As if right on cue, Samsung has just unveiled the Galaxy S25 FE, this year’s sub-flagship phone that offers some of its top-end Galaxy S25 range’s features but comes with a more bearable price starting under S$1,000.
The new “fan edition” version, available for pre-order today, comes with a decent 6.7-inch AMOLED screen that features Full HD+ resolution and has a handy 120Hz refresh rate for a smooth interface when you navigate around the menus.
Weighing 190g, it reminds one of the Galaxy S25+, which is the “middle child” in this year’s Samsung Galaxy S25 series and which also weighs the same. The earlier phone features a 6.7-inch screen as well but sports a sharper QHD+ resolution.
The other thing to note is the processor. Typically, Galaxy FE phones don’t come with the latest and greatest. This year, the Galaxy S25 FE has an Exynos 2400 chip as the engine to run its Android apps and AI magic. In comparison, the Galaxy S25+ has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite.
The other thing you will be reminded of is the memory and storage. While the “true” flagship range packs 12GB of memory and storage from 256GB to 1TB, the Galaxy S25 FE only has 8GB of memory and storage starts from 128GB and goes up to 512GB.
There are still lots of choices available and 8GB is still fine to run many of today’s apps but the tradeoff from the top-end models might be more obvious if you often fire up games that are demanding.
I didn’t have a chance to try that out this morning at a Samsung media event in Singapore. To be fair, the new phone does seem to run smooth when managing your typical Android apps. In other words, performance should not be a big issue for most everyday tasks for most users.
The Galaxy S25 FE itself feels solid in the hand, with the matte finish at the back looking premium, like a real flagship device. The camera array also appears like it’s part of the Galaxy S range.
Speaking of that, you have a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, a 50-megapixel wide camera which you will use most often, and a 8-megapixel telephoto camera for capturing things from afar during the odd occasion or two.
Again, this is a bit of a downgrade from the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+, which sport a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, a 50-megapixel wide camera and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera.
On the plus side, the new phone comes with Samsung’s new One UI 8, which has the latest Android 16 running underneath. It also comes with handy “multimodal” AI, which means you can ask Google Gemini to “look” at something like a piece of clothing or a coffee machine and ask it for advice. Yes, you get that on Google Pixels as well.
The reason why I’ve compared the Galaxy S25 FE to its Samsung flagship predecessors is because its price tag. S$948 may be just slightly less than a flagship phone now but that only buys you the 8GB/128GB basic configuration. That is pretty modest, to be honest, and nowhere near “flagship” quality.
Bump things up to 8GB/256GB and you get past S$1,000 to S$1,038. Going to 8GB/512GB costs you S$1,218, clearly in flagship territory when it comes to price.
So, while the Galaxy S25 FE looks well built, at least on first impressions, it is entering a crowded field with the weight of a pretty hefty price tag.
There are not just competitively priced China-based brands, such as Oppo and Honor, but also Samsung’s own Galaxy S25 flagships, which will be cheaper now on the street after being out for the better part of this year.
We’ll try out the Galaxy S25 FE more in a review to tell you more about it soon!
