Let’s start with the obvious: Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is an impressive thin phone. I have held its 5.8 mm chassis in my hand and wondered about his swelter titanium frame, but if I am honest, its lure became somewhat muted to me of what I thought was a shining deficit at first: the lack of a real telecommunications lens.
But after spending some time with the new Android hand set and evaluating its unusual set of features, I see things a little different and I think consumers will eventually.
First of all here is what you get camera in the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge:
On the front is a 12MP wide-angle-self-camera that has somewhat surprisingly a 5-degree wider field of view than any other Galaxy S25 phone (85 degrees as opposed to 80 degrees fov). Do you have more friends who want to collect ’round and ogle your ultra-skin phone? Now you can get them all into the frame.
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It is the rear camera array where things get interesting. First you have the 12MP Ultrawide camera (120 FOV). This lens can hold dramatic wide-angle images and macro photography and, as I see it, is the table effort for any good flagship camera system.
The remaining lens is the most impressive S25 Edge. It is essentially the same 200MP sensor that you find at $ 1,299.99 / £ 1,249 / AU $ 2,149 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Filling that lens in a phone that shares many of its specifications with the basic galaxy S25 Plus is unexpected and quite a performance when considering this is a 5.8 mm, 163-gram smartphone.
Not surprised then relieved
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Even before I first saw the S25 edge personally, and long before I learned the full spec sheet, I assumed the phone would not include a decent telecommunications lens. After all, there is certainly not enough room for a perikop that needs a prism, a right angle and enough space to accommodate the optical zoom technology. However, when I learned the Galaxy S25 edge would start at $ 1,099.99 / £ 1,099 / AU $ 1,849 without any kind of tele lens I was disappointed.
The 200MP sensor has changed my perspective, not only because it is an excellent camera that you use to shoot mostly high quality photos (usually in the 12MP or 50MP series), but because of what you can do with that sensor to create a zoom effect.
“2x optical zoom quality” is how Samsung describes what you get with the S25 edge. What this means is that the phone in 2x zoom mode shoots the phone in the full 200MP resolution of the main cameras sensor, then crops it the best pixels to a “zoom”. The great thing about this is that Samsung does not manipulate pixels, as it does with the 10x digital zoom. This is all pure crafted pixels, which essentially makes it feel like you were twice as close to your topic.
Zoom versus useful compromise
I’m not lying. I always prefer more optical zoom. I loved the old 10x optical in the Galaxy S23 Ultra, even though it was only 10MP and I trust the 5x optical zoom lens on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It is also worth noting that Apple is doing a similar bit of sensor cut for the 2x zoom series on its pro cameras.
Look at
However, what the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge offers is a good compromise. The phone is not just a stretched and squeezed Galaxy S25. It is a hybrid that melts a beautiful thin design with the best sensor in the S25 lineup, a shared only by the more expensive ultra.
So while I miss the bigger zoom, I think the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge may have found a photography hit. Of course, I know for sure when we test the phone.
