Ryan Haines / Android Authority
I will wear two hats today — one as a reviewer and one as a consumer. That’s because I’ve been on both sides and know exactly how the two brains function, and perhaps make sense of how differently they each perceive the same product. This is exactly what we need today, because the device in focus is perhaps as polarizing in acceptance as those two minds themselves.
The Galaxy S25 Edge isn’t a conventional smartphone. It’s by design (quite literally) made to divide the jury in half, and it did achieve that objective. While reviewers largely weren’t fans of the phone overall, consumers, on the other hand, seem to be loving it. Reddit — the shining beacon of consumer truth — says so on not one but multiple occasions. And there are a few reasons for this split that I want to dissect.
When choosing a phone, what influences you more? 22 votes Real-world feel and comfort 50 % Specs and benchmarks 23 % Reviews and comparisons 27 %
The comparison fatigue
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
I thought it would be a good thing that being a reviewer gets me to test out so many phones throughout the year. While writing this story, though, I’ve come to realize that it might actually be working against me.
You know how it goes — when you have experience with so many phones, you end up setting several benchmarks in your head. Which phone is better, which one isn’t, and how exactly one differs from the other. And you use all that accumulated judgment to review a fresh phone.
This works in most cases, but ever since smartphones essentially haven’t changed a lot in many years, when something different like the Galaxy S25 Edge comes along, that pattern falls off track. The judgments don’t align well with what a consumer might want; instead, they stem from what experience has trained you to expect.
This predictive judgment — rather than perceived judgment — often works at odds with the phone you’re reviewing and puts it in a bad light without regard for what users might or might not actually like.
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