I lived with Samsung’s worst 2025 Android phone for a year. Here’s why I’m finally giving up

Brady Snyder / Android AuthorityThree months after Samsung launched the three mainline Galaxy S25 models, it followed up with a fourth offering: the Galaxy S25 Edge. By all indications, Samsung released the ultra-thin Galaxy S25 Edge to get ahead of the iPhone Air, and it almost worked. The Galaxy S25 Edge came with better specs and fewer compromises than the iPhone Air, but one year later, Samsung’s slim flagship has no successor in sight. It’s easily the brand’s worst phone of 2025, and seems destined to be forgotten as a quirky flop.I bought the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge in cash, with no promotions or discounts, and used it for the last year. Whenever I wasn’t reviewing a new Android phone, the Galaxy S25 Edge was my daily driver. I still love the concept, but I struggled to live with Samsung’s execution.The Galaxy S25 Edge has critical flaws that make it a worse thin phone than the iPhone Air, and I can’t overlook them anymore. When AT&T offered me a free Galaxy Z Fold 8 in exchange for my Galaxy S25 Edge, I took it and ran.Do you think Samsung should make another Edge?0 votesThe Galaxy S25 Edge’s screen and battery doomed itBrady Snyder / Android AuthorityI really enjoy thin phones, but understand I’m in the minority. I prefer to carry a slimmer device with a smaller battery and fewer cameras than lug around a thicker phone with hardware I’d rarely use. That’s why the Galaxy S25 Edge caught my attention in the first place. It packed flagship specs, such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip and the same 200MP primary camera as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, in a 5.8mm chassis. My favorite part was the Galaxy S25 Edge’s weight — a 6.7-inch Android phone weighing just 163 grams is almost unheard of.If I could narrow down the Galaxy S25 Edge’s problems to a single component, it’d be the battery. I can’t get the Galaxy S25 Edge to last a full day, regardless of how long I let One UI learn my habits or how much I conserve charge. A midday or evening charge is required for this phone, and it’s not uncommon for me to burn through three charge cycles on long travel days. The 3,900mAh battery capacity just isn’t large enough to power the flagship processor and display.Absolutely everyone warned me about this before I bought the Galaxy S25 Edge, but I must stress that it didn’t have to be this way. Samsung could’ve designed the Galaxy S25 Edge from the ground up, selecting components that were optimized for the form factor. Instead, it pulled components from the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra and mixed them together for the Galaxy S25 Edge. The result is a phone with incredible specs on paper, but without the battery required to power them.Brady Snyder / Android AuthorityThe Galaxy S25 Edge’s 6.7-inch AMOLED screen is the exact same QHD+ panel used in the Galaxy S25 Plus, complete with 2,600 nits of peak brightness. The two phones have the same processor and the same amount of memory. The key difference is that the Galaxy S25 Plus has a 4,900mAh battery, whereas the Galaxy S25 Edge has a 3,900mAh battery. The large display draws just as much power on the Galaxy S25 Edge, and yet it has a much smaller battery to work with.I suspect that the large, overpowered screen and power-hungry Snapdragon 8 Elite chip are responsible for the Galaxy S25 Edge’s battery woes. After all, the base Galaxy S25’s battery is only 100mAh larger than the Edge’s, and I get all-day battery life out of that phone. That’s likely because the Galaxy S25’s screen is smaller and runs at a lower resolution, so it requires less battery to run.If Samsung chose modest specs for the Galaxy S25 Edge, the battery life might not have been an issue. I’m now looking at the high-capacity silicon-carbon batteries in Samsung’s new lineup of foldables, and I’m incredibly jealous. A thin Galaxy with tweaked specs and a silicon-carbon battery could be the perfect thin phone, but instead, the Galaxy S25 Edge’s poor battery life has pushed me to my breaking point.Samsung’s flop doesn’t mean thin phones are pointlessBrady Snyder / Android AuthoritySamsung’s weak effort isn’t a confirmation that ultra-slim phones shouldn’t exist. As a passionate supporter of thin phones, I also bought an iPhone Air, and it completely avoids the pitfalls that doomed the Galaxy S25 Edge. Apple used a much smaller 3,149mAh battery in the iPhone Air, and it consistently delivers all-day battery life. I’m sure Apple’s superb battery optimization is partly responsible, but it’s also because the iPhone Air has the right hardware.For the chip, Apple used a binned version of its A19 Pro processor with one fewer graphics core than the iPhone 17 Pro chip. It also equipped the iPhone Air with a smaller, 6.5-inch display that the phone’s small battery could comfortably power. Thanks to MagSafe, I can throw the iPhone Air on a magnetic charger and get 50% battery in 30 minutes. Or, I can use a MagSafe battery pack to wirelessly charge the iPhone Air while using it.It’s easy to keep the iPhone Air charged, and with intermittent MagSafe top-ups, the phone almost always makes it a full day. Without built-in Qi2 magnets, the Galaxy S25 Edge isn’t as convenient to recharge. I could add a MagSafe case to unlock the Galaxy S25 Edge’s Qi2 Ready functionality, but that would defeat the point of owning a 5.8mm phone in the first place.Apple and Samsung approached the thin phone concept differently. I couldn’t be happier with my iPhone Air experience, and plan to use it for years to come. Samsung didn’t execute the Galaxy S25 Edge as well, so I’m getting ready to trade it in at an AT&T store.The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the perfect replacementBrady Snyder / Android AuthorityThe decision to give up on the Galaxy S25 Edge wasn’t an easy one. It’s still my favorite Samsung phone design, and I’m going to miss how thin and light it felt. I didn’t think I could give it up until AT&T offered me a free Galaxy Z Fold 8 in exchange for my Galaxy S25 Edge. It was my way out, and the deal was too good to pass up. I spent about $1,100 on the Galaxy S25 Edge one year ago, and I’m getting a brand-new $1,900 foldable just for trading it in.Of course, carrier deals come with lots of fine print, and I need to keep my cellular service active for the next three years to get all the credits. Since I’m getting rid of a phone I became increasingly frustrated with and gaining value in the process, it’s worth it. Making the switch from the Galaxy S25 Edge to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 isn’t as big of a leap as you might think.The Galaxy Z Fold 8 isn’t as thin or as light as the Galaxy S25 Edge, but its short 5.5-inch cover screen is easier to maneuver. That solves a major problem I had with the Galaxy S25 Edge. Although it was small in terms of thickness, the phone was in no way compact.Brady Snyder / Android AuthorityI’m already getting much better battery life on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 with its 4,800mAh capacity, and charging sessions are quicker at 45W wired and 20W wireless. The 50MP main camera sounds like a downgrade at first, but the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s sensor uses larger pixels than the Galaxy S25 Edge’s, so it’s not that simple. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip is a clear upgrade, and the 7.6-inch folding display is great for both content consumption and basic smartphone tasks.It’s no surprise that a $1,900 foldable is better than a thin phone with plenty of compromises. The shock was that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 scratched my small phone itch better than the Galaxy S25 Edge, with fewer drawbacks. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is nearly 35mm shorter and thinner when unfolded, at 4.5mm. I’m selectively choosing measurements that favor the Fold 8, yes, but they’re the ones that are most impactful. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 comfortably fits in my pocket when shut due to its shorter form factor, and it feels thin when I open it up and start using it.I’d still love to see Samsung make a thin phone the right way, with a larger silicon-carbon battery and a smaller screen. Until then, my Galaxy S25 Edge experiment ends after a year of low battery warnings and wondering what could’ve been.Thank you for being part of our community. 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