The era of super-skinny phones is here. Beating Apple, which is expected to announce the “iPhone 17 Air” this fall, Samsung used its virtual Unpacked event today to share full details about its own ultra-thin phone, the Galaxy S25 Edge.
Announced at the end of the Galaxy S25 series launch in January, the S25 Edge has been captivating everyone with its slim design. At 5.8mm thick (not counting the camera bump, because why would any sensible company count that?), the S25 Edge is the thinnest Android phone that Samsung has ever made, just beating out its previous slimmest phone, the 5.9mm Galaxy A8 released in 2018. Just look at it—it’s nearly as thin as the USB-C port. Such a skinny phone won’t come cheap when it becomes available on May 30; pre-orders start on May 12. Samsung is asking for $1,099 for the base model with 256GB of storage ($1,219 for 512GB) just to have the privilege to rock a phone that’s 163g.
See Galaxy S25 Edge at Samsung.com
If you’ve been following the rumor mill, none of the tech specs I’m about to tell you will surprise you at all. Pretty much everything leaked was right on the money. The S25 Edge has a 120Hz 6.7-inch AMOLED display, a dual-lens camera system with a 200-megapixel main lens and 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and a 12-megapixel selfie camera. It’s also as durable as any other premium phone, with an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
The engine powering it all is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform for Galaxy. Samsung is selling two configurations: 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM with 512GB of storage. Despite its thin profile, the S25 Edge is packing a 3,900mAh battery. We’ll have to wait to see how sufficient that is, but on paper, that’s a smaller battery compared to the rest of the S25 family, which have 4,000mAh (S25), 4,900mAh (S25+), and 5,000mAh (S25 Ultra). The latest Apple tea leaves suggest the iPhone 17 Air’s battery will not last as long as the iPhone 17 and 17 Pros launching this fall. There is a silver lining: the S25 Edge supports fast wireless charging and reverse wireless charging (useful for charging wireless earbuds). I thought maybe Samsung might ditch both features to make the phone as thin as it could, but both are intact. Your move, Apple.
There’s also Galaxy AI—Samsung’s suite of generative AI features—littered throughout its One UI version of Android. Confirmed AI features include the “Now Brief,” which creates notifications and reminders based on your schedule and app usage, and “Now Bar,” which displays live updates and other bite-sized information on the S25 Edge’s lock screen (it’s kind of like the iPhone’s Dynamic Island, but more useful and located at the bottom of the screen). Other camera-centric generative AI features include “Drawing Assist,” which turns sketches into detailed illustrations, and “Audio Eraser,” which removes unwanted sounds like traffic noise in videos.
I haven’t held the S25 Edge in my hands yet, but I’m certain it’s thin enough to glide through cake. Is it worth risking your new $1,100 phone doing so? Certainly not, but somebody needs to do it… for science and probably a TikTok video. There’s also a legit concern about whether the S25 Edge will bend easily. I’m sure some YouTuber or influencer will try sitting on it in their back pocket. Until we get a review unit, what do you think about Samsung’s thinnest phone now that we know everything about it? Are the tradeoffs (smaller battery and fewer cameras) dealbreakers? I’m just glad it has two rear cameras instead of the iPhone 17 Air’s rumored single lens.