Today we are going to have a very long and deep journey into the world of Samsung’s Fan Edition phones, or FE. Many of you are probably at a crossroads right now, whether to buy the Galaxy S24 FE, which is now at a balanced price in the market, or wait and spend more for the Galaxy S25 FE, which is fresh and full of promise?
Before we get to the technical comparison, let’s see why the FE series exists at all. Samsung saw that the S series had become too expensive and the A series, although good, lacked that sense of luxury and absolute power. So it came up with the Fan Edition series to remove a number of very luxurious features (like titanium body material or 100x zoom cameras), and give people a phone that has a Porsche engine but a Toyota body! Now the question is; has the S25 FE been able to execute this formula better than the S24 FE? Let’s see.
Design comparison between the Samsung S25 FE and S24 FE
One of the first things you notice when you hold the phone in your hand is its weight and ergonomics. And let me tell you right away: the difference between the S24 FE and the S25 FE in this area is huge!
The Galaxy S24 FE was a heavy phone. Weighing 213 grams and 8.0 mm thick, it felt like you were holding a piece of luxury brick in your hand. This weight may not be too strange for a 6.7-inch phone, but when you were working with it for a long time, your wrists would get tired.
But with the S25 FE, Samsung seems to have heard the complaints of users and put this phone on a strict diet. The result? The phone weighs 190 grams and its thickness is 7.4 mm. You might say that 23 grams is nothing, but believe me, in the mobile world, 23 grams is the difference between “Oh my hand is tired” and “What a good phone!” The S25 FE is now the thinnest and lightest FE phone to date, and it feels like the S Plus series when you hold it in your hand.
Another area where the S24 FE was a bit of a letdown was the thick bezels around the display. The 2.44mm bezels seemed a bit too much for 2024, making the phone look a bit dated. But with the S25 FE, Samsung has gone all out and reduced the bezels to 1.99mm. This reduction in bezels means that while the display size remains the same at 6.7 inches, the overall dimensions of the phone are smaller and the screen-to-body ratio is higher. That means you get the same big picture, but in a more compact body.
Both phones are made of a combination of glass and metal, which gives them a premium feel. Both the S24 FE and the S25 FE use Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both the front and back. This means you can rest assured that you’ll be protected from scratches and bumps (although I always recommend getting a case!).
The frame around the phones is aluminum, but there’s one small difference. The S25 FE uses a type of Enhanced Armor Aluminum that Samsung claims is more resistant to scratches and bumps than the standard aluminum on the S24 FE. Both phones are IP68 certified, meaning they can survive up to 1.5 meters of water for up to half an hour. So if your phone falls into a pitcher of water, don’t worry!
Samsung S25 FE vs. S24 FE Screen Comparison
Okay, folks, let’s get to one of the most important parts of any smartphone: the screen. On paper, you might think these two phones have the same screen, but let me tell you, there’s a big technical difference hidden beneath the skin of these panels.
Both phones use a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels (+FHD). The pixel density is about 385 pixels per inch, which is quite sharp and high-quality. So far, everything is equal. Both support HDR10+, which means that colors in high-quality movies are vivid and have excellent contrast.
Here’s the main difference! The Galaxy S24 FE has a 120 Hz refresh rate, which is adaptive, but not in the advanced sense. The phone can switch between 60 and 120 Hz.
But the Galaxy S25 FE is equipped with LTPO technology. What does this mean? This means that the display of this phone can intelligently and momentarily lower the refresh rate to 1 Hz!
Why is this important? Imagine that you are reading a text or looking at a photo. In the S24 FE, the screen is probably refreshing at 60 times per second, which consumes battery. But on the S25 FE, the display senses that the image is still and drops the refresh rate to 1Hz. This significantly reduces the display’s battery drain. So while the battery capacity isn’t huge, it does improve battery life (which we’ll get to later).
Samsung claims a maximum brightness of 1900 nits for both phones. But in actual lab tests, the results are a bit different.
- S24 FE: In auto mode, it hits around 1372 nits.
- S25 FE: In tests, it hit around 1247 nits.
You might be wondering why the newer model is so much brighter? Look, these numbers may vary depending on the testing conditions and the type of content, but overall both phones perform great in direct sunlight, and Samsung’s Vision Booster feature helps to keep colors and contrast from fading in sunlight. In practice, your eyes won’t notice much of a difference between the two, and they’re both great.
Samsung S25 FE vs S24 FE Battery Comparison
This is where the S25 FE really shines and makes up for one of the biggest weaknesses of the previous generation.
- S24 FE: 4,700 mAh battery.
- S25 FE: 4,900 mAh battery.
An increase of 200 mAh may seem small, but remember when I said that the S25 FE has an LTPO display and consumes less power? Its chipset has also been optimized. Combining this larger battery with lower-power components has made the S25 FE’s charging performance noticeably better. In active use tests, the S25 FE lasted for about 11 hours and 57 minutes, which is great. In practice, with normal to heavy use, it will easily last a full day and you may still have 20% charge at the end of the night.
The Galaxy S24 FE supports 25W charging. It takes about 80 minutes to fully charge, which is really slow in 2025. But the Galaxy S25 FE finally has 45W fast charging. The 0-100 time may not be much different (about 10-15 minutes faster), but the important thing is the emergency charging. In the first half hour, the S25 FE charges a much higher percentage. For example, if you are in a hurry and the phone is turned off, you can use the S25 FE for several hours by charging it for 10 minutes, but the S24 FE will charge less in this time.
Both phones have 15W wireless charging. There was a rumor that the S25 FE would have a magnet (like the iPhone’s MagSafe), but after the phone was released, we saw that the phone itself does not have a magnet. But it supports the Qi2 standard, provided that you buy special magnetic cases for it (Qi2 Ready Cases). So if you want to use MagSafe chargers, you should definitely get a magnetic case for the S25 FE.
Camera Performance Comparison of the S25 FE and S24 FE
On paper, the rear cameras haven’t changed much, but the selfie camera is a completely different story. The rear camera setup is the same on both phones:
- Main camera: 50MP with optical image stabilization (OIS).
- Ultra-wide camera: 12MP.
- Telephoto camera: 8MP with 3x optical zoom.
The quality of the photos on both phones is excellent. The S24 FE already has one of the best cameras in its price range. But the S25 FE takes more mature photos thanks to the more powerful image processor (ISP) of the Exynos 2400 chipset and Samsung’s new processing engine (ProVisual Engine).
In a close comparison, the S25 FE captures colors a little more vivid and natural, and does a better job at managing high light (HDR). But it’s interesting to know that in some night tests, the S24 FE’s telephoto camera performed a bit better. Overall, if you have an S24 FE, there’s no need to upgrade to the S25 FE for the main camera because the difference isn’t revolutionary.
But let’s get to the front camera. The S24 FE uses a 10-megapixel sensor, which is good, but not great. But the S25 FE has come up with a new 12-megapixel sensor. The difference isn’t just in megapixels! The new S25 FE sensor has a wider viewing angle, captures much better facial details, and shows more natural skin tones. If you’re a big fan of posting stories on Instagram or making lots of video calls, the S25 FE is definitely the winner in this category. The quality of selfie videos is also better on the new model, with less noise in low light.
Both phones can record 8K at 30 frames per second. Another interesting feature is 4K recording at 60 frames per second on all cameras, which gives you a lot of freedom for content creation. The digital and optical image stabilization on both phones work great, and the videos are completely smooth and cinematic.
Hardware Comparison of Samsung S25 FE and S24 FE
This is where the hot technical debate begins. Samsung has always been controversial about Exynos chipsets. Many are fans of Snapdragon, but let’s take a closer look and see what these two brothers have in store.
The Galaxy S24 FE uses the Exynos 2400e chipset. That e at the end indicates that this is a modified version. The frequency of the Cortex-X4 core in this model is set to 3.1 GHz. Samsung’s goal was to better control temperature and battery consumption. Now the Galaxy S25 FE has come and removed the full version of the Exynos 2400 and replaced it with its own. In this version, the core operates at a frequency of 3.2 GHz.
Is this 100 MHz a big difference? In everyday tasks like browsing Instagram and WhatsApp? No, you wouldn’t notice it at all. But in heavy games and benchmarks, the S25 FE is a cut above.
Q AnTuTu benchmark: Galaxy S24 FE scores around 1.5 million. The S25 FE scores higher due to the higher clock speed and optimizations, bringing it closer to the flagships of the S24 and S25 series.
One of the perennial problems with powerful chipsets is heat generation. In order for the S25 FE to handle the full power of the Exynos 2400, Samsung has made the cooling system (Vapor Chamber) 14% larger.
This is a very important point, because a more powerful chipset generates more heat, and if it cannot cool down, it will reduce its performance. With this larger cooling system, the S25 FE can work at maximum power for longer periods of time and provide more stable frame rates in long games like Call of Duty or Genshin Impact. Of course, there were early reports that the S25 FE’s initial software was a bit aggressive in temperature management and quickly limited performance, but it is expected that this issue will be completely resolved with updates and the potential of that large cooler will be used.
The RAM issue is perhaps the only place where we have a little complaint about Samsung. Both phones are released with 8 GB of RAM. In 2025, when artificial intelligence is taking over everything, we expected at least the 256 GB model of the S25 FE to have 12 GB of RAM, but unfortunately, there is no news. Internal memory is also available in 128, 256 and 512 GB models (for the S25 FE) and there is no memory card slot (MicroSD) in either. So when buying, be careful what memory you buy because it is no longer upgradeable.
Comparison of the software of the S25 FE with the Samsung S24 FE
Samsung has made quite a splash with its own artificial intelligence with the Galaxy AI brand, and these two phones are not far behind.
Updates; Long-term investment
- Galaxy S24 FE: Comes with Android 14 and will receive updates for 7 years (i.e. until Android 21 and 2031).
- Galaxy S25 FE: Comes with Android 16 and One UI 8. This means that this phone will also receive updates for 7 years, but since it comes with newer Android, it will receive Android 23 until 2032. In fact, by buying the S25 FE, you will have an extra year of peace of mind regarding the software.
Both phones have all the features of Samsung’s artificial intelligence: - Circle to Search: Google will find whatever you circle around.
- Live Translate: Simultaneously translate calls (which is great for international calls).
- Generative Edit: Remove extra people from photos or move them.
P Gemini Live: The S25 FE has deeper integration with the Google Assistant (Gemini) and you can talk to it much more easily and naturally. Thanks to the S25 FE’s more powerful NPU, AI processing on the device is faster and you need less internet connection
Comparing the speaker performance of the S25 FE to the Samsung S24 FE
Something interesting happened in the audio department.
- S24 FE: Louder (around -24.6 LUFS).
- S25 FE: Slightly quieter (-25.6 LUFS), but the quality is better. What does that mean? The S25 FE has better sound separation, clearer vocals, and punchier bass. It’s as if Samsung has tuned the audio to be better, even if it’s a little bit louder. For listening to music in a quiet room, the S25 FE is a more enjoyable experience.
Which one should I buy between s24 fe and s25 fe?
So, let’s get to the point. Which one should I buy? This question is much more complicated, especially in the market where the dollar price and price bubbles play an important role.
Buy the Galaxy S25 FE if:
- You love sleek and lightweight phones: This phone weighs 190 grams and has a really good thickness.
- Charging speed is important to you: 45W support is a blessing for busy days.
- You want your phone to be up to date until 2032: Android 16 and 7 years of updates means a lifetime of the phone.
- You are a selfie and content creator: The 12MP front camera has much better quality.
- You are a gamer: The more powerful chipset and larger cooling and LTPO screen provide a better gaming experience.
Buy the Galaxy S24 FE if:
- You are looking for value: You can buy it at a reasonable price.
- Your budget: The technical difference between the two phones is not enough to put a lot of pressure on yourself financially. The S24 FE still does 90% of the things that the S25 FE does well.
- The main camera is important to you: In photography with the rear camera, the difference is small.
- The weight of the phone is not important to you: If you don’t mind the 213 grams weight, this phone is still a giant.
Look, the Galaxy S25 FE is undoubtedly the better phone. Samsung has fixed almost all the shortcomings of the previous generation (heavy weight, thick bezels, slow charging) and created a complete phone. This phone is practically a cheaper S25 Plus.
But the Galaxy S24 FE has now become a golden option for those who want to have a flagship experience at a lower cost.
If it were me and money were not an issue for me, I would definitely choose the S25 FE just for the convenience and the LTPO screen. But if I have to think economically, the S24 FE is an option that I don’t regret. I hope this comparison has been useful to you and you can make the best choice. If you have any questions, ask them so we can review them together. Thank you for being with us so far!