Flagship experience on smartphones may mean different things for different people. Some may want more camera chops, for others, it could be gaming, but one new area everyone now demands top-of-the-line performance is artificial intelligence. Samsung has been offering an ‘FE’ or ‘Fan Edition’ of its flagship phones for a few years now, the latest being the Galaxy S25 FE. It gives you a flagship-grade experience for a slightly lower price than any of the Galaxy S25 phones.
It comes with all the bells and whistles you can imagine — Android 16, One UI 8, and all the much-loved AI features.
The original Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra launched in January, and the S25 Edge in May. So it’s about keeping the series and momentum going. It’s a fairly big upgrade over last year’s Galaxy S24 FE. It’s thinner, tougher, lighter, has a bigger battery, offers faster charging, comes with thinner bezels, sports the new ProVisual engine, has a new 12MP selfie camera, runs on an optimised chip, and, finally, has a larger vapour chamber cooling system. On top of all this, there is the promise of seven years of full OS updates. Well, it means you can check back in 2032 to see how the phone is holding up!
Efficient processor
Take crisp images and footage with minimal noise, ensuring your content stays vibrant and detailed no matter how dark the environment. Picture: Mathures Paul
Coming in simple colours — Navy, Jet Black, White and Icy Blue — the phone is a tough cookie, complete with IP68 water and dust resistance. Also bundled is enhanced armor aluminium for the frame, which adds strength to the chassis. Overall, the phone is lighter and thinner than last year’s FE model: We are talking 7.4mm thin and 190g.
On the display front, it’s a large 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen with 60-120Hz refresh rate. The peak brightness has been bumped up from 1200 nits to 1900 nits, besides adding an adaptive vision booster. So when you are streaming something at high brightness, colours and contrast still look very nice.
Coming to the chipset, there is the Exynos 2400, tweaked for working perfectly with Samsung’s software. So the AI options work faster than before, and it does justice to the new ISP for the camera. On the Galaxy S25, there is the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. Exynos 2400 is an efficient chip and is definitely capable. You can play all the games you want or work on any app. Of course, Snapdragon 8 Elite has a slight edge, but only if you are a gamer. For most, it will not matter.
Equally flagship territory is the battery, which is now 4,900mAh or 200mAh more than last year. At the same time, the phone is slimmer. There’s more: The phone supports Qi2 charging. You get 45W wired charging, which gets you from zero to 65 per cent in around 30 minutes. Enough time to brew coffee.
Galaxy S25 FE supports up to 7 generations of OS upgrades and up to 7 years of security updates
Camera and AI chops
The camera setup is also worth talking about — 50MP main lens, 12MP ultra-wide, and 8MP telephoto. Add to all the camera razzmatazz 30x “space zoom”. The new camera processing system handles upscaling far better than before, which is where the magic sauce resides.
Even with tricky lighting, you will be impressed by skin tones and details. The same goes for the 12MP selfie camera.
The phone is a good way to access a wide range of Galaxy AI features — Note Assist, Transcript Assist, Browsing Assist, Photo Assist, Drawing Assist, instant slow motion, and more. In fact, the instant slow-motion feature is among the best as more frames get added to videos.
At the same time, Samsung allows shooting 4K videos on the front and main cameras… that too at 60fps. If that isn’t enough, Samsung has added tools for generative AI editing and the cool audio eraser.
Samsung offers the most impressive suite of useful AI features. Sure, you get quite a few of them on Google Pixel phones, but many of the features are hardly impressive. Samsung has managed to make AI features work smoothly, especially generative AI in images. There is also an easy way to access Gemini and Gemini Live.
Make the call
All this brings us to whether you should buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE or Galaxy S25. Both have flat backs and the same design elements. The S25 FE is around 8 per cent thinner than the S24 FE. It is the same weight as the Galaxy S25+. Though the S25 FE comes with Armor Aluminum Gorilla Glass Victus+, the S25 has Armor Aluminum Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which is slightly more expensive but hardly makes much difference.
The difference in display is negligible as both are Dynamic AMOLED 2X but where the S25 scores slightly higher is LTPO technology, allowing the screen to go from one to 120Hz refresh rate. Further, peak brightness on the S25 is 2600 nits.
Given the specs on the rear camera setup, it’s as different as aubergine and eggplant. On the S25, there is a slightly larger sensor, but to someone who likes to point and shoot for Instagram, it hardly makes a difference.
When Samsung Galaxy S25 launched, it came with Android 15 and One UI 7 out of the box, but with FE, it’s the next version. The advantage you get on the S25 FE is getting the latest, meaning you can cling to the phone a year longer.
Galaxy S25 FE features an upgraded 12 MP front camera (up from 10 MP in the previous generation), delivering clearer selfies and sharper video calls
The Galaxy S25 FE makes a solid case for itself, especially if you like a flagship experience with a generous side of AI features and savings.
At a glance
Device: Samsung Galaxy S25 FE
Price: Upwards of ₹59,999
High notes
Excellent software support: Seven generations of OS and security updates
Over seven hours of screen-on time
Plenty of Galaxy AI features
Works as a gateway to flagship phones
Muffled note
More colour options needed