Samsung Galaxy S25 vs iPhone 16: AI Takes Center Stage in Latest Flagship Battle

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 15: A generational leap

Samsung Galaxy S25 Flagship hardware in a compact size The Samsung Galaxy S25 packs impressive power into a compact form. Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and backed by 12GB of RAM, it delivers flagship-level performance. Enhanced by Galaxy AI features, it brings cutting-edge capabilities in a sleek and streamlined design. Pros & Cons Flagship performance Excellent image quality Long term software support No upgrade to camera sensors No Qi2 magnets Limited battery capacity $800 at Samsung Apple iPhone 15 An affordable entry into Apple's ecosystem The 2023-model iPhone 15 isn't the latest smartphone around, but continues to offer smooth and reliable performance. With its Dynamic Island support, you also get a taste of Apple's latest innovations. Unfortunately, the lack of Apple Intelligence support means that future feature compatibility remains suspect despite promises of long term support. Pros & Cons Compact size Smooth and well-optimized interface Excellent app ecossytem Dated cameras Small battery and slow charging No AI capabilities $799 at Apple The Samsung Galaxy S25 is one of the few relatively compact Android flagships on the market. Like its predecessors, the phone cherry-picks features such as the flagship chipset from the S25 Ultra while omitting others like the Ultra's camera loadout to bring a sensibly priced flagship that distills much of the top-end experience to an affordable price point. The iPhone 15 is Apple's one-year-old model, which wasn't a flagship to begin with and omits many features to hit the price point. However, considering both models are aimed at budget-conscious flagship buyers, the comparison remains compelling. Price, availability, and specs The Galaxy S25 gets a major boost this year with the new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset and a lighter design. Pricing starts at $799 for the 128GB model, with a higher-priced 512GB variant available. Color choices are plentiful, including Icy Blue, Navy, Mint, and Silver Shadow. True to Samsung's style, exclusive shades like Blue Black, Coral Red, and Pink Gold can be purchased from its website. The 2023-model iPhone 15 starts at a slightly lower $699 price point for the 128GB model. It's also available in a wider array of color options, which include blue, pink, yellow, green, and black. The phone is available from Apple and on contract. If you appreciate bold customization options, Samsung's exclusive online shades are a win. Apple's pastel-inspired palette is suited for users who prefer softer hues. Samsung Galaxy S25Apple iPhone 15SoCQualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for GalaxyApple A16 BionicDisplay typeLTPO AMOLED, 120HzOLED, 60HzDisplay dimensions6.2"6.1"Display resolution2340 x 1080 1179 x 2556RAM12GB6GBStorage128GB, 256GB, 512GB128GB, 256GB, 512GBBattery4,000mAh3,877mAhCharge speed25W20W wired, 15W wirelessPortsUSB-CUSB-COperating SystemAndroid 15 and One UI 7iOS 17Front camera12MP f/2.212MPRear camera50MP f/1.8 main, 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide, 10MP f/2.4 3x telephoto48MP main; 12MP ultrawideCellular connectivitySub-6 & mmWave 5G4G, 5G (mmWave)Wi-Fi connectivityWi-Fi 7Wi-Fi 7ConnectivityNFCNFCBluetoothBluetooth 5.4Bluetooth 5.3Dimensions146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm147.6 × 71.6 × 7.8mmWeight162g171gIP RatingIP68IP68ColorsSilver Shadow, Navy, Icy Blue, MintBlack, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink 72 hours with the Samsung Galaxy S25: I'd like this just as much without the AI 72 hours with Samsung's latest Posts Design Keeping it familiar Close The Samsung Galaxy S25 and the iPhone 15 have one thing in common: a reluctance to move the design language forward. The Galaxy S25 mirrors the design language of the S24 with a minor reduction in thickness. The phone shaved off a barely noticeable 0.4mm. However, the 6-gram weight reduction is noticeable even if it doesn't sound like much on paper. Beyond that, the design is practically the same, with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back. The iPhone 15 looks practically identical to the iPhone 14 from the back, with almost identical dimensions. However, the front represents a bigger change. Instead of the dated notch, the iPhone 15 debuts the Dynamic Island cutout on Apple's mid-priced model. First seen on the iPhone 14 Pro, Dynamic Island is an effective way to get critical information like currently playing music or delivery status in a pill-shaped box at the top of your screen. While the feature didn't prove to be the blockbuster success Apple hoped for, it can be a nifty addition. Display A generational leap There's a wide gulf between the display panels on the Galaxy S25 and iPhone 15. While the sizes are relatively similar, at 6.2 inches and 6.1 inches respectively, the quality of the panel is where the real differences arise. The Samsung Galaxy S25's 2,600-nit, 120Hz Dynamic LTPO AMOLED screen is visibly superior to the iPhone 15's Super Retina XDR OLED panel, and not only for the higher brightness levels. Apple still doesn't offer a high-refresh-rate display on its mid-priced models, opting for a 60Hz screen, and the ultra-smooth 120Hz panel offered by Samsung delivers a tangible improvement in everyday use and battery life. If you're an avid media consumer, the Galaxy S25's vibrant colors, deep contrast levels, and buttery-smooth scrolling experience make it the clear winner. Apple's panel, though color-accurate, feels dated without a high refresh rate. Software It's all about the AI This year, the Samsung Galaxy S25 takes a leap forward with One UI 7 and its AI-infused feature set. Add to that seven years of promised Android updates, and you've got the makings of one of the most complete Android software packages. Google Gemini takes center stage, and exclusives like Now Brief and Now Bar are available as modern takes on Google Now and Apple's Live Activities. These features offer daily summaries and real-time updates and notifications from key applications. Circle to Search also gets smarter with AI-powered summaries and the ability to recognize on-screen elements like phone numbers and URLs. The iPhone 15 is decidedly old-school. There's no support for Apple Intelligence, which means the phone misses out on most of the latest software enhancements, including basics like object removal or natural language-based image search. While Apple promises long-term support for the phone, the lack of on-device AI capabilities limits how many new features will be supported aside from visual upgrades to keep up with the latest operating system release. Performance Fast, but is it future-proof? The Samsung Galaxy S25 is a 2025 flagship through and through, with the latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. This means a 40% boost in NPU performance and 12GB of RAM across all storage variants. You're looking at a phone that keeps up with anything you throw at it, including the latest high-end games and extensive multitasking. The iPhone 15's A16 Bionic is a slower chipset. Not only that, it lacks support for Apple's on-device intelligence. However, slower is relative, and the performance isn't bad. The phone plays all major games with the settings on high and can comfortably be used for processor-intensive tasks like content creation and editing. Due to how the two operating systems work, the lower 6GB of RAM on the iPhone 15 isn't much of a detriment. For most casual users, the iPhone 15's lower performance figures shouldn't be much of a concern. Battery life Good but not great There isn't a significant difference in the battery sizes between the Samsung Galaxy S25 and iPhone 15. While the former sports a 4,000mAh battery, the latter opts for a 3,349mAh cell. Real-world use should net similar results thanks to the higher power consumption of the newer and more powerful Snapdragon chipset and the generally lower battery draw of the dimmer, 60Hz display on the iPhone 15. The deciding factor may come down to charging speeds. Samsung offers faster wired and wireless charging options, whereas Apple remains conservative. Camera Hardware matters There's no two ways about it. The Samsung Galaxy S25 runs circles around the iPhone 15's camera setup. For one, the Galaxy S25 sports three sensors: a 50MP primary camera, a 10MP 3x telephoto sensor, and a 12MP ultrawide camera. The iPhone 15 omits a telephoto lens and sports a dual 48MP primary and 12MP ultrawide layout. The Galaxy S25 benefits from the upgrades that come with a modern ISP, lending to improved image quality. Add a plethora of AI-enhanced features like Best Face, and the Samsung Galaxy S25 offers a superior imaging experience. One area where the iPhone 15 continues to hold its ground is video capture. Apple's image processing algorithms deliver smoother footage with more natural skin tones, making it a preferred option for vloggers and casual creators. Which is right for you? Choosing between the Samsung Galaxy S25 and the iPhone 15 boils down to priorities. If you value cutting-edge hardware, superior camera capabilities, and a high-refresh-rate display, the Galaxy S25 stands head and shoulders above the iPhone 15. Its AI-enhanced software experience makes it a forward-thinking choice. On the other hand, if you're already invested in Apple's ecosystem, the iPhone 15 might be a practical option despite its hardware limitations. It offers reliable performance, long-term software support, and seamless integration with Apple's ecosystem. The choice depends on whether you're looking for innovation or comfort. Those who appreciate staying ahead of the curve and having access to the latest features will find the Galaxy S25 a worthy upgrade. Loyal Apple users who prefer familiarity and interoperability with their other devices may find the iPhone 15 perfectly adequate for their needs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Samsung's Galaxy S25 keeps things small without sacrificing power. With a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB of RAM, and all sorts of tools courtesy of Galaxy AI, this is everything you expect from a modern flagship squeezed into a relatively svelte chassis. $800 at Samsung $800 at Best Buy $800 at Amazon Apple iPhone 15 The iPhone 15 is the newest addition to the Apple smartphone lineup. It's set to release in September 2023 and features software and hardware improvements that place it squarely in contention for the crown among smartphones. One major change is the USB-C charging port at the base of the device, which will bring it closer in spec to virtually every other popular model on the market. $799 at Apple

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025 This story is part of our Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025 coverage Updated less than 1 minute ago Table of Contents Table of Contents Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: specs Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: design Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: display Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: performance Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: battery Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: cameras Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: software and updates Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: special features Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: price and availability Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: verdict There's little doubt that Apple and Samsung are two of the biggest rivals in the world of flagship smartphones. Every February and September brings a new smartphone that tries to leapfrog ahead of its main competitor. This year, that's Samsung's Galaxy S25 coming on the heels of September's iPhone 16. With few design changes, the Galaxy S25 doesn't look much different from last year's Galaxy S24, but Samsung has packed a lot of new technology and software improvements under the hood to produce an AI-forward smartphone that's ready for prime time. With Galaxy AI in its second generation and the Gemini now front and center, the Galaxy S25 promises to usher the company's flagships into a new era of AI smartphones. Recommended Videos Android smartphones aren't the only ones playing that game, though. Apple is coming in from behind, but the iPhone 16 is part of Apple's first lineup of phones built for Apple's AI generation -- a new suite of tools under the banner of Apple Intelligence. Of course, there's more to both of these leading smartphones than just AI features, and Apple, in particular, has made a few other interesting enhancements to its iPhone 16 this year. Does Samsung's new Galaxy S25 measure up to these and are new AI features enough to tilt the scales in Samsung's favor? Let's find out. Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: specs Galaxy S25 iPhone 16 Size 146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm (5.78 x 2.78 x 0.28 inches) 147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8 mm (5.81 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches) Weight 162 grams (5.7 ounces) 170 grams (6 ounces) Screen size 6.2-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen with 1Hz to 120Hz adaptive refresh rate 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display Screen resolution 2340 x 1080 resolution at 416 pixels per inch 2556 x 1179 resolution at 460 pixels per inch Storage 128GB, 256GB 128GB, 256GB, 512GB MicroSD card slot No No Tap-to-Pay services Google Wallet Apple Pay Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Apple A18 RAM 12GB 8GB Software Android 15 with One UI 7 iOS 18 Cameras Rear: 50-megapixel primary, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto Front: 12MP Rear: 48-megapixel primary, 12MP ultrawide Front: 12MP Video Rear: Up to 8K at 30 frames per second (fps), 4K at 60 fps, 1080p at 240fps for slow motion Front: Up to 4K at 60 fps Rear: Up to 4K at 60 frames-per-second (fps), FHD at 60 fps, and 240 fps for slow motion, with Dolby Vision Front: Up to 4K at 60 fps Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.4 Bluetooth 5.3 Ports USB-C USB-C Biometrics Under-display fingerprint sensor Face ID facial recognition Water Resistance IP68 IP68 Battery 4,000mAh 25W fast charging 15W Qi wireless charging 4.5W reverse wireless charging 3,561mAh 20W fast charging 25W MagSafe charging 15W Qi2 wireless charging App Marketplace Google Play Apple App Store Network Support 5G, Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) 5G, Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) Colors Navy, Silver Shadow, Mint, Icy Blue, Blueblack, Coralred, Pinkgold Black, White, Pink, Teal, Ultramarine Price Starting at $800 Starting at $799 Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: design It's becoming more apparent every year why many smartphone manufacturers work hard to create rear camera arrays that are unique and stylish. These have become a "signature" aesthetic feature in an era where most smartphones would otherwise be virtually indistinguishable. After all, when even two of the most iconic flagship smartphone brands in the world share the same flat design, there has to be something to set them apart. With the Galaxy S25, Samsung has proven that it's all-in on a design that was once the exclusive domain of the iPhone. Apple went with flat sides and an edge-to-edge screen with its 2020 iPhone 12 lineup, and it seems that 2024 was the year when many Android rivals decided to follow suit, ditching their curvy edges and screens of yesteryear and going for the same look. The average user picking up an uncased Galaxy S24 could be forgiven for thinking they were holding an iPhone, and the Galaxy S25 doesn't change the design in any meaningful way. There are plenty of subtle differences between the Galaxy S25 and iPhone 16, of course, and anyone holding both in their hands will notice they don't quite feel the same. The Galaxy S25 is also slightly smaller and thinner than the iPhone 16 -- an impressive feat considering is boasts a 0.1-inch larger display. Nevertheless, both look eerily similar when viewed from the front and sides. Of course, that's where the camera arrays come in. Flip the two phones over, and you'll have no problem identifying them, and that's not just because of the company logos on the back. Samsung has stuck to its distinctive array of three protruding lenses that feature the more minimalist aesthetic introduced when it got rid of the camera bump with the Galaxy S23. It's a distinctive look for Samsung's Galaxy S-series phones, and we're glad they've stayed with it. Perhaps ironically, Apple's iPhone 16 moved away from its iconic camera bump this year in favor of a pill-shaped bump that houses its dual lenses. It's a nice look that departs from the square arrangement that's been the norm since 2019. It's a throwback to the iPhone X era and makes a lot of sense for a phone with only two cameras. Previous models seemingly tried too hard to mirror the iPhone Pro look; the iPhone 16 charts its own course. Both phones stick with an aluminum frame -- Apple and Samsung reserve titanium for their higher-end flagships -- and glass on the front and back. The Galaxy S25 uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2, first introduced on the Galaxy S23, while Apple uses its own comparatively strong Ceramic Shield glass that it claims is 50% stronger for the iPhone 16. However, unlike Samsung, which uses Gorilla Glass on both sides of the Galaxy S25, Apple's Ceramic Shield only covers the front display. The Galaxy S25 and iPhone 16 both feature an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. However, Apple certifies the iPhone for immersion in a maximum depth of 6 meters of water for up to 30 minutes while Samsung sticks with the more common 1.5 meter standard for the Galaxy S25. Winner: Tie Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: display Samsung traditionally puts its best displays on its entire Galaxy S-series lineup, which means the Galaxy S25 has essentially the same high-quality Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, differing only in size and resolution. With a variable refresh rate that runs from 1 to 120Hz and supports an always-on display mode, the Galaxy S25 has a significant edge over the iPhone 16. Apple reserves its best displays for its Pro models, inscrutably leaving even its 2024 model with a basic OLED panel and a fixed 60Hz refresh rate. The iPhone 16 doesn't have an always-on display, although, despite its limited refresh rate, it still boasts vibrant colors and deep blacks. It's an excellent display for everyday use as long as you don't care about fast-paced gaming, smooth scrolling, or better power efficiency for watching videos. It can also reach 2,000 nits of peak outdoor brightness and get as dim as one nit so you can read in the dark without hurting your eyes or disturbing those around you. However, the Galaxy S25 beats those specs, too, reaching a maximum of 2,600 nits when used outdoors and the same minimum single-nit brightness as the iPhone 16. Still, we've had no problems seeing either smartphone, even in bright outdoor sunlight, so Samsung's higher rating here feels like it's mostly a paper spec rather than something that makes any practical difference for most folks. Nevertheless, a smartphone with a 60Hz display in 2025 feels absurd, especially when we know Apple can do better. The Galaxy S25 easily takes this round for its variable refresh rate alone, not to mention the always-on display feature that accompanies it. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S25 Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: performance It's always been challenging to compare performance specs for Android and Apple devices due to the significant differences in hardware and software. Flagship Android devices typically use Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, while Apple builds the iPhone on its own A-series silicon. That continues with the Galaxy S25, which packs in an optimized "for Galaxy" version of Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. This is the direct successor to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 used in the S24, but Qualcomm has eschewed generational tags in favor of the new "Elite" brand. It's the most powerful piece of silicon Qualcomm has ever made, with incredible new GPU capabilities and an even more potent neural processing unit (NPU) for handling AI tasks. Meanwhile, the iPhone 16 bucks Apple's recent trend of using year-old silicon in its standard iPhone models, adopting the latest A18 chip instead. That's a notch below the A18 Pro used in its premium flagships, but it's not as much of a downgrade as you may think. The difference primarily comes down to the A18 having a 5-core GPU, which is one less core than the A18 Pro. Both versions have the same 6-core CPU and 16-core Neural Engine (NPU), along with increased memory bandwidth. Specs aside, the Galaxy S25 and iPhone 16 pack more power than most folks are likely to need. You can read our detailed comparison of the Snapdragon 8 Elite and Apple A18 Pro if you want the full rundown. Both phones run buttery smooth during everyday tasks, have more than enough oomph for the latest games, and have performance to spare for the complex on-device AI tasks both platforms offer. If anything, the real battle comes down to high-end mobile gaming. It's a close race here as the shortchanged GPU on the A18 gives the Galaxy S25's Adreno GPU a lead on paper, but the iPhone ecosystem carries the day by offering the kind of AAA console games on the App Store that can actually take advantage of this extra power. Winner: Tie Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: battery There's only so much battery you can squeeze into a mid-sized smartphone like the Galaxy S25 or iPhone 16, which makes getting the best battery life more about power efficiency than raw capacity. Thankfully, the leading-edge silicon in these phones delivers on that in spades. The Galaxy S25 packs in a 4,000mAh cell, while the iPhone 16 battery is slightly smaller at 3,561mAh. Both will easily get you through a full day of heavy use, although you should expect they'll need to hit a charger every night. You'll also find the two phones are evenly matched when that time comes. Samsung still hasn't pushed its smallest flagship above 25W wired charging, and that's where Apple's entire iPhone lineup has always sat. Getting from 0-50% should take about 30 minutes with an appropriate charger, after which you'll be looking at another hour or so before they're fully topped up. The iPhone 16 gains support for 25W wireless charging with Apple's proprietary MagSafe charger and also supports standard 15W Qi2 charging with the Magnetic Power Profile (MPP) -- essentially the open-source version of MagSafe. Samsung's Galaxy S25 doesn't have direct Qi2 support (there are no magnets in the phone), but Samsung offers a magnetic case that effectively adds Qi2 for those who want it, delivering wireless charging speeds up to 15W. There's also reverse 4.5W wireless charging that can be used to power up a set of Galaxy Buds or other low-power Qi-capable devices. Winner: Tie Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: cameras Although Samsung's Galaxy S25 isn't a camera powerhouse like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, it still packs in a surprisingly capable camera system, with a 50-megapixel (MP) primary wide lens joined by a 12MP ultra-wide and a 10MP 3x telephoto. Those are identical hardware specs to last year's Galaxy S24, but Samsung is taking advantage of new computational photography features in the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip to improve low-light photography. This year, Samsung is also beefing up its videography features with a new "Nightography" mode for low-light recording, plus support for the professional Log V3 video format. The Galaxy S25 also looks like it will continue last year's course correction away from the overly vibrant and saturated photos that Samsung's phones have long been known for, with the company's new ProVisual Engine providing a much more natural and balanced look. Like the Galaxy S25 lineup, Apple's best photographic features are the exclusive domain of its more expensive iPhone Pro models. However, the base iPhone 16 model is no slouch, and Apple has been making a concerted effort over the past two years to close the camera gap between its standard and pro models. That includes a bump to a 48-megapixel primary camera -- what Apple now calls its "Fusion" camera -- that can provide an optical-quality 2x photo in 12MP resolution by cropping to the center pixels. That first arrived on last year's iPhone 15, and the specs are mostly the same this year; the Fusion branding and an anti-reflective coating appear to be the most significant changes to the primary camera this year. However, the ultrawide gains autofocus capabilities, bringing the previously pro-exclusive macro photography feature to the iPhone 16. The tandem lenses also provide the ability to capture Spatial Photos and Videos that can be viewed on an Apple Vision Pro. Add in zero shutter lag and Dolby Vision HDR recording, and the camera system on the iPhone 16 can do many things that were once limited to the pricier pro models. That's not all, though, as the iPhone 16 also gains support for a dramatically improved version of Apple's Photographic Styles. The original versions of these have been around since the iPhone 13 was released in 2021, but they never garnered much attention in their original form, which only gave you four basic fixed styles to choose from. The iPhone 16 expands that list to 15 preset styles you can customize, adjusting the tone and color using a two-axis slider control. However, what really sets the new Photographic Styles apart is that they're entirely non-destructive. Not only can you apply them after the fact, but you can also remove a style, tweak an existing one, or switch to a new one for any photo you've already taken. This gives the iPhone 16 a definite edge over the Galaxy S25, which really feels like Samsung phoned it in on the cameras this year. Winner: iPhone 16 Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: software and updates As you'd expect, the Galaxy S25 ships with the latest version of Android 15 out of the box, plus Samsung's One UI 7 layered on top. While the look and feel of One UI will be readily familiar to Samsung fans, the company has made some interesting changes this year to take the user experience to a whole new level. One UI 7 delivers what Samsung promises to be a "significant new look" over its predecessor that reduces clutter and takes customization to new heights. There are more One UI widgets and cleaner home and lock screens. A new "Now Bar" that's exclusive to the Galaxy S25 offers up iPhone-like Live Activities, and a "Now Brief" promised to keep you apprised of everything you need to know at any given time of the day, from news and weather to upcoming appointments and an overview of how your health is doing. It's a nice maturing of the One UI platform, and we love it. By comparison, the iPhone 16 continues Apple's tradition of ushering in significant new iOS releases with each new model. This year, that's iOS 18. The core software improvements are much more iterative than what Samsung has done with One UI 7, with Apple putting most of its efforts into Apple Intelligence -- a new suite of AI features that are (mostly) exclusive to the iPhone 16 lineup. Apple Intelligence has been rolling out in stages; while December's iOS 18.2 release brought most of what Apple has promised for this year's iPhones, we're still waiting on improvements to Siri that aren't expected to arrive until iOS 18.4 in April. Both One UI 7 and iOS 18 are (or will be) available for older Galaxy and iPhone models, but only the latest models will get everything these two operating systems have to offer. Only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max can benefit from the Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18, and while Samsung is rolling its Galaxy AI tools out to older models, we'll have to wait and see which ones make the cut as One UI 7 has yet to roll out to older models. In terms of updates, Samsung is maintaining its usual promise of seven years of Android updates, which means the Galaxy S25 will someday be able to run Android 22 when it arrives in 2031. We expect most folks will be shopping for a new phone by then, but it's nice to know we have the option. Apple doesn't make specific update promises for the iPhone, but it has a proven track record for updates; it was offering four or five years in the days when most Android phones rarely got two. The iPhone 16 should make it to at least iOS 22, but we wouldn't be surprised if it goes one or two releases beyond that, considering the iPhone XS and iPhone XR, which shipped with iOS 12 in 2018, can run iOS 18 today. Winner: Tie Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: special features It seems everything is about AI these days, and the Galaxy S25 and iPhone 16 both lean heavily into these features. As we mentioned in the last section, Samsung has its Galaxy AI tools that are now in their second generation while Apple is just getting started with Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 16 lineup. With the Galaxy S25, Samsung's Galaxy AI suite feels ready for prime time, although many of the tools are still of dubious value. The most significant change is that Samsung has shown its Bixby voice assistant to the door and embraced the "Gemini Era" by adopting Gemini Live as the standard voice assistant. This gives the Galaxy S25 a massive leg up over the iPhone 16, which still uses Apple's beleaguered Siri. Apple's voice assistant squandered a three-year head start to become something of a punch line, and in a somewhat ironic twist, many have observed that Siri has gotten worse in iOS 18. However, the Siri improvements promised by Apple Intelligence have yet to arrive. The first of these should come in iOS 18.4 in a few months, but a more conversational Siri could take until an iOS 19 release sometime next year. In the meantime, Gemini Live is here now on the Galaxy S25, and it's leaps and bounds ahead of anything Apple has on deck. That's not to say iPhone users are entirely left out in the cold. In developing Apple Intelligence, it recognized that it wouldn't have Siri ready to handle conversational AI anytime soon and wasn't equipped to handle broader "world knowledge" questions. So, Apple partnered with OpenAI to bake ChatGPT into iOS 18. Siri will send any requests it can't deal with to ChatGPT, but you can bypass the middleman by simply telling Siri to "Ask ChatGPT" outright. It's a bit more cumbersome than Gemini Live, but it works well and gets the job done when you have a nagging question you need an answer to. Leaving the chatbots aside, Apple Intelligence and Galaxy AI are more on par when it comes to useful AI features like recording and transcribing phone calls and notes, summarizing blocks of text and even whole web pages, and handling real-time translation. Samsung comes out ahead in its AI photo and video editing features, although iPhone users have plenty of apps to choose from that can do many of the same things, including Google Photos. On the flip side, Apple's Image Playground is a handy tool for turning photos and descriptions into cartoony-like AI images, but the Play Store is full of tools that can do the same thing. While Samsung has leaned heavily into AI with the Galaxy S25, the iPhone 16 offers one cool feature that even non-AI fans can enjoy: the Camera Control. This is an extra button on the lower right side of the iPhone that effectively turns your device into an old-school point-and-shoot camera. It may seem like a gimmick at first blush, but we've been having a lot of fun with it as it does so much more than just open the camera and take pictures. The capacitative surface also lets you swipe through various controls to adjust any of the camera settings, from zoom levels to Photographic Styles, and a light-press can be used to lock auto-focus and auto-exposure before pressing all the way down to capture a picture -- the same way most DLSRs work. The fact that we wrote six paragraphs about it in our iPhone 16 review should give you an idea of how compelling this new feature is. The Camera Control also ties into an iPhone 16-exclusive AI feature called Visual Intelligence. Pressing and holding the button from the Lock Screen or within nearly any app will switch to a camera view that you can use to get more information on real-world objects from either Google or ChatGPT. This includes identifying breeds of animals or types of flowers, deciphering laundry labels, finding out more information from an event poster, and even automatically adding the date and time to your calendar. You can also translate text between different languages and perform a Google Lens-style search to find other similar items. In addition to the Camera Control, the iPhone 16 also gets the Action button that was exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro models last year. This replaces Apple's classic ring/silent switch with a customizable button that can trigger nearly any action you can think of, thanks to its support for running Apple's macro-like Shortcuts. Although Apple's AI features remain behind the curve compared to the Galaxy S25, AI isn't a priority for everyone, and the iPhone 16 makes up for it with more versatile controls. Winner: Tie Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: price and availability The Galaxy S25 went on sale on February 7 and can be ordered directly from Samsung or any of the usual online or brick-and-mortar retailers. You should also be able to find it at your carrier of choice. The Galaxy S25 starts at $800 for the base 128GB, with the 256GB version selling for only $60 more. Samsung is offering the usual trade-in programs that can shave up to $550 off those prices. This year, the Galaxy S25 comes in navy, mint, Icy Blue, and Silver Shadow as the standard colors, while those ordering from Samsung can also choose from exclusive Blueblack, Coralred, and Pinkgold finishes. The iPhone 16 was released in September 2024 and starts at $799 for the 128GB model, with 256GB and 512GB versions available for $899 and $1,099, respectively. Apple is also offering trade-ins that can knock up to $630 off the price, but you'll need to trade in a recent higher-end model to get that maximum value. The iPhone 16 comes in black, white, pink, teal, and ultramarine. Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: verdict A comparison between an iPhone and just about any other smartphone on the market often comes down to one question: platform. The iPhone 16 and Galaxy S25 may now look more similar than ever on the surface, but they couldn't be more different under the hood. They run fundamentally different operating systems, and chances are that your preference for iOS or Android will dictate your choice here more than anything else. Still, if you have no strong feelings either way or you're looking for a change, both have a lot to offer that could tempt you to come over from the other side. The iPhone 16 has a surprisingly fun and capable camera system for a non-pro model, and the Camera Control button makes this even more of a joy for avid mobile photographers. Whatever you may think of Apple Intelligence, iOS 18 is a solid and mature operating system with a proven track record, and it sticks to its roots this year, so anyone who has used an iPhone in the last decade should still feel right at home. Apple's A18 chip offers power to spare and the App Store hosts a collection of strong AAA console games to enjoy, although you'll disappointingly be held back by the iPhone's archaic 60Hz refresh rate. On the other side, the Galaxy S25 has embraced Gemini Live to offer a voice assistant that can talk circles around Siri, plus a wealth of other Galaxy AI features that are more useful and refined. The camera system is still very capable, even if it feels like Samsung wasn't really trying this year, the display is gorgeous, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite is an insanely powerful chip that's just waiting for the right games to take advantage of everything its souped-up Adreno GPU has to offer. To put the key differences between these two flagships in simpler terms, the Galaxy S25 is for those who want leading-edge AI features, but if photography is your bag, the iPhone 16 will surprise and delight you in myriad creative ways.

I'm skipping the Plus and Ultra - here's why the standard Galaxy S25 is my top pick

The camera still suffers from shutter lag, making it less ideal for capturing fast-moving subjects. The Samsung Galaxy S25 might not be as flashy as the Ultra, but it's still the best compact phone you can buy right now. It refines an already great formula with a slimmer, lighter design, better battery life, and smarter AI features. But with minimal hardware upgrades over its predecessor, is it still worth $799? Also: I tried to replace my laptop with the Galaxy S25 Ultra - and I'd do it all over again It helps that Samsung is counting on an upgraded Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor this year, which not only brings speed improvements but also better image clarity and more efficient battery life -- arguably the three most important aspects for consumers. I've spent the past week testing the device, and while the spec sheet may not excite you, the real-world experience tells a different story. The Galaxy S25 is slimmer and lighter than last year's Galaxy S24. In fact, it's one of the most comfortable phones I've held and used. Unlike the larger Galaxy S25 Ultra, the flat sides don't feel unwieldy, and the curved edges keep it handy. I'd go as far as to say it offers a better in-hand feel than the Google Pixel 9 and iPhone 16. Also: Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: I compared the base models that most people should buy On the front, there's a 6.2-inch AMOLED display with an FHD+ resolution, which, on paper, is less sharp than the QHD+ screens found on the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra. But in practice, it's still sharp and vibrant for its size. From scrolling through Reels on Instagram to browsing on Chrome to watching movies on Netflix, the Galaxy S25 display delivers a satisfying content consumption experience. I just wish the anti-reflective coating of Gorilla Armor 2 from the Galaxy S25 Ultra had trickled down to this model, as it makes the screen more usable in bright environments. It's a quality-of-life upgrade that would have made the compact phone experience truly one of a kind. That said, the screen is still fairly legible in direct sunlight, as shown in the image above. At Galaxy Unpacked, I had the impression that Samsung was over-relying on the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor to deliver a substantial upgrade over the Galaxy S24 this year. Maybe I dismissed it too quickly because, in my time reviewing the Galaxy S25, I've noticed battery life improvements that I've never seen from the smallest Samsung model. Also: I used the Galaxy S25 Ultra as my daily driver for two weeks - and I'm worried for Samsung From my tests, the Galaxy S25 lasted me at least an hour and a half longer than its predecessor under similar usage. It's a one-day phone for moderate users -- those who browse, use social media, and message frequently. While navigation and camera use will drain the battery faster, most people will be satisfied with the battery life here. While I like the fact that Samsung has managed to deliver better battery life in a slimmer and lighter design, I'd have preferred a charging rate faster than 25W this year. At least keep it on par with the Galaxy S25 Plus and Ultra's 45W! Like the charging, Samsung hasn't updated the cameras on the Galaxy S25 this year. It features the same optics as the Galaxy S24, which are the same as the Galaxy S23 from the year before. Instead, Samsung continues to lean on the latest processor to enhance its camera hardware, which keeps the devices market-relevant, but nothing more. For a refresher, the camera system includes a 50MP primary camera with optical image stabilization, a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 12MP ultrawide-angle sensor. Also: These useful One UI 7 features are coming to the Galaxy S25 series - and older models too The phone offers good dynamic range and consistent colors across its sensors. I've found my image samples to be slightly more detailed than those from last year's model. Samsung has also worked on delivering more accurate human skin tones, along with better low-light results in terms of clarity and lesser noise in challenging environments. Compared to the iPhone 16 and Pixel 9, I prefer the Galaxy S25 camera for its versatility. A dedicated 3x telephoto camera is essential for me. However, if your camera usage involves capturing toddlers or pets, the iPhone may serve you better, as these cameras still struggle with fast-moving subjects. Unless you use the Expert RAW app to adjust the shutter speed for all photos, this isn't the best camera system for capturing little humans and furry friends. Some of the biggest camera upgrades come in video mode. You can now shoot log videos with Galaxy Log, enabling cinematographers to apply LUTs to color-grade their 10-bit footage. Also: Every Samsung Galaxy S25 model compared: How to decide which phone to buy The Galaxy S25 also introduces a new post-editing feature called Audio Eraser, which uses AI to recognize and remove unwanted noises such as wind, water, or public chatter. A similar feature is available on Apple and Google phones, so I'm happy to report that Samsung has finally caught up -- and it works well. The Samsung Galaxy S25 runs Android 15-based One UI 7, which will soon roll out to the older Galaxy S24 series, bringing most, if not all, of the features I'm about to mention to last year's phones. Starting with AI Select, my most-used AI feature over the past few days. It works like Circle to Search, allowing you to highlight on-screen content and suggest on-device actions based on the information. Also: This $300 Samsung phone looks as good as the Galaxy S25 - at a fraction of the price For example, if you receive an event invite via text or email with time, date, and location details, you can tap on AI Select from the Edge Panel, highlight the invite details, and the phone will suggest an "Add to Calendar" option. Tap on it, and the time, date, and location are automatically filled in within your Calendar app. There's also a new Galaxy AI feature called Now Brief, an app-widget hybrid that consolidates important data in one place. In theory, it can show weather updates, suggest taking the day easy if Galaxy Health detects poor sleep, recommend Spotify playlists from your favorite artists, display news and calendar events, and suggest YouTube Shorts. However, in my experience, it has mostly been a glorified weather app. It couldn't detect my Google Fit data synced with Galaxy Health and didn't show me any news. The suggested Spotify playlists weren't based on my preferences either. Samsung claims the service will improve over time, so I'll update this review if I notice changes. One UI 7 introduces the Now Bar, a new way to display active app notifications on the lock screen. If you have a timer, music player, or navigation running, they appear as stacked cards on the lock screen that you can swipe and interact with. It reminds me of Dynamic Island and Live Activities on iPhones and, in a similar fashion, supports a limited number of apps at launch. I expect it to gain support for more apps as developers integrate it into their products. For now, it feels like a nice feature in its early stages. Also: A privacy screen protector seemed perfect - then I put it on my Galaxy S25 Ultra Other Galaxy AI party tricks include Portrait Studio for creating 3D cartoons and sketches from portraits, Sketch to Image, and Generative AI for adding objects to photos. These features are more refined and consistent, but tasks like Generative AI and background expansion in the Gallery app can still take more than 10 seconds to process. The Galaxy S25 also includes Gemini AI upgrades. The new, transformed version of Google Assistant can be triggered by a long press of the side button. It allows you to ask for information, plan things, and send WhatsApp messages to contacts. It's better at handling multiple commands in a single line, and I'm looking forward to broader third-party app support. While it may seem like an underwhelming upgrade on paper, I've enjoyed using the Samsung Galaxy S25. My only gripe is its inability to capture moving subjects well without adjusting the shutter speed in Expert RAW. If you can overlook that, this is a solid phone for $799 -- and an even better deal if you can snag it with a trade-in offer or promotion. Compared to Google and Apple, the Galaxy S25 offers a better display, the best in-hand feel in its segment, a more versatile camera setup, and good battery life. It's better than the similarly priced Pixel 9 and iPhone 16 -- and my top pick for anyone looking for a compact flagship right now.

Why I'm recommending the standard Galaxy S25 over the Ultra this year - and don't regret it

The camera still suffers from shutter lag, making it less ideal for capturing fast-moving subjects. The Samsung Galaxy S25 might not be as flashy as the Ultra, but it's still the best compact phone you can buy right now. It refines an already great formula with a slimmer, lighter design, better battery life, and smarter AI features. But with minimal hardware upgrades over its predecessor, is it still worth $799? Also: I tried to replace my laptop with the Galaxy S25 Ultra - and I'd do it all over again It helps that Samsung is counting on an upgraded Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor this year, which not only brings speed improvements but also better image clarity and more efficient battery life -- arguably the three most important aspects for consumers. I've spent the past week testing the device, and while the spec sheet may not excite you, the real-world experience tells a different story. The Galaxy S25 is slimmer and lighter than last year's Galaxy S24. In fact, it's one of the most comfortable phones I've held and used. Unlike the larger Galaxy S25 Ultra, the flat sides don't feel unwieldy, and the curved edges keep it handy. I'd go as far as to say it offers a better in-hand feel than the Google Pixel 9 and iPhone 16. Also: T-Mobile customers can get still get a new Galaxy S25 series phone for free. How to qualify On the front, there's a 6.2-inch AMOLED display with an FHD+ resolution, which, on paper, is less sharp than the QHD+ screens found on the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra. But in practice, it's still sharp and vibrant for its size. From scrolling through Reels on Instagram to browsing on Chrome to watching movies on Netflix, the Galaxy S25 display delivers a satisfying content consumption experience. I just wish the anti-reflective coating of Gorilla Armor 2 from the Galaxy S25 Ultra had trickled down to this model, as it makes the screen more usable in bright environments. It's a quality-of-life upgrade that would have made the compact phone experience truly one of a kind. That said, the screen is still fairly legible in direct sunlight, as shown in the image above. At Galaxy Unpacked, I had the impression that Samsung was over-relying on the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor to deliver a substantial upgrade over the Galaxy S24 this year. Maybe I dismissed it too quickly because, in my time reviewing the Galaxy S25, I've noticed battery life improvements that I've never seen from the smallest Samsung model. Also: I used the Galaxy S25 Ultra as my daily driver for two weeks - and I'm worried for Samsung From my tests, the Galaxy S25 lasted me at least an hour and a half longer than its predecessor under similar usage. It's a one-day phone for moderate users -- those who browse, use social media, and message frequently. While navigation and camera use will drain the battery faster, most people will be satisfied with the battery life here. While I like the fact that Samsung has managed to deliver better battery life in a slimmer and lighter design, I'd have preferred a charging rate faster than 25W this year. At least keep it on par with the Galaxy S25 Plus and Ultra's 45W! Like the charging, Samsung hasn't updated the cameras on the Galaxy S25 this year. It features the same optics as the Galaxy S24, which are the same as the Galaxy S23 from the year before. Instead, Samsung continues to lean on the latest processor to enhance its camera hardware, which keeps the devices market-relevant, but nothing more. For a refresher, the camera system includes a 50MP primary camera with optical image stabilization, a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 12MP ultrawide-angle sensor. Also: This Samsung Watch deal gets you the latest Galaxy model for only $160 The phone offers good dynamic range and consistent colors across its sensors. I've found my image samples to be slightly more detailed than those from last year's model. Samsung has also worked on delivering more accurate human skin tones, along with better low-light results in terms of clarity and lesser noise in challenging environments. Compared to the iPhone 16 and Pixel 9, I prefer the Galaxy S25 camera for its versatility. A dedicated 3x telephoto camera is essential for me. However, if your camera usage involves capturing toddlers or pets, the iPhone may serve you better, as these cameras still struggle with fast-moving subjects. Unless you use the Expert RAW app to adjust the shutter speed for all photos, this isn't the best camera system for capturing little humans and furry friends. Some of the biggest camera upgrades come in video mode. You can now shoot log videos with Galaxy Log, enabling cinematographers to apply LUTs to color-grade their 10-bit footage. Also: Every Samsung Galaxy S25 model compared: How to decide which phone to buy The Galaxy S25 also introduces a new post-editing feature called Audio Eraser, which uses AI to recognize and remove unwanted noises such as wind, water, or public chatter. A similar feature is available on Apple and Google phones, so I'm happy to report that Samsung has finally caught up -- and it works well. The Samsung Galaxy S25 runs Android 15-based One UI 7, which will soon roll out to the older Galaxy S24 series, bringing most, if not all, of the features I'm about to mention to last year's phones. Starting with AI Select, my most-used AI feature over the past few days. It works like Circle to Search, allowing you to highlight on-screen content and suggest on-device actions based on the information. Also: The best Samsung Galaxy S25 cases of 2025 For example, if you receive an event invite via text or email with time, date, and location details, you can tap on AI Select from the Edge Panel, highlight the invite details, and the phone will suggest an "Add to Calendar" option. Tap on it, and the time, date, and location are automatically filled in within your Calendar app. There's also a new Galaxy AI feature called Now Brief, an app-widget hybrid that consolidates important data in one place. In theory, it can show weather updates, suggest taking the day easy if Galaxy Health detects poor sleep, recommend Spotify playlists from your favorite artists, display news and calendar events, and suggest YouTube Shorts. However, in my experience, it has mostly been a glorified weather app. It couldn't detect my Google Fit data synced with Galaxy Health and didn't show me any news. The suggested Spotify playlists weren't based on my preferences either. Samsung claims the service will improve over time, so I'll update this review if I notice changes. One UI 7 introduces the Now Bar, a new way to display active app notifications on the lock screen. If you have a timer, music player, or navigation running, they appear as stacked cards on the lock screen that you can swipe and interact with. It reminds me of Dynamic Island and Live Activities on iPhones and, in a similar fashion, supports a limited number of apps at launch. I expect it to gain support for more apps as developers integrate it into their products. For now, it feels like a nice feature in its early stages. Also: A privacy screen protector seemed perfect - then I put it on my Galaxy S25 Ultra Other Galaxy AI party tricks include Portrait Studio for creating 3D cartoons and sketches from portraits, Sketch to Image, and Generative AI for adding objects to photos. These features are more refined and consistent, but tasks like Generative AI and background expansion in the Gallery app can still take more than 10 seconds to process. The Galaxy S25 also includes Gemini AI upgrades. The new, transformed version of Google Assistant can be triggered by a long press of the side button. It allows you to ask for information, plan things, and send WhatsApp messages to contacts. It's better at handling multiple commands in a single line, and I'm looking forward to broader third-party app support. While it may seem like an underwhelming upgrade on paper, I've enjoyed using the Samsung Galaxy S25. My only gripe is its inability to capture moving subjects well without adjusting the shutter speed in Expert RAW. If you can overlook that, this is a solid phone for $799 -- and an even better deal if you can snag it with a trade-in offer or promotion. Compared to Google and Apple, the Galaxy S25 offers a better display, the best in-hand feel in its segment, a more versatile camera setup, and good battery life. It's better than the similarly priced Pixel 9 and iPhone 16 -- and my top pick for anyone looking for a compact flagship right now.

Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra is Boringly Perfect (And That's a Compliment)

Summary Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra offers incremental design updates with a slimmer profile and rounded edges for improved comfort. The display is an excellent panel with anti-reflective coating, variable refresh rate, and improved visibility in outdoor conditions. The cameras offer mixed improvements with enhanced ultrawide capability, video features, but persistent issues with main sensor focus and shutter lag. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra might be the company's most marginal upgrade yet -- only behind the S25 and S25+, which barely count as a generational bump. But these phones set the tone for the rest of the industry: sometimes the most meaningful updates aren't the ones that make headlines. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 9 / 10 $1300 $1500 Save $200 The Galaxy S25 Ultra sets a new standard for AI-driven mobile experiences, featuring Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. The device introduces context-aware AI capabilities, such as multimodal interactions and tools like AI-assisted editing and natural language commands. With a durable titanium build, a new 50MP ultrawide camera, and ProVisual Engine enhancements, it offers exceptional photography and video quality. Pros & Cons Excellent display Persistent 2-day battery life The best software experience on a smartphone right now S-Pen loses Bluetooth functionality Galaxy AI won't be free after the end of 2025 See at Samsung $1300 at Amazon See at Best Buy See at AT&T See at Verizon See at T-Mobile How We Test and Review Products Price and Availability The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is available directly through Samsung's website and major retailers, including Best Buy and Amazon. It includes either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage and comes in the following colorways: Titanium Black, Titanium SilverBlue, Titanium Gray, Titanium WhiteSilver, Titanium JetBlack, Titanium JadeGreen, and Titanium PinkGold. Specifications Brand Samsung SoC Snapdragon 8 Elite Display 6.9-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display, 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate RAM 12GB Storage 256, 512, 1TB Battery 5000mAh Ports USB-C Operating System Android 15 / One UI 7 Camera (Rear, Front) 200MP wide, 50MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto, 50MP 5x telephoto Front camera 12MP wide Dimensions 77.6 x 162.8 x 8.2mm Colors Titan Black, Titan Gray, Titan Silverblue, Titan Whitesilver Weight 218g Expand Less-Sharp Design The Galaxy S25 Ultra introduces the most significant design refresh I've seen in recent years: curved corners. Genuinely, the visual differences between the S25 Ultra and its last three predecessors are so minuscule that it feels like we've been on an "S" year for the past couple of years, but the changes Samsung has made with the Galaxy S25 Ultra are welcome. For one, Samsung has managed to slim down the device considerably, bringing the weight down to 218 grams from the S24 Ultra's 233 grams while also reducing the thickness to 8.2mm from 8.6mm. While a 15-gram reduction might seem minimal on paper, it makes a noticeable difference in daily use, especially considering this remains one of the largest flagship phones available. Perhaps the most welcome change is the shift to rounded edges, addressing one of the main criticisms of the S24 Ultra's sharp corners. This new design approach, while arguably inspired by competitors like the iPhone and Pixel, significantly improves handling comfort when holding the phone for extended periods of time. On the back, the cameras get distinctive rings around the lenses that accentuate the four-camera array, similar to last year's Galaxy Z Fold 6. Honestly, they look pretty good. Functionally, they don't add anything, but I would assume the larger surface area around the lenses would offer slightly better protection from drops. In terms of materials, Samsung continues to use titanium for the frame, but this year's phone implements a stronger grade 5 titanium that should be on par with the iPhone. The company also upgraded the glass to Gorilla Glass Armor 2, which promises enhanced scratch resistance and durability. Samsung claims the phone can survive being dropped screen first onto concrete, but I'll let someone else test that out. All this to say, despite very minor changes across the board, the industrial design language remains distinctly Samsung, and the device retains the S-Pen slot integrated into the design despite the slimmer profile. It's hard to fault the company for being boring, especially because of how great the Galaxy S24 Ultra was -- logically, why would they go to the effort to redesign an implementation that has worked for the past couple of years? I think my biggest issue with Samsung's approach isn't necessarily that they're choosing not to innovate -- I prefer them and every other company not to change their designs just for the sake of it -- what I find concerning is the design foundation and direction they have landed on isn't timeless. Every tweak they made to it only made the phone feel more generic. In a world where OnePlus, Vivo, and Huawei exist, it's hard to look at the Galaxy S25 Ultra and see it as the halo phone for Samsung when other companies clearly are more ambitious. Same Incredible Display The display on the S25 Ultra is excellent. Samsung has largely maintained the same panel specifications from the S24 Ultra, which isn't a criticism given how incredible of a viewing experience that display already was. It's a slightly larger 6.9-inch AMOLED panel that continues to offer a resolution of 1440 x 3120 pixels and the same peak brightness of 2,600 nits. The anti-reflective coating introduced with the S24 Ultra remains one of the standout features, significantly reducing glare in outdoor conditions. This continues to set Samsung's displays apart from competitors and it makes the S25 Ultra's screen exceptionally usable in bright environments. I think the slight trade-off in saturation due to the coating is a worthwhile compromise for the improved visibility, especially because Samsung boosts saturation and vividness anyway. The screen also maintains its variable refresh rate, scaling from 1 to 120Hz as needed, and continues to support HDR10+ content. The bezels are slightly thinner and uniform all the way around; I would never call the S24 Ultra bezels big or distracting, but the tiny reduction in bezel size on the phone is noticeable side-by-side, and it does make using the S25 Ultra feel like a newer phone. A Camera System Needing a Touch-Up The camera system on the S25 Ultra presents a mixed bag of improvements and persistent challenges. The headline upgrade is the new 50MP ultrawide camera, which is a pretty significant jump from the 12MP sensor of its predecessor. This enhancement brings notably improved detail in landscape shots and macro photography, but the rest of the camera array remains familiar: the 200MP main sensor, 50MP 5x telephoto, and 10MP 3x telephoto lens. I think, for the most part, camera performance is on par with last year. The images out of the ultrawide and telephoto lenses are very good and retain decent detail and sharpness. Color reproduction across the lenses is also quite good and remains consistent while switching between focal lengths, which is great to see as well. However, the main 200MP sensor presents some concerning issues, particularly with focus consistency and shutter lag. In testing, I've experienced significant delays between pressing the shutter button and image capture, which has resulted in blurry photos simply because I moved my hand after clicking the shutter button, but the image was captured half a second later. Close Focus hunting is also more prevalent than it should be for a flagship device, especially in moderate to low-light conditions -- Even with my subject being center-frame, a lot of photos come out being out of focus, and generally soft and grainy. I have experienced this on the Galaxy S24 Ultra as well, but it's been a year for Samsung to address this, and for it to appear on the main sensor is something that needs to be addressed. Close The camera system's saving grace comes in its video capabilities. The introduction of default 10-bit HDR recording and improved log recording options positions the S25 Ultra as a serious contender for mobile videography. These features, combined with Samsung's already capable video stabilization, make for an impressive video capture experience that rivals the iPhone 16 Pro. Impressive Performance and Battery Life The S25 Ultra is equipped with the new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset paired with 12 or 16GB of RAM. Samsung claims performance gains of 40% NPU, 37% CPU, and 30% GPU performance gains over the previous generation appear to hold up in real-world testing, with the S25 Ultra scoring 2,871 on single-core and 9,212 on multi-core. The "For Galaxy" optimization provides slightly higher clock speeds compared to standard implementations of the same chip in other devices. Perhaps more impressive than the raw performance numbers is the improved thermal management. Samsung has increased the vapor chamber size by 40% and implemented a new thermal interface material, which should result in more consistent performance during extended use. In my testing, I ran into zero issues navigating the UI, browsing the web, or scrolling social media. The shutter delay from the camera is the only notable issue that comes to mind, but I'm unsure if it's due to software or the chipset -- my best guess is it has to do with software optimization because the rest of my usage with the S25 Ultra has been extremely consistent. Battery life also remains consistent with the S25 Ultra, delivering up to two days of moderate use from the 5,000mAh cell. While this performance is commendable, it's somewhat disappointing that Samsung didn't incorporate newer battery technologies like silicon carbon like the OnePlus 13, which could have potentially increased capacity without adding bulk. Charging capabilities remain unchanged at 45W wired and 15W wireless, which feels increasingly conservative compared to competitors' offerings. Forget Galaxy AI, OneUI 7 Is the True Star The software experience on the S25 Ultra represents Samsung's most notable strength, particularly in its AI implementation, but also in designing and executing on argubly the best smartphone UI right now: OneUI 7. Samsung's evolution from a company once criticized for its cartoonish interface to one delivering perhaps the most refined Android experience is remarkable. From animation to changes in state to the visual overhaul OneUI 7 brings, the Galaxy S25 Ultra offers the most stable and dependable user experience across the board and still offers the same seven years of software and security updates, which is excellent, For the most part, the integration of AI features feels thoughtful rather than gimmicky. The partnership with Google remains strong, with features like Circle to Search still present and Google Gemini now able to parse through Samsung apps to perform tasks. Samsung's Object Eraser is by far the best on the market that delivers scary good results. It feels like Samsung's version is just a notch above Google's Magic Eraser, and completely beats out Apple's version on the iPhone. Close Samsung also incorporated an audio eraser tool as well as a new Portrait Studio tool to compete with Apple's Audio Mix and Image Playgrounds, respectively, and for the most part, I think they're both very clearly the first iterations of these types of tools. I think Apple's Audio Mix is slightly better at isolating sound and voices, but Samsung's Portrait Studio offers much better results that are true to the original image compared to Apple's Image Playground. Close On the other end of the spectrum is Samsung's Now Bar, which is this Dynamic Island pill thing that exists near the bottom of the phone's lock screen. It works much like the Dynamic Island and can display live activities like a stopwatch, timer, music, and notifications, but so far, it's only limited to Samsung's apps and Spotify. I think it's a decent feature, but what Samsung is trying to push with the Now Bar is Now Briefs, which has been in my testing, extremely useless. It's meant to provide a personalized summary of content that updates throughout the day and integrate with news, calendar, and even YouTube Shorts (for some reason), but even with enabling everything on, I got nothing out of my AI summaries aside from weather and my calendar, which both exist as their separate widgets on my home screen anyway. Overall, Samsung's software trajectory shows remarkable maturity, but it also goes to show that the S25 Ultra strongly relies on its software to sell itself, even if some features like Now Briefs still need refinement. Should You Buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra? The Galaxy S25 Ultra might seem like a modest upgrade on paper, but it represents Samsung's maturing approach to flagship smartphones. While some might dismiss it as boring, this iteration demonstrates Samsung's understanding that in today's market, the battleground has shifted from hardware specifications to AI capabilities and software experience. The hardware improvements-from the more comfortable design to the improved thermal management-are thoughtful refinements that enhance the user experience. The camera system, despite its inconsistencies with the main sensor, shows promise with its improved ultrawide capability and video features. However, what truly sets the S25 Ultra apart is its software experience. Samsung has successfully positioned itself at the intersection of hardware capability and AI innovation, offering a package that neither Google nor Apple can fully match at present. Google's AI features, while impressive, are constrained by Tensor's limitations, while Apple's AI capabilities currently lag behind. As the line between hardware and software continues to blur, the biggest concern going forward is whether these features remain free or accessible. Samsung's approach last year heavily leaned on making Galaxy AI a democratized way of accessing AI tools, but this year, the Galaxy S25's Galaxy AI suite is set to stop being free after the end of 2025, which means if you don't pay for it, you won't have it. If that becomes the case, it's hard to see where the Galaxy S25 Ultra's competitive advantage lies. Overall, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is arguably Samsung's most refined flagship yet - not because it revolutionizes the smartphone industry, but because it expertly delivers a dependable experience. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 9 / 10 $1300 $1500 Save $200 The Galaxy S25 Ultra sets a new standard for AI-driven mobile experiences, featuring Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. The device introduces context-aware AI capabilities, such as multimodal interactions and tools like AI-assisted editing and natural language commands. With a durable titanium build, a new 50MP ultrawide camera, and ProVisual Engine enhancements, it offers exceptional photography and video quality. See at Samsung $1300 at Amazon See at Best Buy See at AT&T See at Verizon See at T-Mobile

Review: Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra is a jack of all trades, master of none

With our demands for what we expect from a smartphone practically met these days, it's no surprise the industry has grown a little... boring. More than ever, software is the name of the game, with everything else -- the design, the internal specs, even the camera sensors -- coming in a distant second. Nowhere is that more true than with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, a smartphone that is arriving on the market without much else to its name than a brand-new box of software tricks, nearly all centered around AI. Of course, that's far too simple of a story for Samsung. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is the only member of this year's trio to undergo any visual changes, while simultaneously losing out on some handy -- albeit underused -- S Pen functionality. The result is one of the oddest smartphones I've ever reviewed for Android Police, a device that feels stuck between a superphone past and an AI-first future. And frankly, while that sounds like a recipe for disaster, the results are about as predictable as you'd expect. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 7.5 / 10 Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra continues to hang around as a top-tier alternative to devices from Apple and Google, but it's slowly losing what makes it special with each passing generation. Pros & Cons Improved, more comfortable design Shutter speed is less of an issue than in years past Samsung's display technology remains as good as ever Charging speeds seem to be improved No real sense of Samsung's identity Galaxy AI remains an easily-ignored disappointment Practically every competitor outperforms this camera system Some odd bugs and software decisions in One UI 7 $1300 at Samsung $1300 at Best Buy $1300 at Amazon Availability, network, and specs Available, well, everywhere As usual, you can buy the Galaxy S25 Ultra from practically any electronics retailer. Amazon, Best Buy, and the usual assortment of carriers all carry this smartphone, as do select MVNOs like Google Fi (with, presumably, more to come). Like the Galaxy S23 series, this year's entire lineup uses Qualcomm chips exclusively, so those buying in regions like Europe will get the same Snapdragon 8 Elite-based experience as those of us in the US. Unlike in 2024, Samsung has spared its fans from a price hike. The Galaxy S25 Ultra starts at $1,300 for the 256GB model, with the top-of-the-line 1TB model priced at $1,660. Thankfully, between Samsung's own trade-in bonuses and the always-rotating allotment of deals from carriers, most smartphone shoppers won't pay anywhere close to those numbers this year. More than ever, I'd push buyers to take advantage of those trade-in valuations. I'm reviewing the Galaxy S25 Ultra in its Titanium Silverblue colorway, and frankly, I think it's pretty disappointing. This is gray by any other name -- you'll only spot the light blue tinge in specific lights at even more specific angles. If you're planning on buying this phone, do everything in your power to pick one of the three Samsung-exclusive colors. Titanium Jadegreen looks pretty sharp in person. Specifications SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy Display type LTPO AMOLED, 120Hz Display dimensions 6.9" Display resolution 3120 x 1440 RAM 12GB Storage 256GB, 512GB, 1TB Battery 5,000mAh Charge speed 45W Charge options USB-C wired, Qi wireless Ports USB-C Operating System Android 15 and One UI 7 Front camera 12MP f/2.2 Rear camera 200MP f/1.7 main, 50MP f/1.9 ultrawide, 10MP f/2.4 telephoto, 50MP f/3.4 telephoto Cellular connectivity Sub-6 & mmWave 5G Wi-Fi connectivity Wi-Fi 7 Connectivity NFC, UWB Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.4 Dimensions 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm Weight 218g IP Rating IP68 Colors Titanium Black, Titanium Gray, Titanium Whitesilver, Titanium Silverblue Stylus Yes, S Pen Price $1,300 Expand Design and display Familiarity breeds contempt For the first time since the Galaxy S21 Ultra, Samsung has a new look for its non-folding flagship. The Galaxy S25 Ultra leaves behind the Note-like look of its direct predecessors, adapting similar attributes to the rest of the S25 lineup. Curved corners, flat chassis: The future is here, folks, and it looks pretty similar to every other phone on the market. Say what you will about the Galaxy S24 Ultra feeling "too big" -- at least it looked unique. The trade-off for such a boring aesthetic is, of course, a big boost to comfort. This phone is narrower, thinner, and lighter, and those curved corners guarantee that the caseless among us can hold the Galaxy S25 Ultra without feeling it dig into the palm of their hand. It's a great improvement, but I really wish Samsung had found a way to bring those changes to this device without losing the couple of attributes that made it stand out. Aside from these changes, though, this is a pretty familiar phone. The three main lenses along the back now have larger, "floating" camera rings, while the UWB window has swapped sides within the frame, and, well, that's about it. Frankly, I think it's a perfectly fine design. These new flat edges make it look far chunkier -- and less original -- than its bulkier predecessor, but I can't argue that it's much more comfortable in the hand. Thankfully, Samsung kept the best part of the Galaxy S25 Ultra's predecessor around: its display. Corning's co-developed Gorilla Armor returns for year two, promising better resistance when dropped than its previous iteration. That change seems to have come at the cost of some scratch durability, though, and we don't know yet if it'll wear off after months of use, as some Galaxy fans found with last year's phone. Concerns aside, Gorilla Armor continues to elevate an already class-leading panel. This display is bright enough to be used in direct sunlight, yet grows dim enough that I never felt like I needed to activate Samsung's extra-dim mode at night. But, like many things this year, it's also old news. There's nothing new with this panel outside the boost to 6.9 inches and the change to Gorilla Armor 2. It's an outstanding display, but so was last year's. Other hardware and what's in the box Yes, the S Pen's been nerfed From the haptics to the speakers, most of the hardware this year seems unchanged from previous generations. Even the move to a 6.9-inch display feels subtle; side-by-side with the S24 Ultra, it's tough to tell where the extra tenth of an inch came from -- perhaps the minimized bezels really were enough to make that change. Palm rejection, by the way, seems much better than what I saw on Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max last year. Okay, let's address the elephant in the room. Yes, the S Pen has received a serious downgrade, losing out entirely on Air Actions thanks to the loss of Bluetooth LE support. Yes, I do think it matters, even if Samsung says less than 1 percent of Ultra users relied on Air Actions. This is the second generation in a row where Samsung's flagship smartphone is losing out on something its predecessor features, after the 10x telephoto sensor on the S23 Ultra two years ago. If this matters to you, I'd recommend a Galaxy S24 Ultra instead. It might be a year old, but it'll still see updates until 2031. Inside the box, you'll find the phone, a USB-C to USB-C cable, a SIM tool, and the usual assortment of paperwork. If you were expecting something else, well, that's the state of the smartphone space. Related Your most burning Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra questions, answered Everything you wanted to know Posts 1 Software and performance If this phone is all about Galaxy AI, that's a problem Samsung's entire argument for upgrading to the Galaxy S25 series revolves around One UI 7 and Galaxy AI. The company is pushing this as an AI-first phone -- the Galaxy S25 press release calls it a "true AI companion," whatever that means. As such, I forced myself to go into this review with the expectations that a regular customer would have from statements like, I don't know, "the Galaxy S25 series is the first step in Samsung's vision to change the way users interact with their phone -- and with their world." If this is a first step, it's a small one. Let's get the AI tools out of the way first, since I don't have much to say about them. Samsung is really excited about Gemini this year, even booting Bixby out of its long-term default assistant spot. I can understand why -- Gemini makes up the bulk of the features Samsung is marketing as part of its Galaxy AI suite, meaning you should be excited about whatever Google's been cooking up. Right now, that's cross-app actions, allowing Gemini, in theory, to work across multiple apps. Samsung's favorite example is to have Gemini look up upcoming basketball games and add them to your calendar. By default, it's using Samsung Calendar on the S25 Ultra. However, if you specify an alternate app like Google Calendar on your first request, it'll remember that selection on your next prompt, which goes double for all other cross-app actions. Now, basketball's a long-dead dream in Buffalo, so instead, I asked Gemini to add the next three Sabres games to my Google Calendar. To make it a little more difficult, I requested home games only. Credit where credit's due: It did it without breaking a sweat, correctly adding games for February 22nd, 25th, and March 1st against the Rangers, Ducks, and Canadiens, respectively. So far, so good, right? Two problems. First, this isn't exclusive to the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Not only could I do the same task on my Pixel 9 Pro, but I also pulled it off on last-gen's Galaxy S24 Ultra. It might be one of Samsung's big selling points for this phone, but that doesn't mean you have to buy it to try it. Second, however, is an even bigger issue. On a follow-up prompt, I asked Gemini to add the next Buffalo Bandits game -- that's our professional lacrosse team -- to my calendar. In response, it pulled up an 8:30 p.m. home game against the Calgary Roughnecks taking place on Wednesday, February 12th. That game does not exist. NLL games are almost exclusively held on Saturdays, not Wednesdays, and the next time the Bandits will face the Roughnecks at home is March 8th. As far as I can tell, there's no way to check where any of Google's extensions got their information from; you have to recognize the tell-tale signs that something's gone wrong -- as I did, when noticing the Bandits game took place on Wednesday -- or fact-check every action you use with Gemini. Either way, that's a recipe for disaster. Maybe I'm being too hard on Samsung here -- this is, as I mentioned, a Google feature that happens to be a strong selling point for the S25 series. But if this really is the future of using my smartphone, I'm going to miss a whole lot of events moving forward, and I might be attending some that simply do not exist. The only other AI tool I think is worth diving into is Samsung's Now Brief. Unlike cross-app actions, this is exclusive to One UI, and more specifically, it's only on the Galaxy S25 series at launch. The idea behind the Now Brief is simple: What if Samsung spun back up a new iteration of Google Now, only this time, it was powered by the magic of AI? I think you can see where I'm going with this. The Now Brief, like Google Now before it, is a brilliant idea with a wasted execution. Once this review is filed, I'll likely never re-open it again. It routinely provides updates on weather, calendar appointments, trending news stories, and entirely random, user-generated Spotify playlists (often with as little as zero follows). Occasionally, it'll include traffic updates, suggested routines, and YouTube Shorts. Personally, my suggested routines included "opening the settings menu every morning," while the YouTube Shorts integration is literally just a link to YouTube Shorts. It adds nothing to your life that, say, Google's (terrible) Discover feed couldn't. And while it might get better over time, Samsung's overall track record with software improvements...isn't great? I'd love to see the Now Brief evolve into something remotely worth using, but right now, it's another One UI tool that you'll probably disable a few days after you unbox this phone. At first glance, One UI 7 is a pretty big visual overhaul. It's a good-looking skin, and the inclusion of features like a vertical app drawer has been a long time coming. But generally, One UI 7's additions fall into two categories, and neither is particularly good: wasted potential and bad iOS knock-offs. In the "wasted potential" zone, you'll find things like Samsung's newly-optimized search bar in settings. In theory, Samsung's using AI to allow for more natural-sounding search terms. You aren't typing "hotspot," you're typing "how do I turn my hotspot on," and One UI is delivering that result right into your feed. In practice, it pretty much returns the same exact search terms, without any additional context that might help less-informed users. In the case of my hotspot example, "Hotspot 2.0" was actually the top result, while the one you would have wanted -- "Mobile Hotspot" -- was the third result. The Now Bar bleeds into both categories, but for the sake of simplicity, let's keep it to "wasted potential." I was optimistic when I heard Samsung was building its own version of Apple's Live Activities into One UI 7. Sure, we'll get a little more support in Android 16, but considering just how handy those Dynamic Island-adjacent widgets have proven on iOS over the last couple of years, I'm down for as many iterations of these as possible. Unfortunately, I never got it working properly. Outside of some basic functionality -- media controls, timers in Samsung's clock app, a recurring alert that my Now Brief had refreshed -- the Now Bar just didn't work for me. I'm not saying it didn't sync with the vast majority of my apps (I mean, it didn't, but that's to be expected). I'm saying even its own core functionality didn't properly work. After more than two weeks of attempts, including a troubleshooting call with Samsung, I've been unable to get sports scores to appear on my phone for any team. Then there's the actual Apple knock-off stuff, like the new split-screen layout for quick settings and notifications. By default, your notifications are accessed through a swipe down from the upper-left corner, while a swipe from the right corner unveils your quick settings. You can swap these controls or mesh them back together, but either way, I'm not a fan. This new dedicated quick settings page is somehow less customizable than Apple's, while it introduces weird missing elements, like open space where the settings shortcut could live. And wasn't One UI originally all about reachability? Why am I reaching over this entire 6.9-inch display to access my notifications for crying out loud? I digress. Look, I'm not here to say One UI 7 is bad or anything, but like most of this phone, it's simply fine. Considering how rough iOS 18 is, how sterile and cold the Pixel experience feels, and how delayed this year's update was, I just hoped Samsung would seize the opportunity to blow me away in the software department. But hey, I like the new app drawer. This is the third Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered smartphone I've used in as many months, and I continue to find myself simultaneously satisfied and disappointed with Qualcomm's latest. On one hand, any concerns over power draw seem to be moot. This is the worst battery life I've seen from anything running on this chipset, but as I'll address later on, that doesn't mean it's bad battery life. Now, on the other hand, I have yet to see any OEM or developer find a way to utilize the power promised by the Snapdragon 8 Elite. I would've loved to see Samsung make some big changes to DeX in the wake of this improved performance. Oh well -- maybe next year. Related If Samsung isn't going to care about its phones, why should I? A years-long identity crisis Posts 51 Camera Better than last year, but just barely As a daily driver, I found the Galaxy S24 Ultra pretty unreliable for any scene with motion -- so, you know, everything but landscapes. Months of rumors surrounding a big camera update that would fix the S24's shutter speed problems came and went, and today, it's still essentially the same camera system that launched last year. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is, undoubtedly, better at handling motion than its predecessor, but I'm damning it with faint praise. Samsung is behind its rivals in nearly every capacity, including those shutter speed issues. During the daytime, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is perfectly fine. It can handle motion without breaking a sweat, but the second the lights start to dim, those same problems from the past decade's worth of Samsung phones start to rear their ugly heads: blurry subjects, graining images, and bad post-processing results. Close Its problems go beyond that, of course. I haven't taken a single photo with this device that made my jaw drop, something that can't be said for OnePlus or Google or, honestly, even Apple, once you utilize those silly Photographic Styles. Everything looks a little too desaturated to my eye, a little too flat. Most of these sample shots are not bad -- I'd even call a few of them outright good -- but none of them make me want to bust out my photo printer to get a physical keepsake. The one hardware change Samsung made this generation comes from a new ultra-wide sensor. Please, sit down and try to not get too excited when I tell you that.... It's fine. I don't use the ultra-wide lens particularly often on any smartphone, and when I do, it's usually for macro mode, not big group shots. (And yes, I have friends, I swear. They're just out of frame.) Here's an example using a Catbus toy from My Neighbor Totoro compared to the same shot on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Close Left: Galaxy S25 Ultra. Right: Galaxy S24 Ultra. The S25 Ultra is probably the better shot, and that's before you account for the bump in resolution, but it's certainly not the sort of generational leap that'll make you rush over to Best Buy. And, frankly, macrophotography is a pretty niche use case -- certainly this attention could've gone towards finally bringing a 1-inch sensor to a single flagship available in the US, right? On the video side, Samsung added LOG recording this year, which should please the content creators around us. I didn't test it out -- my video production degree aside, I'm not shooting much these days -- but the standard 4K shooting seems good enough for most consumers to be happy with. I'm not sure Steven Soderbergh is abandoning his iPhone for a Galaxy S25 Ultra, but for everyone else, it's a perfectly enjoyable experience. One more note before I close out on the camera, and this one's a weird one. I have never had a camera struggle with its accelerometer's orientation like I've seen here. I have had to fix rotation issues on more than two dozen photos taken with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, including shots that were taken seconds apart from each other. I'm not sure if this is a problem with my specific device, or something Samsung could address in a post-launch patch, but it's a particularly frustrating experience regardless. Battery life and charging Don't get us started on Qi2 A couple of years ago, I might've called the Galaxy S25 Ultra's battery life "outstanding." This year, I'm keeping things a little more reserved. The S25 Ultra's battery is good, there's no doubt about it, but I'm not sure it's up to par with the current state of Android flagships. Sure, this phone can outlast the Pixel 9 Pro XL, but Google's Tensor era has never been Android's most efficient. And compared to what we're seeing from current and rumored 2025 flagships, I think Samsung might be falling behind the curve. If you're worried about getting through a full day on a single charge, here's the good news: I never found myself topping up this device out of necessity. There were, admittedly, a few times when I ended the day with less than 15 percent left, absolutely requiring an overnight charge, but usually, I fell into the 20 to 30 percent area. Still, I'd recommend plugging in at bedtime; despite turning out the lights with 21 percent remaining one night, I still awoke to a dead device the next morning. On Wi-Fi, I'd call the Galaxy S25 Ultra's 5,000mAh cell is perfectly efficient. It's the days when you're going to be on a cell network that you might find yourself in trouble. This phone seems to drain surprisingly fast on 5G, even when it's just chilling in my pocket or casting a downloaded podcast to my earbuds. On days when I wasn't home for long periods, I'd absolutely find myself starting to feel the slightest pangs of battery anxiety. Frankly, I think it's time for Samsung to push past this 5,000mAh threshold -- the Galaxy Note 7 debacle was nearly a decade ago. Although Samsung hasn't promoted the Galaxy S25 Ultra as featuring faster charging speeds, it seems quicker to power up than its predecessors -- with the right charging brick. Paired with a 45W PPS-supported plug, I found myself powering up from dead to full in around an hour. That's far from the fastest charging speeds you'll find in the world of Android these days, but it's definitely an improvement on what came before. Samsung would love to tell you its latest flagship is "Qi2-ready," and I'd love to roll my eyes at that statement. Sure, you can buy a Qi2/MagSafe-ready case, but the only thing that's new for 2025 are first-party options. I had a MagSafe case on my Galaxy S24 Ultra for crying out loud. Like OnePlus before it, Samsung doesn't get bonus points for offering an optional accessory years after MagSafe on Android began to grow traction. Regardless of how many users keep their devices in cases, I'd still like to see the Galaxy S26 series gain native support. Competition It's pretty stiff this year Right now, there's no better alternative to the Galaxy S25 Ultra than the OnePlus 13. It's not a perfect match -- you won't find stylus support on this year's OnePlus flagship, and it's not quite as premium-feeling in the hand. Still, if you're after a do-it-all Android phone (or, you know, the modern equivalent of that), the OnePlus 13 is a great choice, matching or beating the S25 Ultra spec-for-spec in practically every regard. The OnePlus 13 is a true multi-day battery champ, whether on Wi-Fi or cellular, and despite Samsung's faster charging speeds, the S25 Ultra simply can't compete with an 80W charging brick. To me, though, the Hasselblad-branded camera system trumps Samsung's 2025 efforts. Even the shutter speed improvements aren't enough to leave me wowed with the multitude of lenses provided by the Galaxy S25 Ultra; the OnePlus 13, meanwhile, frequently left me surprised, even with the occasional botched shot. If you're after a more reliable overall experience, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is a great choice. I think long-time Samsung fans will find Google's flavor of Android to be pretty lacking, but a third-party launcher can go a long way in bringing back some of that missing functionality. Its camera is trusty and reliable -- albeit a bit boring and undersaturated at times -- and it includes the best mobile AI tools in the game, for whatever that is (or isn't) worth. And while I don't expect everyone to love Google's design language, I think it's the sort of device that stands out in that same-old same-old crowd. The OnePlus 13 starts at $900 -- though you'll likely want to pony up for the $1,000 model with more RAM -- while the Pixel 9 Pro XL starts at $1,100. Both manage to undercut the Galaxy S25 Ultra's MSRP, with their own respective trade-in deals. But no one offers savings like Samsung, and considering the OnePlus 13 isn't even in a single carrier store, it's obvious why the S25 Ultra has the upper hand. Should you buy it? Objectively, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a fine phone. It's got one of the best displays available on any device today, regardless of form factor. It's got a competent camera system. It's got enough battery life to get you through a day in all but the most extreme of use cases. It'll see seven years of software support, a timespan that could see most of its users abandon it for something new well before that date ever shows up on a calendar. It's everything that makes up our most basic idea of what a smartphone should be. Shouldn't we ask for more than that, though? I'm not here looking for Samsung to revolutionize the very concept of mobile phones, but certainly, consumers should expect more out of their four-digit gadgets than this, right? From a hardware perspective, this feels virtually indistinguishable from what came before, save for the lack of pointy corners -- a nice improvement, to be sure. The software here feels bloated and uninspired, with a focus on AI that simply isn't earned. Factor in those missing S Pen features, and it's tough to get particularly excited about Samsung's latest launch. The Galaxy S25 Ultra isn't a bad phone -- it just fails to stand out in any particular way. It's the first of Samsung's recent flagships to feel as uninspired as its design, a device that exists solely to fulfill the need for a "new" ultra-premium smartphone sitting on shelves in every carrier store. If you're rocking a Galaxy S20 or Galaxy S21, or maybe even a Galaxy S22 that's starting to feel a little long in the tooth, I could see upgrading to the Galaxy S25 Ultra. For everyone else, though, I'm just not sure there's enough here to justify that sticker price. Better start shopping around for carrier deals -- or, better yet, skip out and wait for whatever comes next. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 7.5 / 10 Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra leaves the Note-like design behind for the very first time. With flat edges, curved corners, and a massive 6.9-inch display, this is a modern flagship through and through -- and yes, that S Pen is still here too. $1300 at Samsung $1300 at Best Buy $1300 at Amazon Related Best Android phones in 2025 Top-tier smartphones with distinct capabilities Posts

I shot over 200 photos with the Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Pixel 9 Pro XL -- here's the winner

Last fall, there was a big upset in my 200 photo shootout between the Pixel 9 Pro XL vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra, as the newer Pixel narrowly beat out Samsung's best -- namely due to the better performance from its ultrawide and selfie cameras. In fact, I was surprised by how their low light and telephoto performances were identical. But now that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is here with its own set of new upgrades, I'm eager to see if Samsung can retake the crown from Google. Their camera specs indicate the obvious: they're versatile and heavily lean on AI to process images. The Galaxy S25 Ultra features a 200MP main camera, 50MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto, 50MP 5x telephoto, and a 12MP selfie. Meanwhile, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is armed with a 50MP main camera, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom, and 42MP selfie. Both phones technically have upgraded ultrawide sensors, so I expect a more even matchup there -- but that 48MP selfie on the Pixel looks hard to beat. Naturally, I take the same snapshots with each phone and then preview them on the same monitor with both images side-by-side to inspect their differences. The outcome shows which of these best Android phones has the better cameras. From a cursory look, my eyes are first drawn to the brighter overall picture of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It seems to also draw out the deeper green colors in the shot, adding to the overall pop of the photo. In contrast, there's a more neutral exposure with the Pixel 9 Pro XL's shot. Clearly it doesn't get my attention when it's side-by-side against the Galaxy, but I could argue that the exposure is more true-to-life -- whereas the highlights with the Galaxy S25 Ultra are a smidge overexposed. This ultimately comes down to personal preference because both shots look fantastic on their own. Winner: Tie As I've mentioned already, the ultrawide cameras on both phones are upgraded over their respective predecessors. Technically speaking, I can cover more of the scene thanks to the Pixel 9 Pro XL's wider 123-degree field of view (versus 120-degrees with the Galaxy S25 Ultra). Even though it's a small difference, it shows how I'm able to cover more in the side-by-shot of the Citibikes above. The difference here is how the colors look a little more vibrant with the Pixel 9 Pro XL, whereas they're flatter on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. For these reasons, I'm giving it to the Pixel. Winner: Pixel 9 Pro XL This is another area that's tough to judge because I need to look into all the details to understand their dynamic range performances. Since the Galaxy S25 Ultra has a penchant for producing the brighter images, it does this by boosting the shadows throughout the image. Notice how the grass in the foreground above has brighter patches compared to the Pixel 9 Pro XL's shot, while the areas in the shadow are a smidge brighter with the Galaxy S25 Ultra as well. It's close, but I'd say that the Galaxy is the winner here. Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra When it comes to reproducing colors with their main cameras, however, it also comes down to your personal preference. I like how the colors pop more with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, evident in the orange peppers on the top shelf and the shine that's on the green Cubanelle peppers on the right. Then again, some will argue that the Galaxy S25 Ultra's richer tones lean saturated -- whereas the Pixel 9 Pro XL casts a neutral exposure throughout the shot. This manages to keep the details intact with the highlights, which are lost in the Galaxy S25 Ultra because of how they're overexposed. As a whole, the colors look more true-to-life with the Pixel. Winner: Pixel 9 Pro XL Unlike the other previous categories, there's a more concrete winner when it comes to shooting macrophotography. While both phones have better macro performances over their predecessors, the added sharpening effect of the Galaxy S25 Ultra exposes more of the details in the flower shots above. It's hard to tell from just the overall shot, but zooming in shows how the petals have more definition with the shot from the Galaxy. Don't get me wrong, the Pixel's shot is excellent on its own, but the added sharpening effect makes all the difference here. Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra I typically don't shoot a lot of selfies, but if I did, I would pick the Pixel 9 Pro XL for the occasion. Not only does its beefier 42MP selfie camera have a wider view to capture the scene (also for group selfies), but its even exposure and skin tone reproduction are spot on at making it the more true-to-life shot. While the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes up with a pleasant shot, it clearly brightens up my face more than the Pixel. On top of that, the details are much softer. Winner: Pixel 9 Pro XL I shot a bunch of portrait photos of my colleague at 1.5x zoom because that's the minimum zoom available with portrait mode on the Pixel 9 Pro XL, along with 3x zoom portraits. In the comparison photos above, the Galaxy S25 Ultra draws out better detail and contrast. I'm not too concerned with the intensity of the background blur because I can adjust them to my liking on both phones, but the Galaxy also does a better job at isolating subjects. Even though both phones don't blur out the nearby light on the left side of the images, the Pixel 9 Pro XL fails at identifying the small background spots near where his arms are tucked into his jacket. Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra For their telephoto performances, I captured shots at 3x, 5x, and 30x zoom levels -- with the latter being the maximum for the Pixel 9 Pro XL. I think it's almost a neck-to-neck tie when I look at their shots from 3x and 5x zoom, but the new advanced AI ProVisual Engine of the Galaxy S25 Ultra continually produces the stronger details. It's particularly really good at adding more definition to words, which you can see in the side-by-shot photo of the menu sign above. I was about 15 to 20 feet away from it, yet the words are more clearly defined with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra Initially I captured panoramas on a cloudy day, which seemed to impact the Galaxy S25 Ultra's performance -- resulting in a lot of blurring and softer details, which I suspect was due to the slower shutter speed. But after taking several more in brighter conditions, I think Samsung has the advantage. One thing I like is that I have the option of shooting with either the main or ultrawide cameras on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, while I'm left with just the main camera on the Pixel. As a result, I much prefer how the Galaxy S25 Ultra captures more of the scene (including with the stitched pano with the main camera). They both have excellent details, but there's this smoothening effect with the Pixel that softens them. Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra Apart from their telephoto cameras, the only other major area that has a lot of impact on their overall performance is how well they deal with low light. It's the area that separates good cameras from the best ones, as it showcases how well they absorb as much light and then process the images. Starting off with their main cameras, I prefer the Galaxy S25 Ultra's shot in the photos above thanks to its better dynamic range, definition in the details, and its color reproduction. Google's Night Sight mode does nicely to brighten up the scene, but the Pixel 9 Pro XL casts this odd greenish hue and the details are softer. Using the same scene, but switching over to their ultrawide cameras, it's pretty much the same story in the comparison shots above. The Galaxy S25 Ultra delivers the sharper details throughout the shot, whereas the Pixel looks flat and casts the same greenish color from before. And finally, there's the near pitch black conditions of the tree photos above that really highlights their image processing. The Pixel's the brighter of the two by a little, but Samsung does better at sharpening the details all around the tree. Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra Google's reign is short lived, as Samsung claps back with new improvements that allow the Galaxy S25 Ultra to beat out the Pixel 9 Pro XL in this photo shootout. The areas that help propel the new Galaxy to come out on top include its low light, telephoto, and macro performances. It's remarkable to see how AI and newer image processing algorithms help enhance the Galaxy S25 Ultra's photos in a big way, especially when it comes to the telephoto camera. For Google, it's a valiant effort and I know it's an excellent camera phone despite coming up short in this shootout. However, I can't stress enough about how it continues to have the best selfie camera phone around that I've tested. And even though there were categories where the Galaxy S25 Ultra clearly won, the difference between their performances wasn't night and day.

I covered Samsung's Galaxy S25 launch and I saw 5 things Apple should learn for its iPhone releases

I've been covering Apple long enough to know that when a rival company is introducing a new product right in Apple's wheelhouse, there's nobody sitting around in Cupertino furiously scribbling notes. Apple has its own way of doing things, even when the rival product in question is something like the new Galaxy S25 Ultra that's claimed the top spot in our best phones rankings. Apple is in the process of developing its own phone releases for this year, first the iPhone SE 4 at some point in the very near future followed by the iPhone 17 lineup later this fall. And I'm pretty positive that Apple's strategy has taken shape independent of anything Samsung brought to the table with its Galaxy S25 rollout. Which is not to say that Apple shouldn't pay attention to what Samsung has done of late. Because there are lessons to be learned, both good and bad, from the Galaxy S25 launch, and figuring out what those are could make for more successful iPhone debuts throughout 2025. With the latest Galaxy S25 models now on sale, here's a few noteworthy things I've spotted surrounding Samsung's new phones and the lessons Apple could apply to this year's iPhone releases. We're a long way from the days when an annual smartphone update can bring revolutionary hardware improvements over the previous models. Phones have reached the point where most changes are pretty modest and aimed more at convincing people holding onto much older devices to upgrade. So you need to pick your spots. Samsung certainly did with the Snapdragon 8 Elite system-on-chip that powers every model in the S25 lineup. Not only does the chipset deliver notable performance gains year-over-year, the Snapdragon 8 Elite also has the neural engine to support more on-device AI features. And Qualcomm's silicon uses better power management features to push all three models to better results on our battery tests -- even though battery sizes haven't changed from the comparable Galaxy S24 models. Apple finds itself in a similar boat with the iPhone, as it's made nearly all the significant hardware changes current technologies and form factors allow. The A19 system-on-chip likely to feature in the iPhone 17 takes on an oversized role for that reason, as Apple will be counting on it to not just improve performance but also how long its phones can last on a charge. There's some encouraging news on that front, at least. While the next iPhone chipsets may not be built on a 2-nanometer process, which would mean better power and efficiency compared to the 3nm A18 silicon, reports claim that the A19 may use a next-generation 3nm process that would deliver the kind of improvements you want to see from a new phone. On paper, there's not much difference between the camera setup on the Galaxy S25 models and their immediate predecessors. The Galaxy Ultra may have gotten an upgraded ultrawide camera sensor, but the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus are essentially using the same camera hardware dating back to the Galaxy S23. So why do the pictures shot by the new phones look so much better to my eye? My guess is the improved ProVisual Engine is doing a lot of heavy lifting for the Galaxy S25 image processing. Certainly, the new phones take a more natural tack toward color after occasionally over-saturating images in the past. That makes these new Samsung offerings far more competitive with the best camera phones -- check out how close the 200-photo face-off between the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S25 Ultra turned out. Apple has a track record of making software and image-processing improvements that have an outsized impact on photo quality. You need only consider past additions to the iPhone's camera repertoire like Smart HDR for maintaining colors and details even in shadow and the Photonic Engine for improving low-light performance. Surely, Apple can turn to similar capabilities to turn out better shots with the iPhone, especially with rumored hardware improvements for the iPhone 17 not really emerging as of yet. We've focused on the positive thus far with the Galaxy S25, but there's something about this release that I wasn't as impressed with. Samsung added Qi2 wireless charging support, which is supposed to bring faster speeds and better connectivity with wireless charging pads. But since the Galaxy S25 models lack the needed magnets on their back panel, the only way you enjoy the benefits of Qi2 support is by making sure you buy a compatible case. That's a half-hearted way of going about things. Then again, if you want half-hearted, look no further than Apple's switch to USB-C, apparently done solely with the iPhone 15 launch to satisfy EU requirements about standard charging interfaces on mobile devices. Both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 releases skipped any other benefit that USB-C might offer, such as faster charging speeds. And I'm not exactly holding my breath that the iPhone 17 will speed things up either. But really, it should, at least if Apple is serious about making its new phones stand out from older models. iPhone charging speeds have been locked at the same rate for so long if there's a way for Apple to increase those, it needs to, if for no other reason than to show its customers that it's willing to find a way to deliver an added benefit. If the first three lessons didn't convince you that there's only so many hardware improvements to be made to smartphones these days, then the point should really get driven home if you go back and look what Samsung focused on during the Galaxy Unpacked event that brought us the Galaxy S25 lineup. Samsung seemed to spend as much time on software features as it did on hardware changes, and for good reason -- the new Galaxy AI features are really the reason to upgrade to Samsung's latest devices. I've already written that I think Apple would make a mistake by quietly launching the iPhone SE 4 without highlighting the Apple Intelligence features that phone should be able to run. Come the fall, when Apple does hold an iPhone launch event, I'm sure this year's updates to Apple's AI tools will be a big part of the story. But I think it should be the story, with Apple focusing on just what the new Apple Intelligence features allow you to do and why anyone with a phone that doesn't support them should be looking to upgrade. I happen to think the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Ultra in particular are solid updates. helped out tremendously by the AI additions Samsung made. However, you might be disappointed by the lack of major hardware improvements over recent Galaxy S models, and I wouldn't dismiss your critique out of hand. But just imagine how put off you would have been had Samsung raised prices from what it charged for the Galaxy S24. Fortunately, that's not a scenario we have to worry about. The Galaxy S25 continues to start at $799 and Samsung deals let you save on all three models. If that didn't earn Samsung some goodwill -- and I think it should -- it at least headed off any discontent. Will Apple be able to thread the needle of updates-vs.-price-hikes so deftly? There's a rumor that the iPhone SE 4 price might tick up from the $429 Apple charges for the iPhone SE 2022, but considering the amount of rumored changes, that's not likely to produce much grumbling. The same may not be true of the iPhone 17 lineup, though, if the rumored changes don't impress. A very preliminary rumor claims that iPhone 17 prices may go up in the fall, though to be fair, we hear a claim like that every year without the price hikes ever materializing. Apple would be well-advised to look at what Samsung just did with the Galaxy S25 pricing and take note of the relative lack of backlash about the new models.

Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. S25 and S25 Plus: In-Depth Specs and Features Comparison

Expertise Smartphones | Smartwatches | Tablets | Telecom industry | Mobile semiconductors | Mobile gaming Samsung unveiled its new Samsung Galaxy S25 series of phones at its Unpacked event in San Jose, California, where the phone company rattled off lots of new AI features along with a handful of hardware improvements over last year's handsets. If you're curious about the latest and greatest Samsung phones, here's how the Galaxy S25 Ultra specs compare with those of the standard Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus. All three phones have the same prices as last year's Galaxy S24 family, but they've all seen changes: The standard $800 S25 has all the new AI tricks and upgrades, the $1,000 S25 Plus builds on that with more storage and battery in a larger-format handset; and finally, the most premium (and most expensive) model, the $1,300 S25 Ultra, has the absolute best specs in terms of cameras and screen. Unbeknownst to everyone in attendance, the Unpacked event had one last surprise to reveal: the Galaxy S25 Edge, a slimmer, fourth sibling in the phone generation. Unfortunately, Samsung hasn't revealed much about this device, and aside from seeing it on the show floor showing off its thinness, we don't have any specs to compare with those of its three well-known siblings. Call the device a mystery, one we could see released in the first half of this year, if rumors are to be believed. That said, here are all the specs for the three S25 phones we know plenty about. You'd be hard-pressed to see differences between last year's phones and this year's, as the overall look hasn't changed much. But there are still visual differences between the phones. Both the smaller S25 and larger S25 Plus both have a trio of phone lenses on the back, while the S25 Ultra has four. As has been the case for years, the Ultra model has a slot on the right side of its bottom edge for an extractable S Pen stylus. Unsurprisingly, the standard S25 is the lightest of the bunch, weighing 162 grams (5.71 ounces), while the S25 Plus is heavier at 190 grams (6.7 ounces) and the S25 Ultra coming in at 218 grams (7.69 ounces). The S25 and S25 Plus both have standard aluminum frames, while the S25 Ultra has a titanium one. All three phones are IP68 rated for dust- and water-resistance. Though all AMOLED with 1-120Hz refresh rates, the displays are where the phones start to differ. The standard S25 has a 6.2-inch screen with tall HD resolution (2,340 by 1,080 pixels), while the larger S25 Plus has a 6.7-inch screen with sharper 1440p resolution (3,120 by 1,440 pixels) and the S25 Ultra has a slightly bigger 6.9-inch screen with the same 1440p resolution with an anti-glare coating to help minimize reflections. There's another unifying factor: for the first time in years, the S25 Ultra has a curved-cornered screen just like its smaller siblings. Another vestige of the Note series, the flat edges of the screen, is gone. The phone screens all have a maximum 2,600-nit peak brightness. All three phones' cameras haven't changed much since last year's S24 series. The standard S25 and S25 Plus both have a trio of rear cameras: a 50-megapixel main shooter, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 10-megapixel telephoto with 3x optical zoom. The S25 Ultra boosts those capabilities with a 200-megapixel main camera, a new 50-megapixel ultrawide shooter, and dual telephoto cameras: a 10-megapixel 3x optical zoom along with a 50-megapixel 5x optical zoom camera. All three phones have a 12-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies, and all can shoot up to 8K video from their rear cameras. The phones are roughly aligned in terms of performance, likely because all of their AI features require a high specs baseline. (We've also heard this about Apple's iPhones.) All three phones pack 12GB of RAM, which could be a new baseline to use these features. Previously the S24 only had 8GB of RAM. All three pack a customized version of Qualcomm's most advanced mobile chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite introduced last October, which has fast speeds and plenty of AI capabilities built-in. The S25 phones aren't the first to pack the chip, coming in after the Xiaomi 15 late last year and the OnePlus 13 introduced at the beginning of this year -- but Samsung's newest phones are among the initial pack harnessing Qualcomm's most advanced silicon for phones yet. The phones pack escalating amounts of storage, with the S25 coming in either 128GB or 256GB, the S25 Plus packing either 256GB or 512GB and the S25 Ultra arriving with either 256GB, 512GB or 1TB. As in previous years, none of the phones have a microSD slot or other way to physically expand storage, so you'll need to buy cloud storage options to save beyond their onboard storage. The phones all come with Android 15 out of the box as well as Samsung's One UI 7 overlay. The phones all have Samsung's guaranteed seven years of Android and security updates. The new AI features in the S25 series may be its most defining feature distinguishing it from last year's S24 phones (it's unclear if or how many of the features will trickle down to older Samsung handsets). All three S25 phones can access the same AI features. One of the most significant new AI features is what Samsung is calling cross app actions -- for example, a request to "find a vegan pet-friendly restaurant and text it to me" would consult multiple apps for an answer, like Yelp and Messages. Depending on the request, either Samsung's or Google's AI models will be used. Another Samsung-exclusive AI feature is AI Select, which suggests actions or apps depending on what you're looking at. Just swipe out from the screen to launch the Edge Panel (the sidebar with app shortcuts) and tap the AI Select button to have it make suggestions in the context of what you're looking at, like setting a GIF or the image you're looking at as your phone background. Samsung also has a new feature called conversational search which responds to more casual requests with contextual suggestions -- so if you say "my eyes are hurting, can you help with the screen" then the phone will bring up brightness settings and the blue light filter. It will also help make photo search smarter, much like how Apple and Google have used AI to improve their own photo album searches. The Circle to Search function, which debuted on last year's S24 series, is also getting an upgrade: It can now recognize audio, so you can say goodbye to Shazam. The new phones also have more personalized recommendations, Samsung says, like recommending thermostat changes when your phone notices you sleep better at a certain temperature (assuming that health data is coming in from a Samsung Galaxy Ring or Galaxy Watch). Battery capacity is another area where the phones differ, though it's important to clarify that more capacity doesn't always correlate to your phone lasting longer. Brightness, GPS location-tracking and other features could drain your phone fast regardless. But all things being equal, bigger batteries mean more battery life: the S25 has a 4,000-mAh battery, the S25 Plus has a 4,900-mAh battery and the S25 Ultra has a 5,000-mAh battery. Both the S25 and S25 Plus have 25-watt charging, a rate Samsung phones have been stuck on for years as other leading Android flagships leave them in the dust -- the OnePlus 13, for instance, has 100-watt charging (80-watt in the US) that completely refilled an empty battery in just over half an hour in our testing. The S25 Ultra is slightly better, with 45-watt charging, but it feels particularly archaic on the most advanced phone in Samsung's stable. All three phones have 15-watt wireless charging (the same as you'll get with the Qi2 standard) as well as wireless PowerShare to juice up other devices using its own battery. While the phones don't have the MagSafe magnetic connection within the phones like Apple's latest iPhones, they can approximate it with official Samsung and third-party cases with magnetic connectors. Samsung's three-phone lineup is pretty set in stone these days, with the lowest-priced S25 having the least impressive specs, the larger S25 Plus suiting users who want more battery and the S25 Ultra offering the highest spec with S Pen functionality. But those lines have been blurred a bit thanks to the across-the-board upgrade to 12GB of RAM, which leaves storage and screen resolution as the biggest differentiator between all the phones. The big leap between the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra remains the latter's more impressive cameras and stylus, though that's becoming a steeper hike for the $300 jump in price.

Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus Review: AI That's Enjoyable Without Being Overwhelming

Battery life is similar to the baseline S25 Similar specs as the S25, at a higher price Better cameras on other phones at the same price Samsung's mantra when debuting the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus appears to have been, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," as this year's phones share a striking resemblance to last year's S24 and S24 Plus. But what the new phones lack in innovation, they make up for in consistency and practicality. While I found myself warming up to (most of) the AI upgrades separating the S25 and S25 Plus from their predecessors, there are other time-tested attributes that remain more important to me - namely, cameras and battery life. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I grew to like certain AI-powered features after using the phones for a week. For instance, there's a new tool called AI Select that looks at your phone's screen and suggests actions like summarizing or translating text. Also, the Gallery app can find a picture you're looking for with more conversational search terms, and Audio Eraser can clean up distracting background noises in your videos. Google's Gemini has been further baked into the Galaxy's interface and can be summoned with a long press of the side power button to answer questions and carry out tasks as your assistant. At a time when major phone releases are as high-stakes as ever, Samsung tries to set the $800 Galaxy S25 and $1,000 Galaxy S25 Plus apart by leaning into what's new (AI), as well as the familiar (good cameras and battery life). And I am definitely impressed. So what's the difference between the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus? Not much. Other than the Plus being, well, bigger than the baseline model. The phones both have AMOLED displays with 120Hz adaptive refresh rates, with the S25's measuring 6.2 inches and the S25 Plus clocking in at 6.7 inches. At 162 and 190 grams respectively, the S25 and S25 Plus feel light in hand, thanks to their aluminum frames. The screens are covered in Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and the matte glass backs offer an elegant touch and premium feel. I hesitantly dunked the S25 Plus into a shallow pool at Filoli Historic House & Garden near San Francisco during testing and am happy to report it survived unscathed. This shouldn't come as a surprise, since both the S25 and S25 Plus have an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, meaning they can survive being submerged for 30 minutes being under 1.5 meters of water (or about 5 feet). The phones come in navy, icy blue, mint and silver shadow, as well as the online-exclusive colors blue black, coral red and pink gold. I absolutely adore the icy blue color of the S25 I've been using, and the Plus I have in navy also looks nice and rich. The S25 and S25 Plus arrive with Android 15 and Samsung's One UI 7. And similar to the Pixel 9 series, you'll get seven years of OS and security updates, helping you get the most bang for your buck (and there's certainly a lot of buck involved here). The phones are powered by a custom-built Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, helping to bring those many, many AI features to life. I'm not alone in feeling severe AI fatigue. As someone who tends to be AI-averse (do I really need it to write my emails, brainstorm ideas or summarize a PDF?), I tend to be wary of AI-heavy announcements like the one Samsung had at its Galaxy Unpacked event in January. Once I got my hands on the devices, I put my skepticism aside and was surprised. After a few days, I found myself leaning on Gemini for help with everything from tweaking email settings (this was faster than Googling and reading), caring for my wood cutting board, and finding events and sending corresponding texts via a single voice command. Ultimately, it's the AI features that operate discreetly that won me over, like Circle to Search. This is a Google-powered feature that came out last year and lets you circle anything on your screen to quickly see product information and links. Now, Circle to Search can recognize a song playing in the background of a video or even a tune you hum or sing, and I had a lot of fun testing this out. When I hummed niche Taylor Swift songs like I Hate It Here and Foolish One, it nailed both. (Step aside, Shazam.) To be fair, I'm not sure how often I'll use this particular aspect of Circle to Search, but the tool as a whole remains impressive. The AI Select tool also served me well, but primarily for translating text. My Spanish vocab has (sadly) gotten rusty since high school. So when I came across an email in Spanish, I tapped the tool on the right-hand side of the screen, circled the text I wanted to translate and within a couple taps, it was quickly transformed into English (and hopefully, accurately). Not all AI features are a home run, though. Portrait Studio, which uses AI to create stylized portraits (kind of like caricatures an artist might sketch of you at the beach or on a boardwalk), is fun to play with but feels like a novelty. It did an admittedly great job replicating details like my hijab, eye shape and smile. But I'm not sure how useful a tool like this is in the long run. Similarly, Drawing Assist, which turns your sketches into different stylized illustrations, is impressive at transforming my crappy drawings into pleasing images. I don't have any real use for this tool, as I'm not going to be framing these random images of cats and flowers. The biggest disappointment, so far, has been the Now Brief. This is designed to learn your habits - like if you usually check the weather, read the news and consult your calendar each morning - then surface any relevant suggestions to simplify those routines. In the week I used these phones, the only time I was even slightly impressed with this feature was when it showed a highlight of the images I'd taken that day. But otherwise, Now Brief simply lists the weather, my events that day and articles that are irrelevant 90% of the time. That's not to say it won't eventually learn more about me and get better, but it hasn't proven its value just yet. The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus share the same camera specs as last year's series: a 50-megapixel wide camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide camera and 10-megapixel 3x telephoto camera. They also both share a 12-megapixel front-facing camera. So you'll get the same kinds of images on both the S25 and S25 Plus. I've always admired the punchy colors in Galaxy S photos, and the S25 and S25 Plus were no exception. Here are a few of my favorite shots. This is one of the best examples of how each shade of color, from pale pinks to vibrant reds, pop. There's so much texture in this image below, from the ripples on the water to the droplets on the petals, and the background maintains just enough detail and color without robbing the spotlight. Portrait mode on the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus is perhaps the most impressive I've seen, as it does the best job of knowing what to keep in sharp focus and what to blur. Even in this picture below of my (dying) tulips, each leaf and petal remains clearly in the foreground and isn't lost to background blur. Portrait mode isn't perfect, of course, as some of the many branches in this shot do get the undesired blur effect. But it's such a minor detail that hopefully all you'll notice is how well the flowers on the table pop. The improvements over previous Galaxy S devices come in the form of - yes, AI. Generative Edit debuted on the S24 series, but is now processed on device, allowing you to quickly and easily remove photobombers or objects cluttering your image. I tried this out with both people and objects and was blown away each time. Generative Edit did a seamless job filling in backgrounds (sometimes even generating new graffiti patterns, as seen below when I removed a railing). One downside, though an upside for transparency, is that there's a label on images that have benefitted from Generative Edit disclosing that this is "AI-generated content." I understand the importance of this, especially as AI gets better at fooling people, but object removal features are nothing new to photography. Samsung introduced a Virtual Aperture tool that mimics a standalone camera's f-stops, using the separate Expert RAW app. If you're a pro photographer, I can see this being a cool feature to have. But as someone who likes things plain and simple, I'm going to stick with the camera's built-in Portrait mode so that factors like background blur and lighting are sorted out for me. Another AI-related boost comes in the form of nighttime videos. I was impressed with how rich the dark sky looks in videos I recorded and with how smooth the motion appears as I panned the camera. Daytime videos also looked solid. Photos at night were splendid, with rich contrast and saturation. Night mode also did a great job of brightening up this image to almost make it look as if it were taken in the daytime, and not at 7 p.m. Selfies maintain the smoothing effect I so love on Galaxy S phones, while maintaining vibrancy and crispness in the foreground and background. Battery capacity is one of the few factors separating the phones, with the S25 sporting a 4,000-mAh battery and the Plus packing a 4,900-mAh battery. Both phones lasted about a day and a half with regular use. In CNET's 45-minute endurance test, which involves a combination of streaming, scrolling through social media, joining a video call and playing games, the S25's battery dropped from full to 93% (the same as last year's S24), while the battery on the S25 Plus dropped to 94%. In a longer, 3-hour streaming test over Wi-Fi, in which I watched a YouTube video in full-screen mode at full brightness, the S25 dropped from 100% to 85%, while the S25 Plus dropped to 86%. Higher percentages are better. The S25 supports 25-watt charging, while the S25 Plus supports 45-watt charging. In a 30-minute test using a 30-watt charger, the S25 went from 0% to 47%, and reached 100% in 80 minutes. In the same test using a 45-watt charger, the S25 Plus went from 0% to 63% in 30 minutes, and reached a full charge in 70 minutes. For comparison, in last year's test, the S24 went from 0% to 51% in 30 minutes, and the S24 Plus went from 0% to 50%. The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus also support 15-watt wireless charging, which is the same as what you'll get with Qi2. You can use Samsung's own case with the Qi2 magnetic profile or a compatible third-party case to tap into those wireless capabilities. Benchmark tests for the CPU in Geekbench 6 place the S25 and S25 Plus well above the entire Galaxy S24 lineup. In a graphics test using 3D Mark's Wild Life Extreme, the S25 and S25 Plus exceeded the performance of the iPhone 16 Pro, Galaxy S24 and S24 Ultra. Check out the graphs below for more specifics. Perhaps the highest praise I can give to a phone in 2025 is that there was just enough AI to not make me go crazy. The S25 and S25 Plus have their fair share of AI-powered features, but for the most part, there are only several that I can see myself willingly using. Others like Portrait Studio and Drawing Assist may be fun for keynote demos, but don't seem to serve a real purpose beyond that. (But it wouldn't be a Galaxy phone without a flashy feature no one uses, right??) Thankfully, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus continue to deliver on what, to me, makes the Galaxy S series notable: good cameras, solid battery life and a seamless interface. Because there are so many similarities between the S25 and S25 Plus, and the higher battery capacity on the Plus didn't result in any startling differences (although superfast charging is great), I'd personally save some money and just go with the baseline S25. If you want a bigger phone, it might be worth going a full step up with the S25 Ultra, so you could take advantage of added perks like that 50-megapixel ultrawide lens, but that costs $500 more than the regular S25. Still, the S25 and S25 Plus share many similarities with the Ultra, including Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB RAM and AI features, so you'll be getting a relatively good value from that baseline model. If you have a Galaxy S22 or older, switching to the S25 or S25 Plus could be a significant upgrade. If you have an S23, you can benefit from improved battery life and dip your toes into Samsung's newer AI waters. But if you're rocking an S24, there's no reason to pay for relatively modest upgrades. Ultimately, the S25 and S25 are much the same as what we've seen before. But that isn't such a bad thing, when "the same" largely still does the trick. Every phone tested by CNET's reviews team was actually used in the real world. We test a phone's features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it's bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor's performance to the extremes using standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates. All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using it daily as well as running a series of battery drain tests. We take into account additional features like support for 5G, satellite connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus support, fast charging speeds and foldable displays, among others that can be useful. We balance all of this against the price to give you the verdict on whether that phone, whatever price it is, actually represents good value. While these tests may not always be reflected in CNET's initial review, we conduct follow-up and long-term testing in most circumstances.

Review: The Galaxy S25+ is the same, but the vibes are much different

The Galaxy S25+ looks almost exactly like the phone that came before it, and everything on the inside is almost exactly the same, too, minus a couple of small improvements. But for some reason, the Galaxy S25+ feels dramatically different and finds itself in my favorites list with relative ease. There are many ways to describe the Galaxy S25+'s look. You could say it was uninspired, echoing our thoughts on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. You could also call it reductive, as it takes design cues from Apple. Here's my thinking, though: Samsung doesn't need to keep trying because they've done it. They've reached the design that's the least offensive to anyone and looks the most modern. Think of why the iPhone looks the same year after year. It's because the company found a design that's easy to manufacture and looks the best overall. There are no curved glass edges, rounded aluminum rails, or eye-catching features not found on any other device. It's simply inoffensive. The Galaxy S25+ falls right into that bucket. It looks remarkably similar to the device that came before it because that design was fine. Good, even. Samsung isn't taking risks with its design because it doesn't need to. The design of the S25+ and S25 is sound, easy to use, and looks really good, even if it isn't exciting. The only actual changes are in the new stuck-on metal rims around the camera lenses and a different antenna location for mobile networking. Beyond that, the design is stagnant in every aspect. We could suggest that Samsung's color options this year are a change, but they don't offer much more in the way of excitement. The best color, in my opinion, is the Navy variant. It's saturated and simple, not as bland as the rest of the bunch. Mint, Icy Blue, and Silver Shadow just don't do it, and Samsung needs to work on offering better model options in the future. Maybe Coralred eeks out half of a win, but that doesn't really count because it's an online exclusive that most people, the ones buying this phone in a carrier store, won't be given as an option. Again, this is all to say that the Galaxy S25+ design is good. Yes, it's exactly the same as the Galaxy S24+, but that's completely fine in my eyes. Generational development doesn't need to fix the good design choices of the past. We're in the endgame now, and Samsung is settling in. Since Samsung's hardware hasn't done much in the way of change, One UI 7 had to pick up the slack. That effort has proven to be effective, and the Galaxy S25+ is a joy to use because Samsung's software on this phone is simply great - and much improved - when it comes to basic user engagement. Samsung's Quick Setting and notifications page has proven to be a hurdle to get used to, but I've found myself enjoying it far more than iterations on any other phone. It works well, and the Quick Settings page is laid out so nicely. Everything I'd need to take care of at a glance is right there, including a larger window of Quick Settings options and separated device controls and modes. Of course, swiping right will get you into the notifications shade, which now comes as a separate entity. It can be combined with Quick Settings, but I found myself enjoying the default option. Samsung also incorporated a new Now Bar, which acts as a live notifications interface. It's a take on Apple's Live Activities in its own somewhat limited way. Right now it works with certain apps like Samsung Health, Maps, Clock, Voice Recorder, and even sports scores from Google. Some of those apps will show up in the top-left corner of the screen during use, as notification icons would. Unlike Dynamic Island, this small pill shows up a little more to the left. Samsung didn't differentiate the Now Bar and Live Notifications enough, but the latter is essentially an extension of the former. Now Bar is an umbrella term. As a whole, One UI 7 feels more snappy and cleaner. I can find everything I need in a matter of seconds thanks to Galaxy AI's models at work almost everywhere. Samsung is envisioning a world where I'll audibly ask the phone about my settings or to initate certain things like the camera. In theory, that sounds great, but I really don't see a lot of what Samsung markets as viable scenarios. Where it does make sense is in writing, as the Settings menu now allows for contextual queries. Keywords aren't as important as describing the setting you're looking for. That, in itself, is such a big help. Considering Samsung loves to hide a lot of the Android features that I find myself using more often than not, I appreciate the addition of AI in settings. In effect, this is what makes the Galaxy S25+. Having access to One UI 7 with what is the best processor available for Android devices means that the Galaxy S25+ runs One UI 7 the best. That even stands true against the Ultra, considering they have the same processor and RAM amount. The Snapdragon 8 Elite does its job, and there are no hitches to mention in performance. I have thoroughly enjoyed that aspect. Generally speaking, I'm weary of AI. From a marketing standpoint, there's a lot of promise and little action on the part of companies trying to push models and new apps. What I appreciate about Samsung is that they're really just trying to position Galaxy AI as a productivity assistant more than a chatbot or generative model. It does its job well, whether that means I need it to translate a call or drop info from my screen into a different app. Gemini is still very much present on the Galaxy S25+, and Samsung is touting it as the primary assistant by default. It can be accessed via the power button by holding it down. Nothing has really changed there other than the continued improvements to Gemini as a whole. Google is using the Galaxy S25 series to help debut a better Gemini that's more useful than previous versions. It's great to see the comradery between the two, even if it means there's more than one way to "AI" on the phone. Sasmung's Galaxy AI Assist is still present, and it makes that side panel actually useful now. It can be used to do what Circle to Search does with a little more intent towards Galaxy AI apps. It's purely a matter of preference, much in the same way Bixby is. Still, I don't hate having the option. Either option works well to share captured images or find the source of something. Samsung's AI Assist is helpful if I want to generate images from something on the screen. I don't know when I'd need to do that other than to show someone what my phone can do, but it's there. One of the most advertised features that Galaxy AI brings is the Now Brief, which parcels out information that the phone thinks you'll find valuable throughout the day. There's one in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Like a meal, but much less satisfying. Now, Brief will tell you the weather and news recaps, among other things. As time goes on, more apps will likely be compatible, and things like notifications can be incorporated. Right now, it's a little barren, but it has loads of potential. It can absolutely act as a way to summarize emails, messages, and social media for one instant digest. With how many notifications appear anyway, having one way to divulge information would be more than welcome. The end product of now Brief may not be as exciting, and Samsung may end up keeping it walled off to proprietary apps anyway, but the potential is there. Right now, it's about as exciting as the phone's design. The Galaxy S25+ doesn't have a better battery than the Galaxy S phone that came before it. Samsung, for whatever reason, has decided to hold onto the same battery capacity, coming in at 4,900mAh. By today's standards, that isn't high, but it isn't low. The phone has a heavy enough cell for the phone to last around a day, with a little left over on a good day. What's interesting is that the Galaxy S25+ actually carries a slightly better battery life than the S24+. I can get a full day in with around 25% left over by the end of the evening. That's factoring in social media browsing and light video streaming, which is normal for me. The S24+ seemed to end at around 20%. Results vary widely from user to user, but the baseline is that the Galaxy S25+ offers a decent battery life with nothing to write home about. Samsung is rumored to start using a better battery next year, so if you're looking into an upgrade for battery performance, maybe hold off. The phone did disappoint a bit in wireless charging. The company brought the phone into Qi2 territory but didn't fully get across the finish line. The phone is technically "Qi2 Ready," which means it can handle 15W charging, but the phone does not equip a built-in magnet for accessories. This is a huge disappointment, as the phone is pretty comfortable to hold without a case. If I want to use my MagSafe wallet or car mounts, I need to slap a case on. Samsung's proprietary cases do have a magnetic ring built-in, but it isn't the same. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is the camera phone of the three models. It comes with a hefty 200MP main shooter and heavier telephoto capabilities, but that doesn't mean the Galaxy S25+ is stuck left in the dust. My experience has been pretty okay overall. I've never loved Galaxy post-processing, but it seems like Samsung has heard some cries for better image production after hitting the shutter button. The photos I take come out clear and detailed without that grainy textured look to them. They also carry some nice colors, which seem to be pretty true to real-world hues. Samsung has also sort of impressed me this year with the camera app. I can't tell if anything actually changed, but I might be coming around to the messy but organized nature of the app's features. Things like motion photos and quality are at the top, where you need them, and color grading and exposure settings are tucked into a small expandable button. It feels a little more intuitive than it has in the past. The act of taking pictures has also been snappy, which is always welcome. I never felt bogged down by processing or other background events. Of course, a lot of this echoes my experience with the S24+. It's a good phone, but I wish the processing was still a little bit better. We're seeing brands like OnePlus kill it, threatening Google with an exceptional camera. Samsung needs to shoot its hat into that ring with a cannon. It was expected that the Galaxy S25+ would end up being a pretty underwhelming phone, but it's turned out to be the opposite. Maybe that's just One UI 7 working on a slightly snappier infrastructure, but it feels like Samsung is finally getting to the pinnacle of things. The design of the phone is all too familiar, but is that a bad thing? I happen to think the Galaxy S24 was a beautiful shift to a modern look without the fluff that other OEMs try to imbue. The phone looks good year after year, and it now packs the best hardware it possibly can, other than a lower RAM amount for some unknown reason. The point is that One UI 7 makes this phone. Of course, that also means the Galaxy S24 series will get most of what the OS offers on this device in a couple of months -- hopefully. The Galaxy S25+ comes in at $999, which isn't changed from last year. I don't think that's a bad deal, but it definitely isn't advice to upgrade from the Galaxy S24 right away. If you're on an older phone, like the S22 or S23, you'll likely feel a huge difference. This is just a good phone with really good software, which is not something I often get to say about Samsung. The emojis are still terrible, though.

Samsung's Galaxy AI rollout strategy is taking shape, and it's bad news for Galaxy S24 owners

If you have a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, the S25 Ultra isn't the upgrade you might think I knew it was only a matter of time before Samsung started testing explanations for why Galaxy AI features would not be available on older hardware. When the company highlighted every chance it got that the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset made many functions possible, I knew we were in trouble. Samsung tried this last year when it floated the idea that the Galaxy S22 Ultra would not get Galaxy AI features. There was an intense backlash, and Samsung later updated the S22 series with AI -- but Samsung learned from its mistake. In a recent interview, Sally Jong, EVP and Head of Framework R&D at Samsung MX explained the company's reasoning behind not bringing specific Galaxy AI functions to devices other than the Galaxy S25. According to the interview, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy enables Samsung's Personal Data Engine, meaning bringing features to older phones without that chipset would be difficult. I don't buy it, and if that's somehow true, we need to reconsider how we talk about and purchase smartphones immediately. Read our review Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra no longer lives up to its name A straight-B student Posts 10 Galaxy AI doesn't impress so far I fail to see the need for so much power If Galaxy AI were the transformative experience Samsung was selling me, I might be more receptive to the company's reasons for not bringing features to older hardware. Unfortunately, Samsung's AI efforts have been less than impressive. The Samsung executive mentioned Now Brief needs the Personal Data Engine to function. After using Now Brief for almost a month, I've found it does nothing. A Pentium III running at 500MHz can show me the weather and pull a random news story, so pardon me for not believing I need a Snapdragon 8 Elite (for Galaxy) to do that. If my $1,300 Galaxy S24 Ultra from a year ago can't handle the latest Galaxy AI features, what's the point? The Now Bar runs smoothly on a Galaxy S24 Ultra running the One UI 7 beta, so I know I don't need the additional power or customizations of the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. I've also seen other phones run cross-app integrations without issue. If Samsung is to convince me that phones like the Galaxy S24 Ultra aren't capable, I need to see a much more detailed argument. Otherwise, I believe Samsung is artificially gatekeeping features to entice people to spend money on a phone they don't need. If my Galaxy S24 Ultra is already obsolete, I have questions We need to rethink smartphones Samsung is about to rephrase the smartphone conversation in a way it doesn't intend. If my $1,300 Galaxy S24 Ultra from a year ago can't handle the latest Galaxy AI features, what's the point? How could I recommend people spending additional money on powerful flagships when the goalposts keep moving? Most users don't need a fraction of the performance they pay for, but it's not terrible value because it ensures devices will run well for years. It gives them peace of mind that their phones can handle the latest and greatest features two years down the line, making the initial premium worth it. If phone manufacturers are going to change the requirements each year, there's no reason to purchase anything more than the bare minimum. If all the power I bought with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in my Galaxy S24 Ultra isn't good enough a year later, I will spend the least amount possible or find another phone to buy. I no longer see the point of buying more smartphone performance than I need in the hopes future applications will utilize the additional power if the requirements change yearly. It's not too late Samsung has reversed course before We need a response similar to when Samsung floated the idea of Galaxy AI not coming to the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Users revolted, and Samsung found a way to make it work. If security is the primary concern, as Sally Jong indicated, there must be alternative ways to protect user data within the confines of chipsets like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. There must be ways to offload functions into the cloud without compromising our data. I don't accept that on-device AI is solely a product of the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy and that there's no workaround for older, still powerful hardware. Related If you have a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, the S25 Ultra isn't the upgrade you might think Think about how you use your phone Posts 16 More information would be helpful. Samsung's heavy push into AI with the Galaxy S25 series has resulted in more questions than answers. What functions are controlled by the Personal Data Engine, and which features are specific to the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset? It would at least help me understand the limitations, but I'd still have difficulty believing there aren't alternatives. I don't like the direction Galaxy AI is taking Galaxy AI is a touchy subject for me. I hate that Samsung used it as the main selling point for the Galaxy S25 lineup when it wasn't ready for primetime. Galaxy AI isn't worth buying a phone for, and it's frustrating to learn older devices might be artificially limited because of it. I'm not naive, and I realize that Samsung needs some reason for people to buy new smartphones, but I'd prefer the company not punish previous customers. Samsung has made it clear it doesn't feel the need to innovate to generate sales; it doesn't need to add insult to injury by rendering year-old devices obsolete. Samsung Galaxy S25 Samsung's Galaxy S25 keeps things small without sacrificing power. With a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB of RAM, and all sorts of tools courtesy of Galaxy AI, this is everything you expect from a modern flagship squeezed into a relatively svelte chassis. $800 at Samsung $800 at Best Buy $800 at Amazon Samsung Galaxy S25+ The Samsung Galaxy S25+ is the middle offering in the company's lineup. It features a 6.7-inch AMOLED QHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The new Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset powers it, and it has 12GB of RAM, and either 256 or 512GB of storage. Samsung didn't increase the battery size for 2025, leaving it at 4,900mAh, although a more efficient chipset has resulted in better battery life. It's thin and lightweight, at just 7.3mm and 190g, respectively. $1000 at Samsung $1000 at Best Buy $1000 at Amazon Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra leaves the Note-like design behind for the very first time. With flat edges, curved corners, and a massive 6.9-inch display, this is a modern flagship through and through -- and yes, that S Pen is still here too. $1300 at Samsung $1300 at Best Buy $1300 at Amazon

Forget hardware: the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra's updated OS really shines

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is one of the best phones in Australia, and in 2025 it'll be a difficult handset to beat as our attention turns to the Google Pixel 10 Pro and the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max coming later this year. It only improves upon the best cameraphone of 2024, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and it continues a trend set by the S24. In 2025, software took over the stage almost entirely in San Jose at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event. Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra received a new rounded design that makes it look more like its standard S25 and S25 Plus counterparts. Samsung also decided to axe Bluetooth features from the S Pen with the S25 Ultra, which enabled users to take photos with the phone's included stylus (super useful for group shots and selfies, though Samsung said it's not a popular feature). Hardware undoubtedly changed and indeed the phone did receive its annual CPU/GPU performance buff - but in 2025, Samsung's more interested in software. With the launch of One UI 7, Samsung's app icons, widgets, status bar and other core software features have gotten a refresh. They feel more efficient, space-aware and better in line with the customization that many users crave from their smartphones. When I first received this phone, my colleagues and I were saddened at how limited the 'Good Lock' OS-modifying tool had become with One UI 7, but after toying with the operating system, I've come to realize that I could finally get by without it. Better yet, the introduction of the Now Bar and the all-new Now Brief are actually useful productivity features that look good on the display, and they're my favorite features of the launch. Whether or not Samsung's useful Now Brief page, which generates an AI-assisted snapshot of the rest of your day (or next day), effectively encompasses what has become the popular perception of AI (incorporating the use of large-language models and the like) feels beside the point. This is a genuinely useful feature and to some extent, I'm disappointed that it has been tarnished by the 'AI' tag that justifiably puts a bad taste in people's mouths. To that end, we can ignore the elephant in the room no longer - the messy state of affairs that is AI on a Samsung phone. Such phones are torn between Galaxy AI tools (many of which function on-device) and Google Gemini, and there's cause for concern in this discrepancy. So let's chat Samsung's latest OS polish, its handy new tricks, and its spotty AI-fication. I'll quickly admit that Samsung's approach to UI design up until now hasn't been my favorite. Coming from iOS in 2022, the Google Pixel range won me over with the uniform aesthetic that makes it the closest thing to an iPhone on the Android side of the fence. Samsung's phones, albeit partly due to their overstuffing of bloatware with a fresh install, tend to have a more tech-savvy aesthetic - showing more icons on a space, settings icons at all times across the settings bar (top of the display) and generally sharing more information than is necessary for a casual user. That doesn't seem to be the case with the Samsung Galaxy S25 series and One UI 7. With this launch, subtle but sweeping changes have been made to the home screen, including app icon scale choice, dark icons in dark mode when 'Color Palette' is applied to apps, and expanded folders (which you can tap to open apps without opening said folder). One of my big reservations about Samsung phones up until now has been the cluttered Status Bar, showing oh so many symbols that don't need to be displayed at all times (for example, the 5G icon, NFC icon and Bluetooth icon, to name a few). These icons have now been relegated to the status bar only when accessing the quick settings and notifications menu (accessed by swiping down), while app notifications continue to persist on the left of the status bar (unless disabled). Widgets and lock screen/notifications menu pop-ups have also received a glow-up, and are now rounded at the corners and displaying more information on the home screen. However, to activate these notification 'cards' on the lock screen, you'll need to do so in your lock screen settings (switching over from icons to cards). It's the little things that add up, surrounding the introduction of two big things. The Now bar comes first; it's a multi-function widget that appears contextually at the bottom of the lock screen. I really love how it expands when tapped while playing music, displays timers and how it communicates Google Maps info. It's great having it so low on the screen, so it's more accessible one-handed. It feels more intuitive than Apple's Dynamic Island which it seems inspired by. Moreover, Now Brief is a genuinely useful addition to the One UI suite of features. In the morning, at mid-day and at night, the phone will produce a 'Now Brief' rundown of upcoming events (including weather reports, travel information and calendar notifications) and a recap of your last several hours (including sleep data, missed calls and photos taken). It's a useful tool for putting all your contextually appropriate alerts in the one spot for your review, and it pains me that it's not even more useful. I'd love for it to pull information from more apps - recommending me to continue listening to a podcast, select audiobook or keep watching a Disney+ series. The best it'll do on these fronts is recommend you a Spotify playlist or push you in the direction of YouTube Shorts. I'd also like it to be a little less... wrong? After waking up one morning, it recommended me a 'liquid EDM' playlist. I've been known to l listen to the odd EDM song here or there, but it seems like a wild genre to wake up to. But it's in Now Brief that we approach the cluttered state of Samsung's AI suite. And then there's Google Gemini. On One UI 7 and the S25 range, Gemini has replaced the default Google Assistant (Bixby who?), and while I do like Gemini as a virtual assistant, its coexistence with these other AI tools is potentially confusing to a casual user. That being said, Samsung has added cross-app actions to the S25 range with Google Gemini. You can ask Gemini to perform a complex series of commands, such as finding the information on several businesses online to be added to your Notes app, and it will be done so fluidly (as demonstrated by our friends at Tom's Guide). The only third-party apps currently supported are Whatsapp and Spotify, but this awesome time-saving feature genuinely has the potential to help get stuff done quickly. Erring on the critical side, I think we're being a bit liberal with what we're appropriately calling an 'AI feature'. For example; Google Circle to Search continues to be one of my favorite features of Android phones in 2024. It's supposedly underpinned by AI, but it's unclear how AI actually factors into the function of this tool. After all, it's basically a simple-to-access spin on Google Lens with support for on-screen circling. Similarly with Now Brief, it's not clear just how much of it benefits from so-called AI features. A day-to-come or day-passed snapshot is simply a splash screen displaying your upcoming events, weather alerts, a smattering of content recommendations and health figures from throughout the day. It might seem bereft to criticize AI features on the merit of being 'AI-powered', but I have one major concern. Since the launch of the Galaxy S24 range, Samsung has noted that it may, eventually, start to charge for its AI features. At the time of writing, the official company tagline is: "Fees may apply for AI features at the end of 2025. Certain Galaxy AI features require [a] Samsung and Google Account. [An] internet connection may be required to use some features. AI Features will be provided free of charge until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices." My concern is that access to some of these genuinely useful features will be paywalled alongside the AI tools that many people won't actually get any use from. I have no problem paying a subscription for a genuinely useful product or service if I'm actually getting value from it. Between Circle to Search and Now Brief, I now have two AI features that I like. And I don't think I could sensibly pay for either. While Samsung has spent a fair amount of time beautifying its operating system, its AI software is starting to become a different story altogether. No doubt people are using such features at their own discretion, but so far there hasn't been a must-have AI tool built into One UI (or any phone OS for that matter). On the bright side, One UI 7 brings with it a nice aesthetic refresh, and in a hardware lull year, it's the best I could have wanted from Samsung.