All the cameras have autofocus, so you can use macro mode for close-up shots with the ultrawide, and even the selfie camera has a wider field of view, so more people can fit in the frame. Samsung is quick to point out that you're getting many of the features available on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, from 4K 120 frames-per-second video recording—unavailable on the S25+ and S25—to the ability to shoot in Log format for greater control in the editing room. Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Much of the other specs match up with the Galaxy S25 series, including 256 GB of starting storage, 12 GB of RAM, and the Qi2 Ready wireless charging system. This phone can also take advantage of all the same Galaxy AI features and will receive seven years of software updates.
As much as Samsung says it's not compromising with the Galaxy S25 Edge, it still is. There's no third or fourth zoom camera here, and battery life likely won't match up to similar-sized peers. But if you're someone who prefers big phones but hates the associated weight and heft, you now have a new option from Samsung's lineup.
It'll be interesting to see how the Galaxy S25 Edge fares ahead of Apple's iPhone September event, where the iPhone maker is rumored to unveil a new kind of iPhone: the iPhone 17 Air. Leaks suggest it'll be 5.5 mm thick, one-upping Samsung. Holding the iPhone 17 Air will likely be just as astonishing, but get ready to be disappointed with its battery stats.