Five years after the release of the Galaxy S20 FE , Samsung has settled into a predictable pattern with its "Fan Edition" line of phones. Each new phone doesn't offer much new or different from its immediate predecessor, with the company opting to offer iterative updates instead.
That might have been fine before, but with the arrival of the Nothing Phone 3a Pro and Pixel 10 — devices that changed the value proposition in their respective categories — the S25 FE feels woefully out of touch with a market that's changing to meet people's demands. There's not much here that makes the new Galaxy S25 FE stand out, and any "upgrades" aren't substantive.
Samsung 69 100 Expert Score Samsung Galaxy S25 FE With few upgrades and a price point that doesn't make much sense in the context of Samsung's lineup, the Galaxy S25 FE is hard to recommend at full price. Pros Fast, vibrant AMOLED display
New selfie camera
Seven years of software support Cons Same boring design as last year
Low-resolution telephoto camera
Slow charging $650 at Amazon
Hardware and display
Igor Bonifacic for Engadget
When I first took the S25 FE out of the box, I thought Samsung had played a cruel trick on me. The phone looks identical to its predecessor, sporting the same brushed aluminum frame that's been the company's go-to for years now. I had to dig the S24 FE out of my gadgets drawer to compare the two phones before I confirmed they were in fact different devices.
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