New leaks are strongly suggesting that Samsung's latest Galaxy S25 Fan Edition (FE) is blurring the lines between its budget-friendly and premium flagship tiers, at least visually. Ironically, it's the adequate specifications on the inside and the $800 price point that may turn off potential buyers.
According to an accidentally-revealed sales listing from British supermarket chain Tesco, the Galaxy S25 FE is shaping up to be a true doppelgänger of the
more expensive Galaxy S25+. Accompanying renders from the leak show a sleek, flat-framed design with a triple-camera layout on the back, aesthetically pointing to the company's current crop of S25 phones. The device sports a 6.7-inch dynamic AMOLED display with a 2340x1080 resolution, the same as the S24 FE. Nonetheless, it looks like Samsung has trimmed the bezels down even more to give the device a more premium, edge-to-edge look.
While the design is winning praise, the internal components are sparking a debate. Apparently, Samsung is playing it safe (or keeping costs in check) by giving the S25 FE the merely
adequate Exynos 2400e (eight cores running at up to 2.8GHz), which essentially makes the new device a Galaxy S24 FE in a new body.
Other reported aspects of the phone that we now know about include a 4,900mAh battery, a small upgrade from the S24 FE and thus matching the capacity of the S25+. It will also reportedly support 45W wired and 15W wireless charging.
For photography, the S25 FE is expected to stick with a familiar triple-camera setup, including a 50-megapixel primary with optical image stabilization, a 12MP ultrawide lens, and an 8MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. The only notable change seems to be a slight bump to a 12MP selfie camera (from 10MP), a small but welcome improvement.
So what do you think? Given the upscale looks akin to its flagship stablemates, but same processor and other specs that represent barely a blip on the upgrade radar, would you call the latest Fan Edition a true affordable flagship or just a mid-range phone with a
premium design?
Whatever you want to classify it as, Samsung's Galaxy S25 FE is expected to launch in September or October for about $800 running
Android 16 with One UI 8 out of the box.
Photo credits: Samsung via Tesco