Samsung’s ‘Fan Edition’ of its Galaxy S25 range is more premium than you would expect. One of its four camera lenses is 50MP, the display is big and beautiful, and it has the kind of long battery life my old Nokia 3210 would be proud of.
However, there are some specifications that you will only find on a budget handset; you only have 8GB of RAM, and the storage options only go up to 512GB. This is also the Enterprise Edition, but I have yet to find anything enterprise or business-specific about the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE. Though the $650 (£450) price is very reasonable.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE: design
The Fan Edition of the S25 looks exactly the same as the other S25 models, with a flat back cover encased in a cold metal chassis. It has a smart and polished look, with power buttons and a volume rocker down the right-hand side, and a SIM tray to the left of its single USB-C port at the very bottom.
With its 6.7in display, the S25 FE feels big in the hand. The whole handset is a whopping 161.3mm in height and 7.4 mm in thickness, which makes it slightly awkward to swipe or open apps in one hand. But this long screen is absolutely great for watching content – it was even good on a few Zoom calls.
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Around the back, the three camera lenses are the main point of focus; they protrude to the point that the handset doesn’t lie flush on a desk. Arguably, most people will fix that with a case, but if you don’t, it rocks like a seesaw when you use the touchscreen. I didn’t purchase a case (didn’t have it for long), and it became an issue using it in tandem with my laptop. You don’t get this on the Google Pixel as it has a wide camera bar that stretches across the device.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE: Display
Samsung is arguably the king of screens, and what you have here on the S25 FE is the same size display you find on the S25 Plus – it’s just more affordable. The 6.7in Dynamic LTPO AMOLED display is ridiculously stunning. It comes with a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, and a 1080 x 2340 resolution with 385 ppi density – all very premium specifications.
Now it isn’t exactly as good as the S25 Plus; you have a lower peak brightness (1,900 nits), but it doesn’t struggle in bright conditions. I found it more than capable of handling direct sunlight and harsh indoor lights. What’s more, the refresh rate is buttery smooth, with scrolling on social media fluid.
You can choose between vivid and natural settings for the display, although both are excellent. Colors pop off the screen no matter what content you view, and everything looks warm and vibrant. Video calls are high quality with the selfie camera, and all your favourite shows look at their best – again, I have to point out, Samsung is the king of displays. And the S25 FE is a testament to that.
(Image credit: Future)
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE: Specs and performance
Unlike the standard S25, the Fan Edition has a 4nm Exynos 2400 processor, which scores lower in benchmarks. In Geekbench 6, the FE hit 2190 for single and 7098 for multi-threaded workloads. That is quite a drop, on paper, from the standard S25, which came in at around 9,800 for multi-threaded.
This, however, isn’t something I can say I noticed while using the S25 FE. I found it to be super fast and fluid regardless of the apps I used. And there is a lot going on inside the S25 FE, with multiple systems and programs running in the background for image enhancement or prompts for what app you’re going to use next.
It’s all very subtle and largely helpful, until you get to typing, as there is something very aggressive and wholly wrong with the default setting of predictive text. I found the number of typos and whole words it puts in place frustrating. You can clearly see when and for how long I was using the S25 FE across Slack, Gmail, and WhatsApp, where my corporate messaging was riddled with errors – frankly, it’s a feature that can duck off.
On a more positive note, the battery is brilliant. In our looped video test, the S25 FE lasted 29hrs and 27mins. That’s comfortably a day’s worth, though I did find it drains quicker after a heavy session on the socials. Workwise – Slack messaging, emails, proofreading docs – it has all the hours of juice you’ll need.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE: Cameras
(Image credit: Future)
There are so many camera lenses on the S25 FE that you will wonder if this is actually a mid-level device. You get three on the back: a 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm wide lens, an 8 MP telephoto one, and a 12 MP one for ultrawide shots. And, within the screen, is a 12 MP, f/2.2, 26mm lens that also shoots wide. It’s a ‘fan edition’ but also heavily stocked.
You can shoot both images and video in their respective Pro modes, which is similar to what Sony Xperia used to offer. For video, it doesn’t work as well as just using the default settings. This is arguably where the BlackMagic app has found success, which is a strange consequence of this age of influencers. It seems perplexing that Samsung and its rivals haven’t simply added those types of LUTs and controls to their own camera apps.
The controls are slightly better for photos, though you’ll be hard-pressed to make them any better than the S25’s point-and-shoot capabilities. In our tests, we were able to match the point-and-shoot capabilities. The only time we were able to do better was in misty conditions, or where there was a nice beam of sunlight – the standard camera settings seem to remove these from view in their attempts to improve image clarity, which nearly all smartphone camera systems do.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE: Is it worth it?
My only real issue with the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is its default settings for certain systems. Predictive text, for example. Which, of course, can be changed. Beyond that, what you have is an affordable smartphone with some quite brilliant premium features.
I love the big, bright display, all four of its camera lenses, and the fact that its battery lasts over a day. This is a device I would recommend for any office worker – or anyone in general. There really isn’t anything ‘Enterprise’ about it, but I am a fan of the S25 FE.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE specification
|
CPU |
Exynos 2400 (4 nm) |
Row 0 – Cell 2 |
|
Display |
6.7in Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~385 ppi density |
Row 1 – Cell 2 |
|
RAM |
8GB RAM |
Row 2 – Cell 2 |
|
Storage |
128GB, 256GB, 512GB |
Row 3 – Cell 2 |
|
Cameras |
Rear: 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm (wide), 8 MP, f/2.4, 75mm (telephoto), 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 123˚ (ultrawide) Front: 12 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide) |
Row 4 – Cell 2 |
|
Connectivity |
Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.4 |
Row 5 – Cell 2 |
|
Ports |
USB Type-C 3.2 |
Row 6 – Cell 2 |
|
Dimensions |
161.3 x 76.6 x 7.4 mm |
Row 7 – Cell 2 |
|
Weight |
190g |
Row 8 – Cell 2 |
|
Operating system |
Android 16 – OneUI 8 |
Row 9 – Cell 2 |
