Samsung announced the Galaxy S25 FE this week, a more affordable variant of its flagship S-series. Also new this week are flagship tablets, the Galaxy Tab S11 and Tab S11 Ultra. Let’s have a look at what kind of offers are available.
There’s no pre-order for the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE, the phone went on sale immediately. You can pick up a unit right now with a free storage upgrade (128GB to 256GB) and a $100 Amazon Gift Card.
Just last week, the Galaxy S24 FE was down to $460 for the base 8/128GB model. However, those offers have dried up. They may come back if there’s enough stock, but is the older model worth it?
Samsung shaved 23g off the weight of the new FE and 0.6mm off the thickness (to 190g and 7.4mm). At the same time, the company increased the battery capacity to 4,900mAh (+200mAh). Not just that, wired charging rate was boosted to 45W (0-65% in 30 min, compared to 0-50% in 30 min on the old FE) and wireless to 25W (up from 25W and 15W, respectively). Also, the regular Exynos 2400 chipset (instead of the 2400e) has higher clock speeds.
Alternatively, you could look at the Galaxy S25+, but there are no offers on that model this week either.
Instead, we turn to the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, which has a sizable discount. The 12/256GB model is $50 more than the S25 FE – $150 more if you count the gift card.
The S25 Edge is even thinner and lighter (163g, 5.8mm), though with a 3,900mAh battery (1,000mAh less than the FE). However, the 6.7” display has a higher resolution (1440p+ vs. 1080p+) and is an LTPO panel. And instead of last year’s Exynos 2400, the Edge has this year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. The Edge has a dual camera setup with a 200MP main that is also tasked with zooming in – the S25 FE has a 50MP main and an 8MP 3x/75mm telephoto lens.
A cheaper Samsung with a 6.7” 1080p+ OLED display (non-LTPO) is the Galaxy A56. Its Exynos 1580 is no match for the 2400, however. Also, it misses the dedicated telephoto camera, keeping only a 50MP main and a 12MP ultra-wide. The 5,000mAh battery supports 45W wired charging, but lacks wireless. Still, even with the $100 gift card, the S25 FE is $50 more expensive than the A56.
The OnePlus 13R has been holding at $500 for quite a while now. It uses last year’s flagship chip, but it’s a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. And its 6.78” display is a higher resolution 1268p+ LTPO panel. There’s a dedicated telephoto camera, a 50MP 2x/47mm module. The battery is larger and faster (6,000mAh, 80W), but there’s no wireless charging support.
There’s another FE phone, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 FE. We’ve seen it as low as $700 for 8/128GB and $760 for 8/256GB, though it’s at MSRP this week. This model also uses the Exynos 2400 chipset and has a 6.7” 1080p+ LTPO OLED display. Flip phones are more compact than rigid phones with the same size screen. Battery capacity is an issue, though – this one has a 4,000mAh battery with 25W wired and 15W wireless charging.
For a cheap flip, the Motorola Razr 2025 is down to $600. It features a 6.9” inner display and 3.6” cover display (a bit bigger than the 3.4” on the Z Flip7 FE). It’s let down by the Dimensity 7400X chipset, but it has a larger 4,500mAh battery with 30W wired and 15W wireless charging.
Also from Motorola is the Edge (2025). This one has a 6.7” OLED display (1220p+) and unlike many of the phones above, it does have a dedicated telephoto camera (10MP 3x/73mm) plus 50MP main and 50MP ultra-wide. The battery is 5,200mAh with fast 68W wired and 15W wireless charging. The Edge is powered by the Dimensity 7400 Ultra chipset.
Moving over to tablets, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 is an 11” slate powered by the Dimensity 9400+. As you may remember, the Tab S10 generation lacked an 11” model – it only had a 12.4” Plus tablet. Well, the Tab S11 generation lacks a Plus model.
We didn’t see any good deals on the larger 14.6” Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, we’ll check again next week.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy Tab S10+ is still around and costs more than the Tab S11. As mentioned above, it has a larger display, however, it also uses an older chipset – the Dimensity 9300+.
The previous flagship 11” slate was the Galaxy Tab S9. Being two years old, it is now $130 less than the Tab S11. However, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has fallen off compared to current Dimensity 9000-series chips.
If you want something even cheaper, there is the Galaxy Tab S10 FE and Tab S10 FE+ duo with 10.9” and 13.1” IPS LCDs (90Hz instead of 120Hz). These use the mid-range Exynos 1580 chipset, however, so even the old Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is faster.
There’s also the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Lite with a 10.9” LCD (90Hz). This one is cheaper than the Tab S10 FE, but uses the even older Exynos 1380. Seeing how the price difference is only $80 between these two, we’re leaning towards the FE tablet.
We may get a commission from qualifying sales.
Source link
