I got my daughter a Galaxy S25 FE, and now I’m questioning why I bother with flagships

My daughter has had the Galaxy S22 for years now and has taken nice care of it. Sadly, even essentially the most cautious cellphone proprietor isn’t resistant to accidents, and her cellphone was bumped out of her fingers, the place it fell to its premature dying.

I determined she wanted a substitute, however we agreed it didn’t essentially have to be a top-tier flagship. We settled on the Galaxy S25 FE ($534.99 at Samsung), which I was capable of get for beneath $500. From the second we set it up, I observed how acquainted this cellphone felt to my personal Galaxy S24, inside and out. After setting it up, I didn’t dwell on it a lot till about a week or two later, when I requested my daughter if she was okay with the cellphone nonetheless. Her response was that, if something, it felt like a huge improve over her Galaxy S22 by way of battery life, and she appreciated the bigger show.

This got me curious. Might this maintain as much as my Galaxy S24, and even the Galaxy S25 Edge I use as a backup system? After begging her to change telephones for a week, I jumped in to see how it might evaluate. By the point I was accomplished, I was satisfied that my days of shopping for the newest flagships would possibly simply be over.

If I’m sincere, there wasn’t a single factor that received me over, but it surely was actually a mixture of things. First, let’s speak about day-to-day efficiency. It’s true the Galaxy S25 FE has simply 8GB of RAM (vs 12GB) and a weaker Exynos processor that isn’t technically on the identical web page as a high-end Snapdragon chip, however don’t assume meaning you’ll discover a huge distinction.

Each sport, app, and expertise I ran on the Galaxy S25 FE felt as clean and fluid as my Galaxy S24, virtually throughout the board. Even within the uncommon cases the place I may inform a obscure distinction, similar to throughout heavy hundreds, it was lower than there was a true efficiency situation, and extra as a result of I was attempting arduous to search out a fault.

Likewise, the digital camera expertise was significantly better than I anticipated. To be truthful, I’m not a lot of a digital camera snob. I largely simply need one thing that works properly sufficient with out a ton of fuss, however the footage don’t have to be good.

Fortunately, the Galaxy S25 FE is greater than able to a respectable digital camera expertise, simply bear in mind it received’t be fairly to the identical degree as a high-end Samsung flagship. Nonetheless, you may get fairly shut for those who take a few further pictures from completely different angles, so that you guarantee you’ve got a good shot. Enhancing and AI instruments may assist a lot.

What actually impressed me was the battery life. Whereas Galaxy flagships have seen improved battery life over time, I nonetheless discover my Galaxy S24 struggles to achieve far more than six or seven hours of screen-on time. My Galaxy S25 Edge carried out equally right here as properly. In distinction, the Galaxy S25 FE has a 3,900mAh battery that was capable of make it to round eight or 9 hours with out situation.

This may not look like a huge change, but it surely means I’m a lot much less prone to have to cost my cellphone earlier than mattress than I was with the Galaxy S24. Lastly, I was additionally drawn to the larger show. I personally favor bigger telephones, however I by no means felt the Plus sequence was definitely worth the premium.

Now I get a 6.7-inch AMOLED show over the 6.2-inch display screen on my Galaxy S24, which appears to be like and works nice. Admittedly, the brightness ranges aren’t almost as excessive, but it surely by no means felt like a main drawback both.

After a week with the cellphone, I was most impressed that nothing main actually felt “lacking”. Positive, there have been issues I knew my Galaxy S24 was technically stronger at, however except I centered arduous and nitpicked, none of this made a main distinction in my expertise. Finally, the Galaxy S25 FE felt much less like a notable downgrade to the Galaxy S24 and extra like a sidegrade. Some issues had been higher for me, some issues worse.

I got here to the conclusion that I was clinging to one thing I now not actually wanted. The reality is, I was once a true energy person, and it was simpler to justify the prices then. In 2026, I would possibly nonetheless cling to the id, however that doesn’t imply I actually want extra out of a cellphone anymore.  I don’t mess with rooting anymore. I stopped utilizing customized ROMs years in the past, and even my customizations and tweaks to the OS are pretty minimal today.

There’s actually just one purpose to get a high-end flagship for me anymore, and that’s bragging rights and perceived standing. As I grow old, I discover that issues little or no to me. My job will all the time require me to have some familiarity and hands-on expertise with newer flagships, however I will definitely suppose twice earlier than spending my cash on a high-end cellphone going ahead. If my wants change, I may ultimately need or demand extra, however for now, I don’t see this altering anytime quickly.