Samsung has had a comfortable run with its Fan Edition line. The formula has always been straightforward: take the flagship experience, trim a few corners, drop the price, and watch buyers line up. For years, it worked because nobody was doing it better. The Galaxy S25 FE is proof that Samsung still knows how to execute that formula. It’s also proof that the formula is no longer enough.

Enter the Honor 600 Pro. A phone that, on paper and in the hand, makes the Galaxy S25 FE look like Samsung stopped trying.

The chip gap

The Galaxy S25 FE runs on Samsung’s Exynos 2400 with 8GB of RAM. That is a capable processor, and in daily use, it holds its own. But Honor did not settle for capable. The Honor 600 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the same chip that powered 2025’s top Android flagships, paired with 12GB of RAM. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is, undoubtedly, the stronger performer of the two, with a measurable edge in CPU and GPU performance, along with better thermal efficiency under sustained load.

It’s worth noting that when the S25 FE launched in late 2025, the Snapdragon 8 Elite was powering full-blown flagships. So Samsung’s decision to go with its in-house Exynos chip wasn’t without reason. But with the Honor 600 Pro arriving just a few months later and still offering that chip at a comparable price, the gap becomes harder to ignore. Add the extra 4GB of RAM, and Honor pulls ahead.

The display Samsung should have offered

The Galaxy S25 FE offers a 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a resolution of 1080x 2340 pixels, a 120Hz refresh rate, peak brightness of 1,900nits, and no DC dimming or PWM dimming. It’s a good screen. It’s not, however, a great one.

The Honor 600 Pro counters with a 6.57-inch AMOLED panel at 1264 x 2728 pixels, an eye-watering peak brightness of 8,000nits, and 3,840Hz PWM dimming. Sure, the 600 Pro’s screen is smaller, but it’s also sharper, brighter, and easier on the eyes during extended use, which earns Honor another win.

Cameras: ambition vs. adequacy

The Galaxy S25 FE features a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide, and an 8MP telephoto. The 8MP telephoto is the detail that stings the most. In a market where zoom capability has become a genuine differentiator, Samsung equipped its fan-focused phone with one of the weakest telephoto units in its class.

The Honor 600 Pro answers with a 200MP main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 50MP periscope zoom telephoto with 3.5x optical zoom. After having spent some time with the Honor’s camera system, the S25 FE’s setup feels lacklustre. Samsung’s ProVisual Engine and AI editing tools are genuinely well done, but software polish only goes so far when the underlying hardware is this outgunned.

The battery widens the gap

This is where Samsung’s cautious approach with the S25 FE becomes impossible to defend. The device packs a 4,900mAh battery with 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. In contrast, the Honor 600 Pro houses a massive 7,000mAh battery (6,400mAh on the European variant) with 80W wired, 50W wireless, and 27W reverse wired charging. That is not a marginal difference.

Honor made battery capacity a priority and built around it. Samsung, as it tends to do across its entire lineup, did not. For buyers who spend long days away from a charger, that gap will be difficult to overlook.

What makes the difference between the two even harder to swallow is the pricing. In the UK, the S25 FE costs £919 (~$1,240) for the 8GB/512GB model, while the Honor 600 Pro comes in at £899.99 (~$1,215) for the 12GB/512GB configuration. Honor offers more battery, faster charging, better camera hardware, a better display, and more RAM, all for less money.

Where Samsung still holds ground

To be fair to the S25 FE, it’s not a losing proposition across the board. Running Android 16 with Samsung’s One UI 8 on top, it brings a full range of Galaxy AI tools backed by one of the most trusted and long-supported Android software experiences in the industry.

One UI is familiar, deeply refined, and comfortable for the vast majority of Android users. Honor’s MagicOS, on the other hand, draws obvious comparisons to iOS in its layout and design language. Some users will appreciate the clean, Apple-inspired aesthetic, but others might find it jarring, particularly those coming from a long history with Android. It’s a capable platform, but it’s newer to global markets and carries less of the ecosystem depth that Samsung has built over time.

Samsung’s seven-year update commitment and impressive track record of delivering updates put it ahead of Honor’s six-year support window and less established presence in global markets when it comes to long-term ownership confidence.

On the design front, the S25 FE also has a case to make. At 161.3×76.6×7.4mm and weighing just 190g, it’s a slim, lightweight device that feels refined and easy to live with day to day. The Honor 600 Pro is marginally more compact at 156×74.7×7.8mm, but it’s thicker and weighs 200g (195g for the European variant), which might be noticeable over extended use.

The Honor 600 Pro also wears its iPhone 17 Pro influence openly, especially with its width-spanning camera island and camera arrangement. It’s a striking look, but buyers who prefer a more understated design may find the S25 FE the more comfortable choice.

Both phones carry an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, but the Honor goes further with an additional IP69K certification, meaning it can withstand high-pressure water jets. For most users, that distinction will rarely matter, but it’s another area where Honor has simply done more.

The S25 FE is also widely available globally, including in the US, while the Honor 600 Pro is not. For a significant portion of global buyers, the Honor is simply not an option.

A wake-up call Samsung can’t ignore

The Galaxy S25 FE is not a bad phone. It’s a competent, well-made device that benefits from Samsung’s more mature software and broader ecosystem. But that’s no longer enough in a segment that is becoming increasingly competitive. The Honor 600 Pro has shown that a brand willing to push its affordable flagship without compromise can produce something that makes Samsung’s approach look timid by comparison.

The good news is that Samsung will likely get another shot at this soon. The Galaxy S26 FE is expected to land sometime around September this year, and if the S25 FE has taught Samsung anything, it should be that buyers in this segment deserve more than deliberate restraint. More battery, better silicon, and a stronger zoom camera are no longer unreasonable asks for a brand with Samsung’s resources. Early signs, however, are not particularly encouraging.

A leaked Geekbench listing suggests the Galaxy S26 FE will once again be powered by an in-house Exynos chip, this time the Exynos 2500. It’s a step forward from the Exynos 2400, but it still suggests Samsung is not ready to give its Fan Edition buyers the best silicon available. Whether that changes before launch remains to be seen. For now, the Honor 600 Pro has set a new benchmark for what an affordable flagship can be, and the pressure is firmly on Samsung to respond.