Fairphone 6 VS Samsung Galaxy S25

The most consequential design difference between these two phones is their approach to water protection. The Fairphone 6 carries an IP55 rating, meaning it can withstand low-pressure water jets from any direction — sufficient for splashes and rain, but not submersion. The Samsung Galaxy S25, rated IP68, is fully dustproof and can be submerged in water beyond 1 meter for extended periods. In practical terms, this means the Galaxy S25 survives accidental drops in sinks, pools, or puddles, while the Fairphone 6 demands more caution around water.

Form factor tells a different story. The Galaxy S25 is notably more pocket-friendly: it is 31 g lighter and 2.4 mm thinner, with a smaller footprint overall. This translates to a phone that feels more premium and effortless in daily carry. The Fairphone 6′s bulkier profile is partly a trade-off for its design philosophy, reflected in its French Repairability Index score of 10/10 — a perfect score — versus the Galaxy S25′s still-respectable 8.5/10. For users who prioritize longevity, self-repair, and sustainability, the Fairphone 6′s score is a meaningful real-world advantage.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S25 has a clear edge in compactness and water protection, making it the stronger choice for users who value a sleek, durable everyday device. The Fairphone 6 counters with unmatched repairability, appealing to those who think long-term about device lifespan and right-to-repair. Neither phone has a rugged build or a foldable form factor, so those remain non-factors in this comparison.

Both phones share the same panel technology and refresh rate fundamentals — OLED/AMOLED displays with 120Hz adaptive refresh and 240Hz touch sampling — so the real differentiators lie elsewhere. The Fairphone 6 actually edges out the Galaxy S25 in pixel density (431 ppi vs 416 ppi), a gap that is marginal at normal viewing distances but confirms neither phone is lacking in sharpness.

Where the Galaxy S25 pulls decisively ahead is brightness. Its 2600 nits typical brightness dwarfs the Fairphone 6′s 880 nits, and this gap has real consequences: the S25 remains comfortably readable in direct sunlight, while the Fairphone 6 may struggle in bright outdoor conditions. The S25 also supports HDR10 and HDR10+, enabling richer contrast and color depth when streaming compatible content — a feature entirely absent on the Fairphone 6. Glass protection likewise favors Samsung, with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 offering meaningfully better drop and scratch resistance than the Fairphone 6′s Gorilla Glass 7i.

For everyday indoor use, both screens will satisfy most users. But for outdoor usability, media consumption, and long-term screen durability, the Samsung Galaxy S25 holds a clear and multi-faceted advantage in this category.

These two phones occupy entirely different tiers of mobile performance. The Fairphone 6 runs on a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, a capable mid-range chip, while the Galaxy S25 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm′s flagship silicon. The Geekbench 6 scores make the gap impossible to ignore: the S25 scores 3175 single-core and 10050 multi-core, compared to 1162 and 3239 on the Fairphone 6. In practical terms, this means the S25 handles demanding tasks — complex multitasking, heavy apps, AI processing — with a level of headroom the Fairphone 6 simply cannot match.

The GPU divide is equally stark. The S25′s Adreno 830 has 1536 shading units against the Fairphone 6′s 128, and its memory bandwidth reaches 85.1 GB/s versus 25.6 GB/s. For gaming or GPU-accelerated workloads, this is a generational difference. The S25 also pairs its chip with 12GB of RAM at 5300 MHz, versus 8GB at 3200 MHz on the Fairphone 6 — faster memory that feeds the processor more efficiently and keeps more apps alive in the background.

There is no ambiguity here: the Samsung Galaxy S25 dominates this category across every meaningful performance metric. The Fairphone 6 is competent for everyday tasks but is not positioned as a performance device, and the data reflects that clearly.

The camera hardware gap between these two phones is significant, starting with lens count. The Fairphone 6 has a dual rear camera setup, while the Galaxy S25 fields a triple rear system that adds a dedicated telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom — something the Fairphone 6 lacks entirely. Optical zoom matters because digital zoom degrades image quality, whereas optical zoom preserves it; for anyone who regularly shoots distant subjects, this is a meaningful real-world difference. The S25′s main lens also carries a wider f/1.8 aperture compared to the Fairphone 6′s f/1.6 on its secondary lens, though the Fairphone 6′s widest aperture on that lens does allow slightly more light in for close-up shots.

Video capability is another area where the S25 pulls ahead. It records at 4320p (8K) at 30fps, versus the Fairphone 6′s cap of 2160p (4K). The S25 also supports HDR10 video recording and can shoot in RAW format for stills — both absent on the Fairphone 6. RAW support is particularly relevant for photography enthusiasts who want to post-process images with maximum flexibility. Additionally, the S25 includes a BSI (backside-illuminated) sensor, a hardware feature that improves low-light performance, which the Fairphone 6 does not have.

Shared features — OIS, phase-detection autofocus, slow-motion, HDR mode, and manual controls — keep the Fairphone 6 competitive for everyday shooting. But across versatility, video quality, and advanced photography features, the Samsung Galaxy S25 holds a clear and well-rounded advantage in this category.

Rarely does a spec group show two phones this closely matched. Both run Android 15 and share an identical feature set across privacy controls, customization, and productivity tools — including dynamic theming, split-screen multitasking, picture-in-picture, offline voice recognition, and on-device machine learning. For users trying to choose between these phones on software grounds, the overlap is nearly total.

Scanning the entire dataset, the only functional difference is that the Galaxy S25 supports PC mode, allowing it to be connected to a monitor and used as a desktop-like computing environment. The Fairphone 6 does not support this. For most users this will be irrelevant, but for those who want a single device that can double as a light workstation, it is a genuine advantage exclusive to the S25.

Outside of that single distinction, this category is essentially a tie. Both phones offer the same Android 15 foundation with a comparable breadth of privacy, accessibility, and usability features — neither holds a meaningful software edge over the other for everyday use.

Battery capacity favors the Fairphone 6, which packs a 4415 mAh cell versus the Galaxy S25′s 4000 mAh. All else being equal, a larger battery means more time between charges, and the roughly 10% capacity advantage is a tangible one — though real-world endurance also depends on the chip and display, which are outside this group′s scope. The Fairphone 6 also charges slightly faster at 30W versus the S25′s 25W, meaning it will recover power from empty more quickly when plugged in.

The Galaxy S25 counters with wireless charging, a convenience feature the Fairphone 6 entirely lacks. For users who rely on charging pads at a desk or nightstand, this is a genuine quality-of-life advantage. On the other hand, the Fairphone 6 carries a feature that is increasingly rare in modern smartphones: a removable battery. This means users can carry a spare and swap it in the field, or replace a degraded battery themselves without sending the device in for service — a significant long-term ownership benefit that aligns closely with the phone′s repairability philosophy.

Which phone wins here depends on what the user values. For raw capacity, faster wired charging, and battery longevity through user-replaceable cells, the Fairphone 6 has the edge. The Galaxy S25 trades those advantages for the convenience of wireless charging. Neither outcome is dominant across all dimensions, but users who prioritize device longevity and self-sufficiency will find the Fairphone 6′s battery story more compelling.

Neither phone includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, so both rely entirely on Bluetooth or USB-C for audio output — a shared limitation worth noting upfront. For speaker listening, both offer stereo speakers, putting them on equal footing there. The more interesting story is in their wireless audio codec support, where the two phones diverge in complementary ways.

The Fairphone 6 supports aptX HD, a high-resolution Bluetooth codec that delivers audio quality beyond CD level to compatible headphones — something the Galaxy S25 lacks. The S25, in turn, supports LDAC and aptX Lossless, both of which are capable of transmitting higher-bandwidth audio than aptX HD under the right conditions. LDAC, developed by Sony, is widely supported by premium wireless headphones, making it the more practically useful of the two exclusive codecs. Both phones share aptX Adaptive, which dynamically adjusts bitrate for latency-sensitive use cases like gaming.

The winner here hinges on which headphones the user owns. For Sony or LDAC-compatible headphone users, the Galaxy S25 has a practical edge. For those with aptX HD-certified gear, the Fairphone 6 holds its own. Across the broader codec landscape, the S25′s support for both LDAC and aptX Lossless gives it a slight overall advantage in wireless audio versatility — but the gap is narrow and headphone-dependent.

On the wireless side, the Galaxy S25 pulls ahead in two meaningful ways. It supports Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), the latest generation of Wi-Fi, while the Fairphone 6 tops out at Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 7 delivers significantly higher throughput and lower latency on compatible routers — relevant for users in dense environments or those who transfer large files frequently. The cellular speed gap is even more striking: the S25 supports download speeds up to 10,000 Mbits/s, versus 2,900 Mbits/s on the Fairphone 6. While real-world 5G rarely approaches either ceiling, the S25′s modem is better positioned for next-generation network infrastructure.

The USB difference is also worth flagging. The Fairphone 6 uses USB 2.0, while the Galaxy S25 uses USB 3.2 — a significant gap for anyone who transfers large files via cable, as USB 3.2 is many times faster in practice. In exchange, the Fairphone 6 offers something the S25 does not: an external memory card slot, allowing users to expand storage cheaply without cloud reliance. The S25 compensates by supporting dual physical SIMs plus dual eSIMs, compared to the Fairphone 6′s single SIM and single eSIM — useful for frequent travelers or those juggling work and personal lines.

Sensor and feature parity is high across both devices, with shared support for GPS, Galileo, NFC, barometer, gyroscope, and fingerprint scanning. The S25 adds ANT+ support for fitness device connectivity, a niche but useful feature for athletes. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S25 holds a clear connectivity advantage — faster Wi-Fi, faster USB, faster cellular, and more SIM flexibility — while the Fairphone 6′s expandable storage remains its one meaningful counter in this category.

This is a clean sweep for neither side — the Miscellaneous spec group reveals complete parity between the Fairphone 6 and the Galaxy S25. Both have a video light, neither uses sapphire glass, neither has a curved or e-paper display. There is simply nothing here that differentiates one phone from the other.

This category is a tie by every available data point. Users should weigh the other spec groups to inform their decision, as this one offers no new signal in either direction.