Samsung Galaxy S25 FE vs Vivo X300 Ultra

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE

The 4,900 mAh battery is the largest Samsung has put in any FE phone and matches the Galaxy S25+. Real-world endurance is consistently described as a solid full day with battery to spare — Trusted Reviews ended a heavy day at 22%, Dave2D measured 24 hours of HD YouTube playback, SuperSaf gets a day with no anxiety. Charging finally jumps to 45W wired (from 25W on the S24 FE) and 15W Qi2-Ready wireless — but real-world full-charge times of 69-74 minutes still trail the Nothing 3a Pro and other rivals in the price bracket.

• The S25 FE has the largest battery Samsung has ever put in an FE handset at 4,900 mAh (up from 4,700 mAh), with 45W charging giving 50% in 30 minutes.
• In our YouTube HD video battery drain test, the S25 FE manages a respectable 24 hours of constant playback at max brightness — only two hours under the S25 Ultra and 5 hours more than the Pixel 10 Pro XL.
• On a heavy day involving social, hotspotting, video, calls and gaming, the phone went from 9:25am to 10:40pm with 22% left in the tank.
• From dead I clawed back 67% in just 30 minutes and a full charge took 69 minutes — definitely not the fastest around, but handy in a rush.
• Plugged into a 130W charger the S25 FE took 1 hour 14 minutes to charge from 10% to full — only slightly faster than its predecessor despite the 45W spec.
• If battery life is important to you, the Nothing 3a Pro and Pixel 9a are better bets — both have bigger batteries and the Nothing gets 50W charging.
• There's 15W Qi2 wireless charging but no MagSafe-style magnets — you need a third-party case to align with magnetic accessories.
• Battery life is definitely better on the S25 FE than the S24 FE — it's a genuine full-day phone, though it won't stretch to two days.

Vivo X300 Ultra

Vivo grew the silicon-carbon cell 10% to 6,600mAh while keeping the body the same size. Real-world endurance is strong — ~16h active-use score, ~7h heavy screen-on, 13–14 hour days with charge to spare — and 100W wired refills it in under an hour, with 40W wireless.

• Vivo increased the battery by 10% to 6,600mAh despite the phone being practically the same size on paper.
• In our battery test it earned an active-use score of almost 16 hours; 100W charging took it 0–66% in 30 minutes and a full charge in 46 minutes, plus 40W wireless. A charger is in the box except in Europe.
• On the China version I'm finishing entire 13–14 hour days with 25–30% left; the global version keeps the 6,600mAh cell so battery life should comfortably last 12–13 hours of heavy use.
• Getting nearly 7 hours of screen-on time with very heavy usage from the 6,600mAh silicon-carbon unit, with 100W wired and 40W wireless charging support.
• After a 4-hour heavy-usage simulation the phone still had ~45% battery left, which is solid by today's standards, and 100W wired charging takes about 45 minutes to full.

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE

At $649 the S25 FE is the most affordable way into Samsung's 2025 flagship ecosystem — Galaxy AI, seven-year updates, a 4,900 mAh battery, an IP68 frame — but it sits in a brutal pricing valley. The base Galaxy S25 was discounted to roughly $660 during Prime Day; the OnePlus 13R, Pixel 9a, Nothing 3a Pro and Xiaomi 15T Pro all offer different mixes of better cameras, faster chips or cheaper price tags. Reviewers consistently split: Trusted Reviews, Tech Advisor and Stuff TV call this the best mid-range Samsung has shipped in years; Engadget, TechRadar and Tom's Guide say at $649 it makes no sense versus the standard S25 on sale. Reddit r/gadgets and r/Android are even harsher.

• With changes that amount to window dressing, I can't recommend anyone buy the S25 FE at full price — the standard S25, following a Prime Day discount, was only $10 more than the FE earlier this month.
• Unless you're dead-set on a smaller phone, the Galaxy S25 FE represents a far better buy than the standard S25, and one of the best value mid-range phones currently on the market.
• The Galaxy S25 FE delivers on its goal of offering the S25 Plus at a more affordable price, but it also fails to stand out — the S25 Plus is often discounted to a similar price.
• While the Galaxy S25 FE packs in all the Galaxy AI features I've come to use on other Samsung phones, its weak processing performance and battery life make it less appealing than the Pixel 10.
• If you already own last year's S24 FE there's no reason to upgrade — the previous model has very comparable chipset, display and camera and will last you seven years.
• The Galaxy S25 FE is the best outright mid-range phone you can buy, and has enough in common with the S25+ to be a great value choice — a phone I'd be happy to use as my main device long-term.
• The Galaxy S25 FE will only make sense at around $550 in the US — right now there are far better options, from the Poco F7 to the Pixel 9a to the new Xiaomi 15T Pro.
• r/gadgets sums up the dominant Reddit view: 'The FE were never flagships. They're the last step after the A5x series. If you're satisfied with the A56 just buy that for $400. If you're not satisfied with the cam and chip then add $100 for S25 FE.'
• r/Android calls it 'The Foolish Edition — when the S24 and S25 can be had for just a bit more' — the top-voted reply on the announcement thread.

Vivo X300 Ultra

This is a deliberately niche, camera-first flagship: roughly €1,175 in China for 512GB, around £1,399 globally for the phone, and close to €2,600 for the full kit. For the people it's aimed at it draws some of the strongest praise of any 2026 phone; for everyone else, a cheaper X300 Pro or the Oppo Find X9 Ultra may make more sense.

• Last year's X200 Ultra was, in my opinion, one of the best smartphones of 2025 — and this is the best smartphone I've ever used, with the best camera application I've ever used, provided with zero script from Vivo.
• The cameras are nothing short of amazing — this is the best Android camera phone, with image quality better than anything from Samsung.
• The versatility here is just ridiculous — more like a phone in a camera than the other way around, a camera system built from the sum of its many parts.
• If you accept the 35mm main, are willing to tolerate AI processing in some scenes, and don't mind the front-camera stabilisation limits, this Vivo is an excellent choice.