I saw the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge at MWC 2025 – here are my first impressions
I couldn't care less about an ultra-thin phone if it's compromised
📱 I got to go “hands-on” with the Galaxy S25 Edge at MWC 2025
📅 The phone originally debuted at Unpacked alongside the Galaxy S25
📞 The demo I got was barely a demo - I just got to see it hanging on wires
🤏 Yes, it’s very thin, but it looks generic anyway
🤔 We don’t know when the S25 Edge is coming or how much it’ll cost
➡️ Check out all of our MWC 2025 coverage from Barcelona
When the Galaxy S25 Edge announcement happened, I was sitting at the Starbucks Reserve at the Empire State Building writing about it from afar, organizing photos taken by my boss who attended the Galaxy S25 launch event. But now I’m in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, and Samsung has brought its ultra-thin smartphone with it to its booth. I was surprised to see it at first, so I whipped out my camera to take some pics. My first and only impression? Yeah, it’s thin.
Galaxy S25 Edge is on full display at MWC 2025
The whole goal of the S25 Edge is to show off how thin Samsung can make a phone, all while squeezing in high-end specs and features. We still don’t have any official details on the device, but Samsung has once again shown off its design, and it’s admittedly pretty boring.
Yes, it’s true that I have spent zero time with this phone, and there’s a small chance my boss got yelled at for actually going “hands-on” with the suspended phones on display. But from afar, this phone looks like nothing more than a thin phone Samsung will eventually sell. There’s no externally facing advanced tech or other crazy features; instead, it has a big screen, two cameras on the back, and a thin profile.
At the very least, the phone will be roughly as thin and come with one additional camera compared to the iPhone 17 Air, which is rumored to arrive later this year. After seeing it in person, the S25 Edge seems to be well positioned for competing on a design level, and the extra camera will come in handy for those who don’t want to be stuck with one lens to take pictures with.
But beyond thinness, it’s unclear how the Galaxy S25 Edge will stand out. Rumor has it the specs will be pretty conventional with a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen, a Snapdragon 8 Elite, a 200MP rear camera, and a small-ish 4,000mAh battery. It’s unclear what Samsung will do to improve efficiency to accommodate for the slim form factor, and while the phone is definitely thin, it still looks like an S25, whose design is tired and borderline generic at this point.
Seeing the S25 Edge in person didn’t change the perception I had of the phone from afar: this is a weird device, and Samsung will have to answer a lot of questions about why it exists when it launches.
Max Buondonno is Editor at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.