Just when you thought Samsung might be taking a breather after their recent flagship launches, they’ve dropped two devices at IFA 2025 in Berlin: the Galaxy S25 FE and Tab S11 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE: Flagship Performance Without the Flagship Price Tag
As opposed to the high-end, pricey Galaxy S phones, Samsung’s Fan Edition Galaxy phones have always been about delivering a premium experience without emptying your wallet. This year’s iteration feels different — more refined and confident than a mere midrange phone.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE’s 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display is absolutely gorgeous. The 1900-nit peak brightness means I can actually see what I’m doing even when I’m stubbornly trying to work poolside (don’t judge). The display has a 120Hz refresh rate, which is in line with most midrange phones and helps make the most of higher frame rate gameplay for demanding games.
The Exynos 2400 processor keeps everything humming along nicely, and keeps with Samsung’s tradition of using their own (albeit less powerful) chipsets instead of the Qualcomm chipsets found on the top-shelf Galaxy S phones. It might not be powerful enough to maximize playing a lot of games that will make use of a 120Hz refresh rate, but it’ll be serviceable for folks who like playing games, but don’t prioritize gaming when choosing a phone.
The camera setup includes a 50MP main sensor with OIS and Super HDR alongside a 12MP ultrawide camera and an 8MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. That’s not too far afield from what was on last year’s model, so a lot of the photography improvements will come from the AI features.
Fortunately, Samsung’s AI photo editing implementation feels surprisingly intuitive. There are a lot of fully automated editing features — with Generative Edit, for example, you can have the phone automatically detect and remove unwanted objects or people in the background, although you’ll still need to OK the edits in case the software takes out too much.
The 4900mAh battery should deliver a solid day and a half of use, and when it does need juice, 45W Super Fast Charging 2.0 gets you back up to 80% in about 45 minutes.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra: The Productivity Beast
Now, onto the tablet announcement — the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. This thing is absolutely ridiculous, and I mean that in the best possible way.
The 14.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display is stunning. At 2960 x 1848 resolution with 120Hz refresh rate, everything from Netflix binges to Photoshop sessions feels buttery smooth. The slimmer bezels make a real difference too — it doesn’t feel like you’re holding a picture frame anymore.
Here’s where it gets interesting: Samsung ditched their usual Snapdragon partnership for the MediaTek Dimensity 9400+. The ARM Immortalis-G925 MC12 GPU with ray tracing is powerful enough for just about everything, including some serious gaming sessions.
By pairing that chipset with 16GB of RAM, Samsung is showing they are serious about the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra being a laptop replacement. Being able to have a whole 1TB of storage makes it a genuinely attractive device for creators and media professionals who might need to use all that power for some serious image and video editing, too.
As usual, digital artists can expect an S Pen stylus included with their tablet, which has been redesigned to be more responsive to different tilt angles when sketching. Once a sketch is done, the AI-powered Drawing Assist feature can turn it into a finished product.
However, to truly make it a laptop replacement, you’ll need to pair the Tab S11 Ultra with one of Samsung’s Book Cover keyboard covers, which are sold separately. There will be regular and slim versions, and both will include a dedicated Galaxy AI key to launch any number of AI features.
An 11,600mAh battery should offer multiple days of moderate use, or a full workday of heavy multitasking. At just 1.53 pounds, it’s surprisingly portable for something packing this much power.
Pricing and Availability
The Galaxy S25 FE delivers flagship-caliber performance at $649.99, while the Tab S11 Ultra positions itself as a laptop alternative with a price starting at $1,199.99. The Tab S11 Ultra comes in Gray and Silver, while the S25 FE offers Navy, Jetblack, White, and Icyblue options. Both devices are available starting today at Samsung.com.
Both devices come loaded with Galaxy AI features, which are free through 2025 with purchase. The Gemini integration on the S25 FE is particularly clever — being able to share your camera feed with Gemini Live for real-time assistance is practical AI that actually enhances daily use.
AT&T has a pretty good deal on the Galaxy S25 FE right at launch — even without a trade-in, you can get one for $5.99/month over three years on an unlimited plan. If you take that deal, you’ll also get 50% off all Samsung accessories, including the Galaxy Buds3 FE that were also announced this week.