
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE leak just tipped bad news about performance
According to a recent post on X by known leaker Arsène Lupin, the Galaxy S25 FE could come with 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 26GB of internal storage. The post also states that the phone should have four color options: Navy, IceBlue, Jetblack and White.
S25 FE8 + 128 / 8 + 256 Navy, Icyblue, Jetblack, WhiteJuly 24, 2025
I can understand why Samsung would elect to keep the 8GB of RAM we saw in the Galaxy S24 FE, after all, the FE range is designed to be more affordable and RAM can be expensive to increase. On top of the price, it's also worth noting that 8GB of RAM is more than enough for the average user. For instance, it's the same amount as we see in the iPhone 16 series after all.
While this likely isn't an issue for the phone when it releases, it might be for the future of the phone and its usability. Currently, the average user keeps hold of their smartphone for 2 years and seven months, and that's expected to go up to three years by 2026. With that in mind, and considering the rapid advancement in AI, I have to wonder if 8GB will be enough down the line.
More RAM means a higher price for parts, and Samsung clearly wants to keep the FE cheaper than other flagship-grade phones. But it should be noted that the Galaxy S24 FE launched with many of the same AI features that we saw on the mainline Galaxy S24 models while still being affordable. The same would, hopefully, be true for the Galaxy S25 FE, but the lack of RAM is only a single nail in the performance coffin.
Another thing to note about the Galaxy FE range is that it often makes use of less powerful chips. The Galaxy S24 FE, for instance, launched with the Exynos 2400e, which wasn't exactly stellar. Meanwhile, the most recent leaked benchmarks have the Galaxy S25 FE running the Exynos 2400, which is a modest upgrade, but still falls behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite seen in Samsung's Galaxy S25 series.
Why is this a problem, I hear you ask? The reality is that Samsung's latest FE phone will need to compete with the iPhone 16e, and in more than a few ways, it needs to exceed it. As it stands, Samsung phones tend to offer a better AI experience, helped, in part, by Apple Intelligence's limitations and Samsung devices featuring more RAM. However, if the Galaxy S25 FE launches with the same RAM and a weaker chip, I worry about how it will compete when it doesn't have access to all the Galaxy AI features due to its hardware limitations.
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
Now, in the interest of fairness, not every person buying a Samsung FE phone is invested in AI features. In that case, the real issue becomes the price of the phone and how it compares to the mainline Galaxy S25. As it stands, we don't know a lot about the price of the phone, but we'd expect it to be roughly around the same price as the Galaxy S24 FE, due to the Galaxy S25 not seeing a price increase, would would mean a price of around $649.
It's also worth noting that we can't confirm these rumors until we actually see the phone officially announced, so it's best to take these things with a pinch of salt. On that note, many of the rumors seem to indicate that Samsung will aim for an October launch for the phone.
So, with the possibility of the Galaxy S25 FE only featuring 8GB of RAM, are you still interested, or will you look elsewhere for a more affordable phone?
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why Did Micron Stock Drop Today?
Key Points Samsung says the market for HBM memory for artificial intelligence (AI) functions is getting oversupplied. Samsung will cut prices on the most powerful HBM3E product in an attempt to win market share. Wells Fargo says this is bad news for Micron. 10 stocks we like better than Micron Technology › Shares of computer memory-maker Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) tumbled 5.2% through 11:25 a.m. ET Thursday -- but as far as I can tell, it wasn't anything Micron did to deserve this. Instead, it was Samsung that's to blame. What Samsung said about high-bandwidth memory (HBM) As WCCFTech reports this morning, Samsung has just announced it's lowering prices on HBM3E (that's "High Bandwidth Memory 3 Enhanced," currently the most capable kind of HBM memory, designed for use in artificial intelligence and machine learning). Samsung explained that on the one hand, it hasn't been able to win as much HBM business from Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) as it would like, while on the other hand, the HBM market seems oversupplied right now. And the solution to both problems -- to help Samsung move product -- is to lower prices. Is Micron stock a sell? For Micron, this poses a problem -- because Micron also wants to sell HBM3E memory, and now Samsung has effectively declared a price war in the HBM market. In order to fight it, Micron will have to lower its own prices (hurting Micron's revenue and profit), or else it will lose market share to Samsung (also hurting Micron's revenue and profit!) And if that sounds like a lose-lose proposition for Micron, that's because it is. In a note on The Fly this morning, Wells Fargo warned that Samsung's action will "impact market prices," drying up much of the premium in prices between HBM3E and plain-vanilla DRAM memory, perhaps as early as H2 2025 (i.e., now). Priced at just 20x trailing earnings, Micron stock may not look too expensive. But if profits are about to dry up as Samsung's price cuts take hold, Micron stock could look expensive in a hurry. Savvy investors might want to sell before that happens. Should you invest $1,000 in Micron Technology right now? Before you buy stock in Micron Technology, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Micron Technology wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $638,629!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,098,838!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,049% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 29, 2025 Wells Fargo is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Did Micron Stock Drop Today? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Apple CEO Tells Staff AI Is ‘Ours to Grab' in Hourlong Pep Talk
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, holding a rare all-hands meeting following earnings results, rallied employees around the company's artificial intelligence prospects and an 'amazing' pipeline of products. The World's Data Center Capital Has Residents Surrounded An Abandoned Art-Deco Landmark in Buffalo Awaits Revival We Should All Be Biking Along the Beach Budapest's Most Historic Site Gets a Controversial Rebuild San Francisco in Talks With Vanderbilt for Downtown Campus The executive gathered staff at Apple's on-campus auditorium Friday in Cupertino, California, telling them that the AI revolution is 'as big or bigger' as the internet, smartphones, cloud computing and apps. 'Apple must do this. Apple will do this. This is sort of ours to grab,' Cook told employees, according to people aware of the meeting. 'We will make the investment to do it.' The iPhone maker has been late to AI, debuting Apple Intelligence months after OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Microsoft Corp. and others flooded the market with products like ChatGPT. And when Apple finally released its AI tools, they fell flat. But Cook struck an optimistic tone, noting that Apple is typically late to promising new technologies. 'We've rarely been first,' the executive told staffers. 'There was a PC before the Mac; there was a smartphone before the iPhone; there were many tablets before the iPad; there was an MP3 player before iPod.' But Apple invented the 'modern' versions of those product categories, he said. 'This is how I feel about AI.' An Apple spokesperson declined to comment on the gathering. The hourlong meeting addressed a range of topics, including the retirement of operating chief Jeff Williams, increasing Apple TV+ viewership and advances in health care with features like the AirPods Pro hearing-aid technology. It also touched on donations and community service by Apple employees, the company's goal to become carbon neutral by 2030, and the impact of regulations. 'The reality is that Big Tech is under a lot of scrutiny around the world,' Cook said. 'We need to continue to push on the intention of the regulation and get them to offer that up, instead of these things that destroy the user experience and user privacy and security.' Cook often holds town hall-style chats when visiting Apple's offices around the world, but companywide meetings from the Steve Jobs Theater at headquarters are unusual. The remarks followed a blockbuster earnings report, with sales growing nearly 10% during the June quarter. That beat Wall Street expectations and eased concerns about iPhone demand and a slowdown in China. Apple still faces myriad challenges, including Trump administration tariffs and a regulatory crackdown on its business practices. The company said Thursday that tariffs would bring a $1.1 billion headwind this quarter, though Apple was upbeat about sales growth. It also said that App Store revenue rose by a percentage in the double digits last quarter, despite efforts in the EU and elsewhere to further restrict that business. Echoing comments he made during the earnings conference call, Cook told employees the company is investing in AI in a 'big way.' He said 12,000 workers were hired in the last year, with 40% of the new hires joining in research and development roles. Apple's chip development efforts, led by executive Johny Srouji, are key to the company's AI strategy, Cook said. Apple is working on a more powerful cloud-computing chip — code-named Baltra — to power artificial intelligence features, Bloomberg News has reported. It's also setting up a new AI server manufacturing facility in Houston. The meeting included Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, who discussed the future of Apple's Siri voice assistant. The company had planned to roll out a Siri overhaul as part of Apple Intelligence earlier this year, adding the ability to tap into user data to better fulfill requests. It was delayed, spurring management changes for the company's AI work. Federighi explained that the problem was caused by trying to roll out a version of Siri that merged two different systems: one for handling current commands — like setting timers — and another based on large language models, the software behind generative AI. 'We initially wanted to do a hybrid architecture, but we realized that approach wasn't going to get us to Apple quality,' Federighi said. Now, Apple is working on a version of Siri that moves to an entirely new architecture for all of its capabilities. That iteration is slated for as early as spring, Bloomberg News has reported, though Apple executives haven't confirmed a timeline other than a release next year. 'The work we've done on this end-to-end revamp of Siri has given us the results we needed,' the engineering executive told employees. 'This has put us in a position to not just deliver what we announced, but to deliver a much bigger upgrade than we envisioned. There is no project people are taking more seriously.' Federighi cited leadership changes, including putting Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell and his headset software leadership team in charge of Siri, as a driving force in improving the product. He said Rockwell and his group have 'supercharged' the company's work in the area. In his speech, Cook also pushed employees to move more quickly to weave AI into their work and future products. 'All of us are using AI in a significant way already, and we must use it as a company as well,' Cook said. 'To not do so would be to be left behind, and we can't do that.' Employees should push to deploy AI tools faster, and urge their managers and service and support teams to do the same, he said. Cook also addressed the company's retail strategy, stressing that the current plan is to focus on opening new stores in emerging markets and upping the investment in Apple's online store. The iPhone maker is opening outlets in India, the United Arab Emirates and China this year, and is preparing to add its first location in Saudi Arabia next year. 'We need to be in more countries, and you'll see us go into more emerging markets in particular,' Cook said. That doesn't mean Apple will ignore other places, he said, but a 'disproportionate amount of growth' will be in new areas. The CEO also shared his enthusiasm about upcoming products, though he didn't get specific. 'I have never felt so much excitement and so much energy before as right now,' he said. Bloomberg News has previously reported that Apple plans to launch its first foldable iPhone next year and is also working on a stream of smart home devices. New headset products, smart glasses, a push into robotics and a redesigned iPhone for the two-decade anniversary are also underway. 'The product pipeline, which I can't talk about: It's amazing, guys. It's amazing,' Cook said. 'Some of it you'll see soon, some of it will come later, but there's a lot to see.' How Podcast-Obsessed Tech Investors Made a New Media Industry Russia Builds a New Web Around Kremlin's Handpicked Super App Everyone Loves to Hate Wind Power. Scotland Found a Way to Make It Pay Off It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Cage-Free Eggs Are Booming in the US, Despite Cost and Trump's Efforts ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.


CNET
3 hours ago
- CNET
Bark Phone Lets You Prioritize Your Children's Safety and Right Now, You Can Save $30
It's only natural for kids to want their own phones these days, but we get why handing over a regular smartphone with full internet access can feel like a hard nope for most parents. Arguing with Gen Alpha about it is losing a battle, so you need something that gives them the freedom they're asking for in a safe, controlled environment. The Bark Phone, which looks like a regular phone on the outside, does exactly that. It's built with safety in mind, and right now, there's a great back-to-school deal that makes it a bit easier on the wallet. The phone normally retails for $10 per month for 24 months, with plans starting at $29 per month. Currently, using the code CLASS30 at checkout gets you $30 off your first month, which means you'll only pay $9 plus taxes to get started. The phone itself is a Samsung Galaxy A16, which comes preloaded with parental controls according to the plan you choose. The starter plan starts at $29 a month and includes unlimited talk and text with no internet access or games -- ideal for younger kids. No more stranger danger, since you're also able to approve or deny every contact. Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money. Advanced plans let kids gradually access more features while also keeping you in the loop. For instance, children can request any apps in the Google Play Store for you to approve. You are still able to monitor, set limits, and remove previously approved content. The phone actively scans all data and also looks for social media red flags like adult content, harassment and bullying. If it spots anything suspicious, you're notified immediately. Why this deal matters Bark Phone offers a great way to let your children access technology while also prioritizing their safety. This deal takes $30 off your first month, which means you can get started for just $9. Note that deals like this are usually short-lived, so if this interests you, hurry while you can.