Samsung launches the S25 Edge, and it's all about thinness

It is coming ahead of Apple’s rumoured iPhone 17 Air.

by Louis Eriakha

Updated May 13, 2025

Smartphone design has come a long way from the thick slabs of plastic and aluminium we once carried. In recent years, we’ve seen foldables, flip phones, and even rollable displays attempt to reshape the modern phone. Now, manufacturers like Apple and Samsung are taking a different approach, slimming devices down more than ever. Leading that charge is Samsung’s newly launched Galaxy S25 Edge.

At just 5.8mm thick and weighing 163g, the S25 Edge is one of Samsung’s thinnest flagships to date. For context, the current thinnest phone, the Tecno Spark Slim, measures 5.75mm, just barely slimmer.

In the S25 lineup, the S25 Edge slots between the S25+ and S25 Ultra in size, offering a 6.7-inch QHD+ AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip, 12GB of RAM with either 256GB or 512GB storage, and Galaxy AI features on Android 15 with One UI 7. It also includes a 200MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide, and 12MP selfie shooter.

Left: S25 Ultra; Right: S25 Edge (Image Credit: *Sammy Fans)*

But to hit its ultra-thin design, Samsung had to make some trade-offs. The battery drops to 3,900mAh—small by today’s standards, especially compared to the 5,000mAh in the much cheaper Spark Slim. Charging is capped at 25W, and there’s no charger in the box (typical). The phone also skips a telephoto lens, periscope zoom, and, unsurprisingly, the S Pen. It’s just too slim for it.

All of this might be forgivable if the price reflected those compromises, but at $1,099, the S25 Edge is priced close to the $1,299 Ultra, and with discounts, the Ultra is often available for the same price. This makes it hard to justify the Edge as a mid-tier device—it’s priced like a flagship but lacks features that make the Ultra stand out. Samsung seems to bet on sleek design over specs, but whether that pays off remains to be seen.

Samsung usually reserves this part of the year for its foldables, so the S25 Edge launch feels like a calculated move, possibly to get ahead of Apple’s rumoured iPhone 17 Air, which is also expected to focus on slimness and style.

If you’re someone who's on the hunt for this, though, the Galaxy S25 Edge is available for pre-order in the U.S., U.K., South Korea, and parts of Europe, with general availability starting May 30.

Launches in markets like India are expected soon.