Other Samsung Phones to Consider
If you don’t see a Samsung phone mentioned in this guide, that might be because it’s not sold in the US and is a little harder to source for testing. But here are a few other Samsung phones I’ve tested to consider.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge for $1,220: Have you ever wanted a really thin and lightweight phone? No? Well, Samsung has an option for you anyway. The Galaxy S25 Edge (6/10, WIRED Review) was a unique one-off last year (it’s doubtful we’ll see a successor) and matches several features of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, like a titanium frame, stronger front glass, and 4K 120 frames per second video recording. All the cameras even have autofocus. But it made several sacrifices to achieve its amazingly slim 5.8-mm frame (for context, the S25 Ultra is 8.2 mm thick). There’s no stylus, no telephoto camera, and worst of all, the battery capacity has been slashed. We’ve seen this before—thin phones have always compromised on battery life, and that’s no different here. I constantly had to baby this phone’s 3,900-mAh battery with mixed usage, and that’s just not acceptable. (The iPhone Air did it better.) If you find yourself constantly near a power source and think you’ll enjoy the slim and light design, then go for it.
Samsung Galaxy A17 5G for $200: On paper, the Galaxy A17 (5/10, WIRED Review) seems like a really great deal. Six years of software support, an AMOLED screen, expandable storage, and a decent camera. Unfortunately, it’s held back by lackluster performance. The problem is specifically the very limited 4 GB of RAM in the US model, which ruins the entire experience of using the phone. If you had to use your smartphone in an emergency, I would not trust the A17 to be reliable. But if your needs are extremely minimal, it may suffice.
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G for $350: The Galaxy A36 (6/10, WIRED Review) doesn’t quite measure up to its peers from Nothing and Motorola. Performance is just too choppy, and that’s not acceptable at this price. It’s manageable—it’s not so slow that it will frustrate—but you can do better. If your needs are very minimal, it’s an OK phone, and the camera system is good, with day-long battery life, a nice AMOLED screen, and 6 years of software updates. Samsung has announced the Galaxy A37, which got a $50 price hike, but will most likely perform better.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 or Galaxy Z Flip6: If you don’t want to pay a premium for a new folding phone, then consider 2024’s Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6 (7/10, WIRED Review). The Fold6 has a close to “normal” smartphone experience on the exterior 6.3-inch screen. Open the phone up, and there’s a vast 7.6-inch AMOLED screen staring at your face, turning this folding phone into a tiny tablet. The Flip6 isn’t as nice as the newer Flip7—the bigger and brighter cover screen on the latest model is a step up—but it’s worth considering over the new Galaxy Z Flip7 FE. Technically, it’s nearly identical to that phone, but the FE uses a Samsung Exynos chip instead of a Qualcomm processor, and performance may not be as smooth. The main drawback? Battery life isn’t great. Make sure you don’t pay MSRP for these 2024 phones.
If you’re looking to save some cash, it’s fine to buy Samsung’s Galaxy S24 range from 2024, as long as the prices are a good deal lower than the original MSRP. (They’re hard to find at most major retailers.) These phones will still get support for a while, and they’re pretty great. I don’t think it’s worth buying anything older.
Should You Invest in Samsung’s Ecosystem?
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Samsung is one of the few smartphone manufacturers that can match Apple in its hardware ecosystem. Not only does the company make smartphones, but you can also expand your experience by adding on a Galaxy Watch8 smartwatch, Galaxy Buds4 Pro earbuds, Galaxy Ring fitness ring, Galaxy Tab S11, and even a Windows-powered Galaxy laptop.
There are certain perks to this, like how some features on the Galaxy Ring and Watch8 are only available when paired with a Samsung phone, and its earbuds will automatically switch between Samsung devices based on what you’re using. There’s not much in the way of exclusive features when using a Galaxy phone with a Galaxy laptop, but capabilities like Quick Share let you speedily send photos and documents between your devices (even to iPhones via AirDrop!).
Again, it’s not necessary, and these other devices might not be the right ones for you within their respective categories, but if you’re chasing hardware parity, you have that option with Samsung.
What Is Galaxy AI?
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
With the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung launched “Galaxy AI,” a selection of artificial intelligence features, many of which are powered by Google’s Gemini large language models. These enable smart features that may be helpful day to day, like real-time translations during phone calls, real-time transcriptions in Samsung’s Voice Recorder app, the ability to summarize long paragraphs of text in the Samsung Notes app, or change a sentence’s tone with the Samsung Keyboard.
In the Galaxy S25 series, Galaxy AI expanded to include Gemini as the default voice assistant and the ability for Gemini to work with multiple apps simultaneously. It also debuted Drawing Assist, which lets you sketch or enter a prompt and get an AI-generated image. Now, you can also use video in real-time with Gemini, even from the cover screen of the Galaxy Z Flip7.
And in the Galaxy S26 series, the AI features got even more helpful. The Document Scanner built into the camera app can now erase fingers and creases and minimize distortion before converting the photo into a PDF. Audio Eraser is something you can now toggle in any media app to reduce distracting background sounds in videos, so you can hear the subject clearly. And there’s now built-in call screening to better filter out robocalls. Samsung also debuted Google’s Task Automations in the Gemini assistant, allowing you to ask Gemini to book you an Uber or order something from DoorDash, Uber Eats, or GrubHub, though it’s pretty slow.
You can find many of these features by heading to Settings > Galaxy AI to toggle them on or off. We have an explainer on how to limit Galaxy AI to on-device processing, too.
What Is Samsung DeX?
Courtesy of David Nield
Samsung’s DeX (short for “desktop experience”) launched in 2017, and it’s a way to plug in your Samsung phone to an external monitor and trigger a desktop version of the Android OS, all completely powered by the phone. You can find a list of compatible Samsung phones here—the Flip7 is the first Galaxy Flip to support DeX—and you’ll need a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, plus a cable to connect the phone to the monitor. (You can also cast DeX to select screens wirelessly.)
When in DeX mode, you can resize Android apps and have them all open in separate windows. It’s a proper computing platform, though you probably won’t want to use this as a permanent laptop replacement or anything of the sort. It’s great if you’re visiting another office, or working out of a coffee shop or airplane (if you have a portable display). We have a whole guide to setting up and using DeX here.
How I Test Phones
I’ve been reviewing smartphones for a decade, but one of my earliest smart devices was a Samsung Galaxy Captivate, which I got for “free” from my carrier at the time. After working during college, I finally saved enough cash for a Galaxy S3, my first flagship. I’ve spent years using Samsung phones in my personal life and began reviewing them for work shortly after.
With each Samsung smartphone, I always put my personal SIM card inside and spend as long as I can (a few weeks) using the phone as my own. I do camera testing and compare the results with similarly priced devices, I benchmark performance and play graphically demanding games to see how they fare, I try out all the new features, and even take calls to make sure that ol’ function still works fine.
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