Samsung should have dumped the S25 Plus in favour of the S25 Edge

OPINION: Now that the all-new Samsung Galaxy S25 range has been unveiled, it’d be an understatement to say that the reception for these devices has been somewhat tepid given that they are incredibly incremental updates at best (aside from maybe the S25 Ultra), but there’s one question above all that keeps reappearing from the recesses of my mind: who is the Galaxy S25 Plus for?

I can understand how a phone like Samsung’s Galaxy Plus range comes to exist; after all, offering a larger version of your entry-level flagship device is something that almost every manufacturer has done at some point, but in 2025 it feels as if the landscape has changed to the point where the Galaxy S25 Plus isn’t really fit for purpose.

Who is the Galaxy S25 Plus for?

Right off the bat, I think it needs to be said that I don’t anticipate the Galaxy S25 Plus to be a bad phone per se. Even though it features very minor updates over last year’s S24 Plus, the phone certainly looks promising for its use of the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, alongside more robust Galaxy AI tools that should help users with day-to-day tasks.

My biggest issue is that, within the Galaxy S25 range, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Unlike the iPhone 16 Plus, which is priced at just £100/$100 more than the standard iPhone 16 and so becomes more of a tempting buy for those who want a larger display and better battery, the Galaxy S25 Plus has an eye-watering starting price of £999/$999, an increase of £200/$200 compared to the standard Galaxy S25.

Part of the reason for such a dramatic price increase is that the S25 Plus doesn’t have a 128GB model, which might sell for less, instead starting with 256GB of storage. There’s also a boosted QHD+ resolution and slightly faster 45W charging to help sweeten the deal. That might sound fair, but if you’re looking to fork out close to a grand for a smartphone, at that point, why not just opt for the Galaxy S25 Ultra which retails for £1249/$1299.

With Samsung’s highest-quality phone, you’re getting far more for your money: a more versatile camera system, a larger display, a bigger battery and a more robust titanium frame. That’s all before mentioning the included S Pen, which lets you use the S25 Ultra for note-taking and digital drawing.

Even if your budget is set is stone and you can’t go above the £1000/$1000 mark, you’ll find a more feature-packed Android experience on similarly large phones like last year’s Honor Magic 6 Pro, or this year’s OnePlus 13, the latter of which is even cheaper.

It all amounts to the Galaxy S25 Plus feeling like it’s in the smartphone equivalent of no-man’s land, and why I think Samsung should have ditched the device and replaced it outright with the Galaxy S25 Edge.

The Edge of something new?

At the time of writing, there’s very little we know about the Galaxy S25 Edge, but if the coverage since its unveiling is anything to go by, the phone has arguably drawn more interest than any of the devices within the S25 range.

There’s no mention of pricing, an intended launch window or even any detail of the specs, other than the fact that it’ll have two rear-facing cameras instead of three, and that it’s unbelievably slim. It’s similar to when Apple released the iPad Pro M4 wherein, despite having the most powerful M-series chipset at that time, it was the tablet’s ultra-thin frame that had people turning their heads.

Whether the S25 Edge turns out to be a great phone remains to be seen, but what is important is that it genuinely feels like a different value proposition to consumers against the standard S25.

It feels like a different phone altogether, while the S25 Plus’ identity is that of a stretched Galaxy S25, and to make matters worse, it just sits in a sea of other large-screen phones, destined to fade into the background after the initial launch period.

Given that Samsung’s generational updates are starting to feel stagnant as all focus is afforded to AI while hardware takes a backseat, the S25 Edge is exactly the type of product the company needs to get people excited again. Here’s hoping that for the inevitable S26 range, the Plus is graciously retired while the Edge becomes a staple product in Samsung’s arsenal.

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