Samsung lastly took the wraps off the Galaxy S25 Edge, debuting the thinnest smartphone the corporate has made to this point. It is bought a surprising 6.7-inch AMOLED display screen, a 200MP primary digital camera on the again alongside a 12MP ultrawide digital camera, Corning Gorilla Armor 2 safety throughout, and the top-notch Snapdragon 8 Elite processing package deal inside for true flagship-tier efficiency.
And whereas it is available in an unbelievably skinny 5.8mm body and the incomparable One UI 7 powering the expertise, it has one main setback that is going to drive most of its customers loopy: a tiny battery and comparatively gradual charging.
You see, whereas Samsung’s software program expertise is really excellent and Galaxy AI is extra feature-rich than every other firm’s AI choices proper now, Samsung’s {hardware} staff remains to be utilizing outdated battery and charging tech. Whereas it may offset this with sooner charging tech, the corporate has proven that it is not keen to maintain up with the Joneses on this regard, both.
In the meantime, corporations like Honor and OnePlus are utilizing silicon-carbon batteries of their telephones and have been for years, in Honor’s case. Utilizing a silicon carbon anode permits these corporations to make denser batteries which are in a position to stand up to excessive temperatures, last more, and cost sooner than the common Li-Ion batteries Samsung makes use of.
Utilizing a silicon-carbon anode negates the swelling that would in any other case happen with pure silicon batteries — one thing Samsung by no means desires to have occur after the Galaxy Notice 7 — and makes it potential to extend the battery’s density by round 13%. Meaning Samsung may have put a 4,400mAh battery contained in the Galaxy S25 Edge if it used silicon carbon, whereas the Li-Ion battery contained in the cellphone is barely 3,900mAh.
Contemplating most trendy Android telephones sport batteries between 5,000mAh and 6,000mAh in capability, battery life on the S25 Edge is all however assured to be sub-par. Samsung confirmed to Android Central that the Galaxy S25 Edge’s battery is product of the identical supplies as the remainder of the S25 lineup. To be honest to Samsung, this battery is solely 100mAh smaller than the bottom Galaxy S25, and whereas battery life is not horrible on that cellphone, it is not wonderful, both.
A small battery is already a problem, however 25W charging from 2020 makes it even worse.
Samsung may offset the small battery with ultra-fast charging, however the firm does not appear to need to push that envelope, both. As a substitute, the S25 Edge maxes out at 25W. That is almost 1/3 of what Honor presents on the 4.4mm skinny Honor V3, for instance, which means there isn’t any probability to get a fast top-up in case you run out of juice midway by way of the day.
To make a very profitable ultra-thin flagship cellphone, an organization has to beat 4 primary pillars: processing energy and thermals, digital camera high quality, battery life, and charging velocity. Samsung appears to have nailed the primary two due to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, a thinner and broader warmth chamber, and a 200MP primary digital camera, however I’ve critical doubts concerning the remaining two necessities.
If almost every other Android producer made this cellphone — Vivo, Xiaomi, Honor, OnePlus, or Motorola — I believe they may have nailed all 4 and referred to as it a day. However Samsung’s worry of battery expertise and charging speeds is, as soon as once more, hamstringing the potential greatness of its newest flagship, and that is the actual disgrace of all of it.
