The Galaxy S25 Edge is finally upon us, and I still don’t get what Samsung is doing here
This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
Did you know that the world's number one smartphone vendor is getting ready to unveil a new device with "unprecedented innovation"? That feels like something more tech enthusiasts should be aware of, and yet Samsung hasn't been able to build much buzz with its official scheduling of a "Beyond Slim" launch event for next Monday.
Notably (and oddly enough), this once highly anticipated Galaxy S25 Edge announcement is not technically labeled an "Unpacked" affair in a Samsung Newsroom post that somewhat surprisingly confirms one key detail about the impending phone... although the #GalaxyUnpacked hashtag is used on X.
It's almost like the company itself is not sure how much attention the fourth member of the Galaxy S25 family deserves, which has been precisely my feeling for several months now.
What exactly is the target audience?
Back in January, when the S25 Edge was still known by its placeholder Galaxy S25 Slim name, I asked three (rhetorical) questions that continue to baffle me and make it virtually impossible for me to justify this product's existence and be optimistic about its box-office prospects.
I'm not going to argue once again why Samsung is about to make two (potentially fatal) errors with the screen size and battery capacity of the Galaxy S25 Edge, but instead try to focus today on finding the elusive ideal buyer for this confusing Android flagship.
Will the S25 Edge stand out in any other way apart from its wasp waist? It doesn't look like it.
Who is the S25 Edge for? Given that its manufacturer felt comfortable revealing (or rather confirming) the megapixel count of this bad boy's primary rear-facing camera, I'm going to guess that shutterbugs will be among those targeted by Samsung's future advertising efforts.
But with the Galaxy S25 Edge likely to cost almost as much as the S25 Ultra, who would ever snub probably the best Android phone in the world in favor of a device that's so much humbler in so many different ways? We're talking about a handset with no stylus support, no telephoto (let alone periscope telephoto) camera, a poorer ultra-wide-angle lens, slower charging, and very likely, much worse battery life.
I know, I know, slim is in (as the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and even the Galaxy S26 family will probably prove in the relatively near future), but there has to be more about the Galaxy S25 Edge than its arguably impressively thin 5.9mm profile to justify a purchase at an expected price of $1,150 (!!!) or more.
Samsung says there is (because duh!), pompously claiming that the S25 Edge will "unlock a new era of growth for the mobile industry", but after sifting through pages and pages of leaked information these last few months, I'm definitely not convinced of all that. Which brings me to...
A losing marketing campaign
You may not remember this now, but the Galaxy S25 Edge was officially announced once before. That's right, this "embodiment of the ultimate camera experience" initially broke cover (official name and all) around three and a half months ago, when Samsung even showcased some (rough and likely non-functional) prototypes without letting anyone get very near to them, let alone try them out for size.
That was the beginning of a decidedly unorthodox (especially for Samsung) advertising campaign that unfortunately... didn't really go anywhere. Not until yesterday, that is, when the company scheduled an actual, conventional launch event for... less than a week later.
I don't know how familiar you are with other high-profile Galaxy product announcements, but the "original" S25 trio, for instance, had its launch date confirmed around two weeks ahead of time. This new approach, as well as the reported schedule revisions of the S25 Edge, strongly suggest (at least to me) that either this is not considered a device as high-profile as the S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra or Samsung simply doesn't know what to do with it.
Don't believe me? Then go ahead and take a look on the company's US website. What do you notice? That's right, no immediately eye-catching promotional Galaxy S25 Edge banner. If you scroll down a little or wait a couple of seconds for the dynamic images at the center of the webpage to change, that will appear, but as important as the Galaxy S25 Ultra is for Samsung's bottom line, it really feels like a new "breakthrough in precise engineering" should be given the spotlight at least from today to May 12 (May 13 in South Korea).
If not, I'm just going to have to assume that Samsung knows the phone is destined to fail, only going through with its release in a petty attempt to paint Apple as a trend follower when the iPhone 17 Air comes out in a few months.
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