Galaxy Unpacked has been and gone, but we’re still basking in the glow of the Samsung Galaxy S25 lineup – check out our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 review, hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus review, and full Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review for our first impressions of all three new devices.
There was, of course, a new addition to the three-phone lineup we’ve come to expect from Samsung – the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, which revives a moniker the company previously used for devices with edge-to-edge displays. Now, the ‘Edge’ designation is seemingly a reference to this new phone’s thinness.
And a thin phone it is. Though Samsung has yet to reveal any official specs about the Galaxy S25 Edge, the device is of such a svelte construction that its dual cameras have to rest on a raised protrusion – and then stick out further still – in order to fit onto the polished rear panel. The Galaxy S25 Edge is visibly slimmer than the already impressive S25 Plus, its closest sibling in the pre-existing lineup.
TechRadar’s Senior News Editor Mark Wilson isn’t convinced about the new phone’s design, writing in a recent feature that the Galaxy S25 Edge represents “the laziest interpretation of phone innovation.” I, however, think the S25 Edge deserves a chance to prove itself – though I share some of my esteemed colleague’s hesitation.
The S25 Edge will require some compromises. We simply cannot expect Samsung to fit the raw hardware power of its bulkier flagships into a phone that’s rumored to be just 6.4mm thick. All I’m really hoping for is that Samsung makes the right choices; that it focuses on efficiency so that the necessarily smaller battery isn’t too heavily taxed, ensures the durability holds up, and – this one’s a reach – opts for a telephoto camera for the second of the two rear-mounted snappers.
However, I’d be happy to see the S25 Edge make it to production with any combination of specs. The reason I’m already being so forgiving is that this new Galaxy phone reminds me of the very first Samsung Galaxy Fold in 2019, which launched the folding phone industry despite being visibly unpolished. I’m optimistically excited that Samsung might be about to launch another niche segment of the phone market with the S25 Edge.
Flashback, or full-on revival?
It might seem hard to believe in today’s world of bulky, heavy, powerful flagships like the S25 Ultra, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and OnePlus 13, but it wasn’t long ago that thinness was a major priority for phone makers. The first smartphones were positively rotund by today’s standards, and in the first ten years of the industry’s lifespan, you’d find keynote speakers talking at length about the millimeters shaved with each subsequent release.
This wasn’t without its downsides, though – Apple famously overstepped with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which shipped with flimsy designs that bent easily, a phenomenon termed “bendgate” by the frenzied media. These thin phones couldn’t hold very large batteries, either, and had limited options for cooling.
I think we’re looking at a full-on revival of thin, ergonomically-led smartphones that exist in their own lane.
It’s no surprise that we saw a reversal of the trend in the following years, which accelerated into the 2020s as phone hardware began taking some real leaps in the power, longevity, and multitasking departments. The current design language of flagship phones supports this – boxy shapes with plenty of room for cutting-edge internals.
The S25 Edge could be a one-off callback to these earlier times, but as I mentioned in my recent look at the hinted Samsung multi-fold phone, Samsung is a giant tech brand that doesn’t tend to introduce single-generation products. Unless the S25 Edge bombs hard, we’re likely to see an S26 Edge and S27 Edge in the years to come.
And if the sage sources of the rumor mill are to be believed, Apple is also working on a slimmed-down version of the iPhone 17, tentatively titled the iPhone 17 Air. I think we’re looking at a full-on revival of thin, ergonomically-led smartphones that exist in their own lane, in an offshoot of the mainstream phone market similar to folding phones.
Thin phones are good, actually
At this point, you may be wondering why this is a good thing – I think it comes down to two main factors. Firstly, modern phones are, in general, large and somewhat heavy devices, so it’s no bad thing to have a phone entering the market that has a large display, presumably modern internals, and is also focused on a thin-and-light design. Though large handsets like the iPhone 16 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra are lighter compared to their predecessors, they’re still noticeably hefty – the S25 Edge could offer some relief.
We could soon see a split between ergonomics and performance, with major gains made in both categories as a result.
Of course, some of the weight of modern flagships is in service of better performance, which leads to my second point. By spinning off ergonomics-focused phones into their own category, phone makers will be freer to specialize their flagships for power and slim phones for portability. We saw a similar thing happen with folding phones and multitasking – most slab devices don’t focus on the ability to run multiple apps despite having plenty of screen space, as this is handled better by booklet-style foldables. We could soon see a split between ergonomics and performance, with major gains made in both categories as a result.
The reasons I’ve explained above might mean more to the user experience, but I also commend Samsung for simply doing something different. From a personal perspective, I just like it when phone makers get weird. We’re in a time of design hegemony; each phone is a rounded rectangle with a great display, cameras, battery – the works. The S25 Edge harkens back to the days of the original Oppo Find X, with its pop-out camera, the swivel-screened LG Wing, or even the colorful iPhone 5c, by just being a bit unusual.
So, there we have it. The S25 Edge might be a little rough around the, well, edges when it launches, but with enough consumer support, I think it could springboard new innovations for the smartphone market. I’m not giving Samsung carte blanche to put out a lackluster phone – I’d rather see the Edge gain a place on our list of the best Samsung phones – but I’m willing to forgive a misstep or two if it means witnessing the start of something genuinely new.
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jamie.richards@futurenet.com (Jamie Richards)
