Samsung's Galaxy S25 AI Features: Enhancing Daily Life or Raising Existential Questions?

My Galaxy S25 Ultra almost prompted an existential crisis

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 What does Now Brief show? Ordinary days It's not me What about the rest of the phone? It has been five days since I started using the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and when I began I was very excited to see what the new Now Bar and Now Brief added to the Galaxy AI experience. While both features work, what happened when I started using them was a surprise, as it made me face an uncomfortable truth about my life. I wondered, is my life just too empty to get much from the latest Galaxy AI features, and if so, am I the only one? Recommended Videos What does Now Brief show? For AI on a smartphone to raise such an existential question in my mind, the Now Brief feature must be astonishing, right? When I talked to Samsung about Galaxy AI and the Now Brief, I heard a lot about how it could help organize your life, keep you informed about changes that may affect schedules, and be a "personal assistant" living inside your phone. It sounded useful, interactive, informed, and intelligent. I was also told it wouldn't take long getting to know you either, as it would immediately lean on data already stored inside apps and accounts on the phone. Disappointingly, given its build-up, the Now Brief on my Galaxy S25 Ultra started out as a glorified weather app, collating some weather alerts and an hour-by-hour prediction of rainfall. The data is presented attractively and if you're really interested in what the weather's going to be, it's somewhat helpful, but you'd get richer information by tapping the weather widget instead of the Now Brief widget. Undeterred, I made sure the Now Brief was getting all the right information and continued to keep watch over it, waiting for my life to change. It's important to dig into these settings and possibly adjust your app usage. For example, Now Brief seems to require you to use Samsung's own calendar app, otherwise appointments don't show up. After granting the app access, it neatly showed a collated list of things I had going on for the day. It doesn't seem to pay attention to what I watch or listen to, or incoming messages. I'm wearing the Galaxy Watch Ultra while reviewing the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and Now Brief shows my sleep data and Energy Score, which it takes from Samsung Health. In all, it's a simple, easy-to-understand page of information found elsewhere on your phone. But has it changed anything about the way I use my smartphone? No, and I began to worry I was the problem. Ordinary days The Now Brief hadn't told me anything I didn't already know, it hadn't reorganized my day, and the Now Bar on the lock screen hadn't ensured I got to a meeting on time. The reason is not because it can't, or that it failed at some point -- it's because my work and personal life are fairly straightforward. I don't have so much going on I can't cope, and what I do have isn't so monumentally complicated that I need AI to make it more organized. Sure, I'd like more time to myself, but getting it isn't a case of shuffling cards on my calendar, or reminding me of a task I'd forgotten. The things I have going on in my personal life simply don't need a calendar reminder. I don't have any travel currently booked, I work from home so traffic doesn't matter to me, and I don't care about sports so any recent scores are irrelevant. Based on what the Galaxy Watch Ultra's telling me, I sleep well and I should have enough energy for the day ahead. Galaxy AI has a really easy time managing my life because my incredibly ordinary days are nothing compared to what it can do for those who are far busier than I am, so far as I've been told. As I discovered the Now Brief wasn't going to immediately impact my life, I did get a bit worried. Perhaps I don't do enough? Maybe my days are too ordinary, and I'm not as social, motivated, or productive as I should be. Others out there are clearly operating on a different level, as Samsung must be catering to the majority with Galaxy AI and the Now Brief, right? It's made to organize the busy lives of the masses, therefore I must be the outlier. I worried that the hectic world was powering ahead around me, AI at the helm to help the overstretched cope, while I'm languishing at the back of the pack with a calendar so easy to organize I could leave its management to my kitten. Good news for me -- my situation isn't quite so dire. It's not me After hearing the way Samsung promoted the Now Brief as a new way to get things done, and then finding it to be underwhelming in reality, I felt that maybe I could be less occupied than everyone else. However, the uncomfortable truth I faced at that moment isn't that Galaxy AI exposed my fairly set routine or a lackadaisical approach to life. It's that I may have fallen into the trap of linking productivity and "busyness" with happiness and self-worth. Like most, my days are suitably filled with things to do, but in my case, it's not with things that Galaxy AI -- or in fact, any AI -- can help me better manage. This is not a new phenomenon. A quick search online reveals articles about why we should not equate productivity and activity with self-worth, ranging from a podcast titled "You are not your to-do list," to a feature called "How to be useless," which uses Daoist teachings to illustrate why we shouldn't constantly push to produce. It all reminded me that at its heart, mobile AI is obsessed with productivity, and now with Samsung's Now Brief feature, it's judging our own productivity (or lack thereof) on the home screen of our new phone. This is a bit of a problem because I doubt I'm the only one with a life that doesn't take much external management. If you aren't constantly juggling ten tasks at once, regularly triple-book appointments, or are forgetful of the time in general, then the Now Brief probably won't be transformative. If I wasn't wearing a Galaxy Watch Ultra, it would also be even less informative, so do consider how deep you are into Samsung's ecosystem before buying a phone with the latest Galaxy AI feature. I was hopeful I'd use Now Brief often -- and therefore a mobile AI first for me -- but once I'm past my review stage with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, I don't know if I'd bother to check its morning, midday, and evening updates. I can almost guarantee nothing much will have changed between them. What about the rest of the phone? Previous Next 1 of 3 Outside of the Now Brief, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is shaping up to be a serious powerhouse. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy ensures the software instantly reacts to whatever you're doing, the screen's improved anti-reflective coating is fantastic and instantly noticeable, and the battery life is excellent. I'm about to charge it for only the third time since starting out with it, and that's a superb performance. The camera already impresses, especially when I use the varied zoom modes and the new wide-angle camera, plus I like the really intuitive and useful editing features. But I'm still not convinced about the shape of the phone. I'm getting used to the sharper edges, which is good, but the body is far more slippery than I expected. I've already accidentally dropped it once, inadvertently testing out the new toughened glass, which suffered no ill effects. The Galaxy S25 Ultra's Now Brief AI feature does what Samsung said it would, but like so much AI, it's not something I expect to use every day despite its promise. While I may not immediately see its benefits, others may find it far more useful. But those who do may also find it prompts them to take a closer look (and subsequently reassess) how they feel about their daily, weekly, and monthly activities, just as it did for me.

Inside AI on the Galaxy S25, and why Samsung thinks it'll make life better

Table of Contents Table of Contents Are people using Galaxy AI? Streamlining life Not thinking it's AI How long before it knows me? A big step change "It's designed to give people back time, and make people's lives easier. It's technology to help you live a better life." Annika Bizon, Samsung's senior director of marketing and omnichannel in the U.K. and Ireland told Digital Trends on the eve of the Samsung Galaxy S25's announcement, as she spoke passionately about Galaxy AI and the advancements made over the last year. It's a big statement, especially when mobile AI has so far struggled to attract the attention of those not fully invested in the technology already, but Samsung is very confident it has found the formula and features to change that, as we found out in our revealing interview. Recommended Videos Are people using Galaxy AI? "We've taken people on this AI journey and I'm loving the fact people are using it," Bizon said. Not only are people using Galaxy AI, but they're finding it transformative, according to data in a report commissioned by Samsung from research company Symmetry. It states frequent mobile AI users are 1.6 times more likely to report a high quality of life compared to those who rarely use AI, an increase from 1.4 times six months ago. Frequent users are more than twice as likely to feel creative, and 1.6 times more likely to feel productive. "We've got nearly five million people using Galaxy AI on a regular basis in the U.K, and we have 200 million Galaxy AI enabled devices worldwide as we wanted everybody, no matter what device you're on, to have the opportunity to try AI," Bizon continued. "This year, and the step forward we're really proud of, is the Galaxy S25 truly becomes your personal assistant. It's where AI steps into a different space because everything is seamlessly integrated on your phone, but you don't see it." This was just one of the mentions of Galaxy AI's new assistant-first functionality, primarily the Now Brief, not appearing to be an AI feature, but just a feature. It's an important distinction, where people using Galaxy AI will think less about using AI for specific tasks, and simply letting it work its magic in the background while you get all the reward. It's less feature-driven, and more experience driven. Streamlining life Bizon gave examples of how Galaxy AI will return specific search results to your phone and provide ways to send them directly to friends, which is helpful but not especially new. However, it was when she spoke enthusiastically about the Now Brief feature it became clear where Galaxy AI in One UI 7 has improved, and where it can potentially improve life. "It's where you start to see it come to life," she told Digital Trends. "The Now Bar and Now Brief give one consolidated view of my life, from a work and a personal point of view, that tells me how I slept based on my Galaxy Ring, and then optimizes my day based on that data. It tells me how long it'll take for me to get to meetings, remind me to check into a flight and show my boarding pass, and if I need an umbrella when I leave the house. The way it intuitively understands how my life works is a huge step forward." The Now Brief's high level insights are then condensed down into snippets of helpful information and advice on the Now Bar, which sits at the bottom of the Galaxy S25's lock screen. "Those little prompts that help you with life are the fundamental differences in how [the Galaxy S25's] AI can help you. Its about taking all that life admin away that none of us want to do, giving us time back for the things we want to do." Not thinking it's AI We're bombarded with AI tools and AI gadgets at the moment, but what makes the latest iteration of Galaxy AI fascinating is how we can practically avoid mentioning AI at all. We are reaching the point where the AI part is disappearing into the background as it powers more useful functionality that's pushed to the forefront. "Yes, we're talking a lot about AI, "Bizon agreed, "but AI is only the functionality to help get you there. People who understand AI know that, and what we're doing is finding tools to make your life easier, so we don't have to think about if AI is doing this, or not doing that." Kadesh Beckford, Samsung U.K.'s smartphone specialist product manager was also on our call, and told us about one of his favorite ecosystem features enabled by AI that most may not connect with the technology at all. "A new Routine feature connects my Galaxy S25, Galaxy Watch Ultra, and my Samsung TV, which then knows when I've fallen asleep by what's happening on my Galaxy Watch and my Galaxy S25. Maybe it hears me snoring, or notices my heart rate has dropped, and looks for a consistent pattern before turning off the TV for me." While people will have used AI translators and features like Circle to Search, Galaxy AI is moving beyond them to become genuinely more useful, and in a silent, unobtrusive way. It's why we expect the newly improved Galaxy AI on the Galaxy S25 to have a greater impact on more people than the AI devices and services that have come before it. How long before it knows me? Galaxy AI and the Now Brief will need time to get to know you before enhancing your life in the way Bizon describes, but how long will it take? "It will be almost immediate," Bizon said. "It's pulling together the data that's already there on your phone, and then as it starts to learn and the more you use it, it'll become more intuitive, and even understand your own individual speech patterns. It's going to learn as it goes, and change and alter to your needs." There's a lot more to Galaxy AI this year than before, but Samsung hasn't lost sight of it needing to be simple to use. "It's really simple," Bison told us when asked about the initial setup process. "A lot of [the services and features] happen intuitively when you start to use the phone. We've made it simple because if there's too many steps, that's when you lose people." A big step change As we closed our conversation, Bizon likened the ability of AI to how much of an advantage someone using the internet has over someone using the print version of an encyclopedia. "It's that big of a step change," she smiled. "Once people start to get used to it, as everything takes a little bit of time to bed in, it'll be the new standard and I'm so excited to see how this helps people make their lives simpler." Samsung's ambitious plan for Galaxy AI hinges on the Daily Brief, its insights, and the convenience of the Now Bar. It has effectively conveyed a tantalizing message of it helping simplify our lives, and provided the Galaxy S25 and its AI smarts can deliver on that, other brands will have to work hard to catch up. The Galaxy S25 series has been revealed during Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event held in San Jose, California. You can read about the Galaxy S25 Ultra here. The new phones will be released on February 7, 2025.

Samsung execs on Galaxy S25 Galaxy AI: it will make you 'twice as happy'

If you've ever needed to quickly find a restaurant for a gluten-free friend, hunt for time in your schedule for an extra gym session or figure out ways to increase your phone's battery life just by talking to it, you're the kind of person that Samsung wants to help with the Galaxy AI features of the Galaxy S25. Samsung's suite of AI features, which has apparently reached 5 million users in the UK in a year (the same milestone that took the internet a whole eight years), has received a big upgrade with the introduction of the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra. I got the chance to learn more about it from Samsung's smartphone specialist product manager Kadesh Beckford and Annika Bizon, senior marketing and omnichannel director for Samsung UK and Ireland, and head of Ireland's MX Division. Bizon praises the S25's Galaxy AI update as "a monumental step change in how a smartphone works for you. The best way I can describe is is like a PA in your pocket, it's bringing together seamlessly all the apps on your phone so you can perform really complex tasks with super simple commands." "The next generation that we're talking about right now is taking [AI] to a whole new level where it really does feel like it's kind of your buddy. It's with you on this journey, which I think technology's never been as intuitive as it's about to be." One of the most ambitious new features for the Galaxy S25's take on Galaxy AI is cross-app actions using AI Agents. It's this feature that enables the multi-step automation described above with the gluten-free dinner plan, along with the Personal Data Engine, which tracks your habitual tasks to then suggest ways of simplifying it with Galaxy AI's help. Beckford, one of the lucky few to have tried an S25 in the real world prior to the announcement, has already been taking advantage of the Personal Data Engine to help with commuting. "Now your device says leave at this time because there's an accident on (notorious London ringroad) the M25," Beckford says. "It's normally about an hour and a half for me to drive into the office, but this helps me determine, you know what, I need to leave just that little bit more earlier, or I can relax a little bit. Or it alerts me that 'your next meeting is in this room, and at this time,' or when I need to go and pick up my little one from school: 'there's been an extra bit of traffic on the way, leave a little bit earlier.'" Bizon meanwhile points to the possibility of "leveling the playing field" for small business owners or the self-employed. "You know someone who's running a business has got to wear 12 hats because they're doing everything. If you can take some of those mundane tasks away and give them time back, either so they can chill out for a bit or they can grow their business. I think it's going to be really interesting to see how it expands businesses." Samsung's unique among other AI-focused Android phones in that it uses both Google's Gemini and its own Bixby assistant. While this sounds potentially messy, Beckford explains how the two assistants work in harmony. "It's all been integrated in extremely clever ways, subject to where you're going to be using it to know which AI it needs to fundamentally do the task at hand," Beckford explains. "To give an example: you're in your Gallery. So [the Galaxy S25] knows that you're potentially going to be searching for images from your last trip to Spain, as an example. So it intuitively knows that Bixby's going to be the dominant AI in that. Alternatively if you're on your home screen and you're wanting to do research, you just intuitively just kicks into using Gemini." "Another space where Bibxy is going to do the work is in Settings. So if you wanted to change your font size of the text in your messages, you want to change the font size, you would simply say, hey Bixby, change the font size." But perhaps best of all: Bizon confirmed that Galaxy AI is still entirely free "to the end of this year, [Galaxy AI] is completely free to the consumer, and as it stands, there's no plans to change that," she stated. Samsung floated the idea of charging a subscription fee for its AI features last year when Galaxy AI has been introduced. Things could still change in the future, but it's good to see the company's sticking to its original promise. On top of that, all of these features are available to use from the moment you set up the phone. There's no waiting around for future updates, unlike the iPhone 16 series which had to wait months for its first Apple Intelligence features to appear, and is indeed still waiting for the full slate of announced features to arrive. Samsung's confident you'll want to try these features. After all, using Galaxy AI apparently makes you happier. Yes, that's a serious claim. A survey Samsung conducted with researchers at Symmetry found that "frequent mobile AI users are 1.6 times more likely to report a high quality of life compared to those who rarely use AI," regardless of the user's background. The same group also expressed that they felt up to 2.2x as creative. These are big claims, and fit right in with Samsung's continued full-throttle approach to AI, adding and improving features that focus on productivity and convenience, with some creativity tools also along for the ride. But with factors like the Personal Data Engine and the automatic watermarking of AI-altered content, there are still considerations of privacy and accountability built-in. All that's left to do now is some real-life testing, and you can bet our upcoming reviews and features will be thoroughly examining how well these new and improved Galaxy AI features work. Keep it locked to TG, and you'll be the first to know.

I tested the Galaxy S25 Ultra's Now Brief -- here's what this AI feature can do

The Galaxy S25 arrives in stores February 7 along with the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra. And when you fire up one of those new flagship phones from Samsung, you'll be greeted by one of the big AI-powered improvements in the One UI 7 interface -- a new features called Now Brief that's loooking to make your information that much more digestible. While I see the appeal of Galaxy AI features like Circle-to-Search and Sketch-to-Image, Now Brief is the kind of improvement I'm much more interested in. Instead of handling tasks I can easily take care of myself, AI features that promise to make my life easier are the ones I want to explore. And so when I was able to get my hands on a Galaxy S25 Ultra ahead of the phone's arrival in stores, I immediately turned to Now Brief to try it out myself. In essence, Now Brief acts as a hub of information on your Galaxy S25, delivering tailored updates and information based on the time of day. When you wake up in the morning Now Brief will show you information on how you slept if you have the Galaxy Watch 7, as well as the current weather and any pressing news events you might have missed. The AI would also know when it was time for your commute and adapt to display pertinent information to that. For instance, it would take data from your Samsung Calendar and link it with traffic and travel reports to inform you of the ideal time to leave for your first appointment. Now Brief can also offer recommendations on where you can grab a coffee or bagel before work. Fast forward to the evening, and Now brief will offer you a selection of music, and maybe add some relevant health details regarding how many steps you took. It may make sure to remind you of the time you've set for sleep. Samsung's Now Brief works within the Samsung architecture, gathering information from certain apps. The majority of compatible apps are Samsung's own core apps, but there are some third-party apps like YouTube that Now Brief can connect with. Now Brief's appeal lies in the fact that over time, it will slowly learn your behavior and adapt its suggestions to fit your preferences. In addition, a Now Bar on the Galaxy S25's lock screen brings priority notifications of your appointments and other time-sensitive information, also powered by the AI's knowledge of your schedule and activities. Setting up the Brief is pretty easy, with the simplest method being just to add it to the phone's home screen. All you need to do is press and hold the screen, then select the Widgets icon at the bottom of the screen, and tapping on the Now Brief icon. Once that's done, you can pick which apps Now Brief can connect to by selecting the gear icon on the bottom. Just be aware that you won't suddenly get a wealth of information on your Now Brief report. The AI has to slowly learn from your apps, and it'll take a while to get going. Also, some of the apps need to be opened on the phone for them to actually appear in the Brief, as I found with the Calendar app. Now Brief is one of those concepts that, in theory, should be appealing, though I have some concerns, too. To being with, it seems like the feature should offer more personalization at the start, if you're bringing over data from another device, as I did by transferring things over from my Galaxy Z Fold 5 using Smart Switch. Surely, some of that data could inform Now Brief's display, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I understand why Samsung would use built-in apps to help feed Now Brief's knowledge graph, but that's going to be of limited use if you rely on third-party apps to manage your other calendar or handle other tasks. To get the most out of Now Brief, I wonder if I'm going to have to adjust which apps I use on the Galaxy S25. Those questions aside, Samsung's Now Brief is simple to use -- that includes set-up. It may feel a bit barren at the start, but presumably that will improve over time as the feature gets to better know your habits. We spend a long time swiping through apps as we plan our day. We look at the calendar and then maps to make sure we're on schedule. The idea of being able to just check one place to find all the data could make Now Brief a winner. For that reason, I think there's something special here. If it works as advertised, I don't doubt that this kind of smart feature could help to push the Galaxy S25 Ultra to the top of our best phones list.

With the S25, Samsung might have cracked the code to be your "true AI companion"

A Samsung Galaxy S25 held in a hand showing the Morning brief feature with updates regarding the weather in San Jose, CA. (Image credit: Laptop Mag/Sean Riley) The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra boasts a larger 6.9-inch display, a new custom Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, and a new 50MP ultra-wide camera, but that's not the headline for this phone. AI is irrefutably the story of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. The launch event and my session with Samsung made this clear: Most of both were spent on new AI functionality while quickly breezing through formerly attention-devouring features like the cameras. Samsung Smartphone Product Manager Charles Uptegrove tells Laptop Mag that Galaxy AI "was one of the key reasons for our users to purchase the device (Galaxy S24), but more importantly, our customers are utilizing Galaxy AI." Currently, Circle to Search is the most heavily used feature, with 10 million users in the U.S. and 20% using Galaxy AI daily. The new Galaxy AI features are designed to drive those numbers up considerably in 2025, with upgrades to existing favorites like Circle to Search and AI Select, while the new Now Brief and multimodal natural language voice commands could prove the most impactful. Now Brief is new with One UI 7. It gives you an overview of your day and other useful information based on your habits. For example, if the weather is bad, it may advise you when to leave for a meeting on your schedule, or it may try to refer you to some news articles or YouTube videos that you find interesting. This will improve over time as Galaxy AI learns your habits. Critically, this is all happening on-device for the privacy-conscious. This is already using Galaxy AI, of course, and presuming it does its job effectively, it could quickly become a fixture in many Galaxy S25 owners' daily usage, but it also feeds you into additional Galaxy AI features. For example, Uptegrove showed Now Brief, reminding him it was a friend's birthday and offering to create a generative AI image to send them along with a happy birthday text. One of the biggest hurdles that Samsung and others face is getting people to buy into and use AI. Now Brief seems like one of the most straightforward, practical implementations I've seen, and it also encourages people to try other AIs. The multimodal natural voice commands feel like a long-awaited promise finally fulfilled. They allow you to string together multiple actions in a single query, much like how you would phrase a question or request to a person. For example, when Uptegrove asked Galaxy AI to "Summarize YouTube videos about the Galaxy Z Fold 6," it took approximately 20 seconds to process and summarize that information in a note. This is all happening on-device, which is another critical point for Samsung with the Galaxy S25. The "Personal Data Engine," as Samsung calls it, gives you an LLM on your phone that can leverage everything it knows about you and your habits without sharing it with the cloud. Uptegrove also offered a more straightforward example: simply asking Galaxy AI when the Warriors' next basketball game was happening and adding it to his calendar. This would typically require jumping back and forth between your browser and your calendar, but it's done in seconds without opening a single app. These quick interactions with Galaxy AI are priceless if you are trying to limit your screen time. Now, this isn't quite the slam dunk that Now Brief is, as it requires users to proactively use an unfamiliar feature instead of being regularly presented with it on screen. However, this is a compelling feature if Samsung can deliver on its promise and get people to buy in. At launch, this feature works only with apps in the Google suite, Samsung apps, WhatsApp, and Spotify, but Samsung is working to add other services over the course of the year. Samsung's most popular Galaxy AI feature is still Circle to Search. This feature allows you to circle any image or text on your display and have Galaxy AI offer you search results. It can do the same for music if an audio element is detected on your screen. AI Select is another helpful feature that gets an upgrade for 2025. You just need to slide over the Edge panel, and it will offer you contextual options regarding different things you can do with the content on your screen. One example is if you are watching a video you can just select it and automatically convert a portion of it into a GIF. You can also use AI Select to translate text between languages or summarize a long article. Finally, for those unfamiliar with the labyrinthine settings menus or the full capabilities of their phones, Galaxy AI will now make recommendations on settings to change based on any issues you are experiencing. If your eyes are irritated, it may recommend turning on blue light reduction or dark mode. If you are having trouble reading what's on the screen, it may offer to increase the text size for you. We've seen Apple Intelligence do something similar, answering basic how-to questions about Apple devices; this essentially takes that one step further and walks you through the process. Samsung focused on Galaxy AI when it announced the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 6, and Galaxy Z Flip 6 in 2024, but the Galaxy S25 series takes that to a new level. AI is the defining feature of this round of phones. Only the Galaxy S25 Ultra offers any notable hardware changes beyond the move to the custom Snapdragon 8 Elite chip; Galaxy AI must almost exclusively drive Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus upgrades. While AI has been the buzzword on everyone's lips for a year, that killer feature hasn't emerged. I don't think Galaxy AI has a single killer AI feature yet. Still, it is building out a compelling set of features and making them more accessible to users without expressly driving them to an AI app or hub. This may be as big a hurdle as building out the features themselves, as the best AI apps and services will be worthless if users don't integrate them into their lives. While you could argue that Samsung is playing it safe with the Galaxy S25 series this year with minimal hardware upgrades, in another sense, it is taking a massive swing that Galaxy AI is enough to convince people to upgrade.

Samsung's "Now Brief" is a feature so useful it may win over even the biggest AI skeptics

Samsung Galaxy Now Brief showcasing a Morning brief. (Image credit: Samsung) Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025 gave us a first look at the exciting new Galaxy S25 lineup of phones, but what if I said that was far from the best announcement to come out of the showcase? While phones were the primary focus, Samsung highlighted its AI efforts throughout the presentation. Whether it was Galaxy AI or the many ways the company works with Google and Gemini to improve the Android experience, Samsung spent a significant chunk of the showcase delving into what to expect. Plenty of exciting features were unveiled, like Gemini Live, which lets you speak with AI to brainstorm ideas or pose questions, or Extensions, which allows Gemini to complete actions across multiple apps with one command. However, while AI is obsessed with creating new things to distract the user, what impressed me most was a Galaxy AI feature that focuses on the user's information and seems useful daily: Enter the Now Brief. Now Brief, an upcoming feature that will (unfortunately) be exclusive to Samsung Galaxy S25 phones, utilizes Galaxy AI to provide daily briefings on what the day ahead of you will look like through Morning, Midday, and Evening briefs. By compiling your personal data from other Galaxy applications, you can press the Morning Brief button when you wake up to get a sense of the weather, how well you slept, any scheduled events, and more. Now, Brief can be added to your home screen as an easily accessible widget, and it's also available on your lock screen, so it's accessible as soon as you wake up and open your phone. It's no secret that most people check their phones first thing in the morning. I usually do the same, checking my messages or browsing social media, but I love the alternative Now Brief proposes. As someone who is rather forgetful, quickly being reminded of exactly what I'll be doing that day is awesome. The number of times I've had an event or reminder in my Google Calendar that never notified me of its existence, only for it to pass as I remained in complete ignorance, is laughably high. You might think, "Can't you just open your calendar every morning, and it'll offer a similar daily briefing?" It's not that simple. Not only is Now Brief visible when you open your phone through the new bottom widget, referred to as a Now Bar, but it doesn't exclusively source information from your calendar. By entering the settings and selecting "content to include," Galaxy AI can compile information in categories such as Health and wellness, finance, travel, events and tasks, routine, digital well-being, communication, moments, gallery stories, traffic updates, and news to monitor your habits and predict when you'll need certain things throughout the day. One example in Samsung's Now Brief video showcases how you can implement a driving routine if your Galaxy detects you use certain things on the road. When opening the Midday brief, a pop-up suggests setting up an automatic routine that will open maps and play music while driving. Other examples include informing you when your coupons expire and information about flight tickets, trains, and events. At the end of the night, you can receive an Evening brief that reviews your health stats for the day. Knowing that I will reliably be informed of my daily schedule through a briefing is enough incentive to constantly add events to my calendar. My phone will always keep me updated on the daily happenings, and anytime I add something to the Calendar app, Now Brief will offer that information when relevant. We need AI features that are, first and foremost, focused on the user. So much AI nowadays is focused on the AI itself, revolving around how it can solve your problems, write for you, draw for you, and even critique your photography, as shown in the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025. That may sound pleasant to some, but in my life, these are just gimmicks I cannot see myself ever actually using. Instead of trying to create new things for me, having Galaxy AI work to compile all of my information into one place and analyze my habits is significantly more helpful.

Samsung's big bet on personal AI makes the Galaxy S25 feel compelling but creepy

To no one's surprise, AI took the spotlight at Samsung's latest Galaxy Unpacked event. We got to see new editing tools, better photo searches, call transcripts, and much, much more. But it wasn't the features that stood out as much as the theme they project. If Samsung has anything to do with it, AI isn't just getting more pervasive. It's getting personal. This isn't just another phone-release event for Samsung; it's a test for AI phones. While the concept of a generative AI-focused phone is still relatively new, Galaxy AI -- the company's suite of AI phone features -- has been out for a year now. On a non-tech time scale, that's nothing, but we expect progress at a consistent clip in the phone market. So, what is Galaxy AI progressing to? Your personal assistant, of course. There was a lot to sort through regarding new AI features, but maybe the most telling addition is a summary feature called Now Brief. Now Brief is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: an AI-produced summary that gives you insight into what your day has in store and less superficial data like how well you slept. Summaries aren't a new trick for AI -- just ask Apple about its less-than-ideal text summary feature -- but Now Brief feels more all-encompassing. For one, Now Brief isn't static; it's active. What I mean is it takes context into account. It can suggest navigation in the evening on your commute home, recommend places to eat depending on where you are, or recap a day in which you've taken many pictures. In other words, Now Brief isn't just meant to be a tool; it's meant to be an assistant -- one that does what you want without you even having to ask. And to do that properly, Samsung needs your data, and lots of it. The idea of an AI personal assistant doing everything you don't want to do sounds great in theory, but in practice, it's actually a massive exercise in trust. Sure, I'd love an assistant to know when I'm leaving work and send me on the fastest route home, but to do that, it has to know when I'm going home and where I am. I wouldn't blame you if you're a little creeped out by the prospect. As much as we're used to our devices (phones in particular) being magnets for our personal data, knowing our routines and habits intimately -- and all in one place -- is definitely another level. Samsung, for its part, seems to know that its vision is an escalation of sorts and is taking the harder, but safer, approach to Galaxy AI, which is to say AI that happens on-device. The difference here is that, unlike using the ChatGPT app for example, your data never goes to the cloud (a server outside of your phone) to get processed. That difference, while subtle on the UX end, makes a huge difference in terms of security since it reduces the potential pain points for having data stolen. Not all of Samsung's new AI features are this secure, however. A deep integration with Google's Gemini, for example, that connects to Samsung apps and allows users to prompt Gemini for help with calendars, reminders, and navigation might reach the cloud if a task is too burdensome to process on-device. This is all to say that achieving Samsung's vision of a connected, all-knowing AI assistant sounds great in theory, but getting there in a way that respects privacy and feels worth it for customers won't be simple. Even with some potential pitfalls, Samsung's vision of a more personal AI-centric phone experience is one that genuinely excites me. Phones, despite being our more beloved gadget, haven't exactly been an exciting category in recent years. That's because we've perfected glass slabs to the point of plateau. In so many ways, that's great -- the phone I have now does so much more than I ever could have imagined in the days of clamshells. But there's a part of that plateau that feels like just that -- stagnation. A lot of that frustration, for me at least, centers on UI, which has made phones feel like a nightmare at times. Having to sort through an unwieldy din of apps or settings to do something on your phone isn't fun, and it feels like a far cry from the simple, streamlined vision that Android and iOS operating systems had hoped for. Getting more personal with AI might be a chance to reset that balance, bringing smarter, more adept voice assistants closer to the action or reducing the number of taps it takes to order an Uber. These are all real, practical advantages that

Despite My AI Burnout, These 3 Galaxy S25 Features Actually Seem Useful

It can be hard to see much value in the plethora of AI features tech companies have dumped on us in recent years. Do I really want AI to write my texts and emails? How often do I actually need to summarize a PDF? Is a custom emoji of a dog in a Santa hat riding a skateboard (while cute) really worth dropping several hundred dollars on the latest AI-supercharged phone? Perhaps companies are picking up on our AI fatigue, or perhaps the technology is simply getting smarter and more intuitive. But during its Unpacked event on Wednesday, Samsung unveiled a slew of AI-powered features that the company says can pick up on our habits, offer helpful suggestions and handle mundane tasks via the S25 series. The focus wasn't just on flexing AI capabilities, but also demonstrating how they might fit into more practical applications like streamlining everyday activities and navigating your phone's functions - all without necessarily drawing your attention to the AI running in the background. It's a subtle shift, but one that made me put my "Is AI your only party trick??" cynicism aside for a moment. Sure, many of Samsung's AI features, which were announced last year and also present on the Galaxy S25, are trivial (yet fun), such as Portrait Studio for creating stylized images and Sketch to Image for transforming doodles into AI-generated objects. But there are also a handful of functions that could make AI's presence feel more natural - and reflect what people actually want to see on their devices. We'll have to see how these capabilities play out in the real world once I review the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus. But for now, here are three new AI-backed features that piqued my interest and seem promising. In order to be helpful, AI needs to learn about you. Galaxy AI seems keen on doing so, then surfacing any relevant suggestions or information to simplify your routines. Imagine you're someone who likes checking the weather each morning, then looking at your calendar, then reading the day's news. Galaxy AI will pick up on that and, within the Now Brief widget, show you the weather, remind you of today's meetings and share articles you may be interested in when you wake up, all without asking. Amid the proliferation of mobile AI features, this is one that seems to be relatively practical and useful. It appears to tap into what AI does best - learning - while applying that newfound knowledge in a way that can best serve you, all without being overbearing or superfluous. When I get to try this feature for myself, I'm curious which habits of mine it picks up and whether I do, in fact, feel understood in my daily routine. (Is there an "Immediately open TikTok the second you wake up" option here??) Google's Gemini AI assistant now makes it easier to carry out multiple actions with one command, like finding a nearby Italian restaurant and sending the results to a friend, or finding out when an event is, having it added to your calendar and then texting your friends about it. All you have to do is long-press the right side power button and state your request, and Gemini will do the rest. This echoes what just about every major tech company is trying to do, from Apple to Google to Amazon: turn AI into your personal agent. I tend to be wary of AI taking over tasks I'm fully capable of (and not because I'm a control freak, but I often struggle to see the value), but this is something I could see actually being helpful and time-saving. Instead of hopping across multiple apps, simply stating a command and letting an AI agent take over does sound rather enticing - so long as it can do it well. Many of us take a lot of pictures on our phones, which makes pinpointing that one shot you just know is in your gallery all the more difficult. And a traditional search only gets you so far. Samsung is leveling up search in Gallery by making it more conversational, so you can say something like "Find pictures of me in a pink coat in London in March," for instance. You could also be more broad to summon a wider range of results, like simply saying, "Find pictures of me in a pink coat" to see all the different ways you've styled it. Apple and Google have added similar functionality to their respective photos apps, and it's nice to see Samsung catching up. This also applies to finding the right setting within the Galaxy's massive menu. Instead of sifting through each portion to try and find what you're looking for, you can also type something like, "Help me find settings that make my eyes feel less strained." Then your phone might suggest turning on Eye Comfort Shield to limit blue light and adjust the screen's color throughout the day. The idea is to cut back on the hassle of sifting through endless photos or menu options to find exactly what you need. One AI tool that I'm most curious about is Samsung's AI Select feature, which is accessible via a panel on the edge of the S25's screen. AI Select can detect what's being shown onscreen and then make suggestions, like turning part of a YouTube video into a GIF or summarizing text on a webpage. It can also help with image editing suggestions. This is something I'll certainly have to explore when I review the S25 and S25 Plus, because based on Samsung's presentation, it's not quite clear how much value might be added by this tool, or how often I might feel compelled to reach for it. But perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised. Be sure to check back for CNET's in-depth reviews of the Galaxy S25 lineup, featuring our impressions of everything from the hardware to the software to AI and everything in between.

Hands on: I tried the new Galaxy AI features in the S25 Ultra, and here's what I thought

Samsung's new S25 smartphones have just been revealed at its January 2025 Galaxy Unpacked Event, but that's not all that it showcased: it also gave us a taste of the AI-powered tools that are set to launch alongside the new devices - and I've had the chance to try them out. The star of the show was Now Brief, a feature teased ahead of the event which sees your phone offer you personalized daily briefs based on your personal schedule and habits. Taking cues from your connected email, calendar, wallet, accessories (such as a Galaxy Ring or Galaxy Watch), and other Samsung devices (i.e. your Samsung TV), Now Brief promises to give you a quick rundown of the day ahead - such as reminding you to prepare for your trip in a few days, to take it easy because you didn't sleep well the night before, and that you have a coupon expiring today. Throughout the day the Now Brief will shift to suit your preferences and help you achieve your targets - for example in the afternoon you'll get a reminder to get your steps in if you're short of your health goals for the day, with tips on how to up your count. Samsung says Now Brief will learn to understand you via its 'Personal Data Engine'. It'll learn what tips it should prioritize and which elements it doesn't need to include as those aspects of your brief aren't relevant. Most interestingly it seems like Samsung is learning heavily into its internet of things connected devices - with its presentation focusing on the improved integrations you'll unlock if you pair your new Samsung phone with other devices like a Samsung TV and Samsung smartwatch (a tactic Apple has been using for years to convince users to not only buy an iPhone but a whole Apple ecosystem). Because of this reliance on understanding you, of the three features I've tried Now Brief is the one I got the worst look at - because the test unit knew nothing of my personal schedule or who I am, it could only tell me about the weather conditions in the area nearby (which wasn't especially useful). I'm hopeful that the full release will be more exciting, and that'll come to older devices like the Samsung Galaxy S24, and Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Fold 6, as Now Brief has the potential to be the best new AI feature. I constantly forget things in my busy schedule until the last minute, so a regular update on what's coming up and reminders to hit my daily health goals could be super handy - but it will come down to how well this is implemented. AI features promise a lot, but will Now Brief deliver? For those of you who love recording video - either to share with friends, family, or your followers - the new phones can also take advantage of new on-device audio editing called Audio Eraser. We've seen a similar tool from the Google Pixel 8 which allows an AI to identify different types of sound in a video to be able to turn it up or down as you see fit. In a demo I had before the Galaxy Unpacked event I was able to record a clip of a Samsung representative talking while I clapped loudly and made noise in the background. Listening back to the clip you'd struggle to make out what they were saying. That is, until I went into the phone's video editor to alter the sound - turning down my disruption and turning up their voice. The end result sounded really good, and while there was a little distortion to their voice it certainly sounded a lot clearer than the unedited audio. We'll need to test it further, but I expect Audio Eraser will be perfect for making your concert recordings pop. For those of you who prefer using AI to help you create images, Samsung's Sketch to Image AI tool is getting an upgrade too that makes it easier to combine real and AI elements. In the demo I was able to combine a written prompt - I went for "an icy lake in a cartoonish style" - with a preexisting image - for the demo I used a photo of a random dog to stand in as my puppy - and Galaxy AI was able to combine the two parts into one single picture - spitting out an image of a dog that looked like the one in the photo playing near a lake in the snow, all in a cartoonish style. AI image generation isn't for everyone, but if you like playing around with this feature and want a little more freedom to combine real and fake elements this looks like a solid improvement over what we've had access to on Samsung before.

Samsung cracks the AI puzzle with Galaxy S25, finally

Editor's take: After years of half-filled promises and underwhelming realities, it looks like Samsung has finally succeeded in bringing the kind of seamless experience that we all hoped AI, digital assistants, and agents would or could bring to our mobile devices. Well, to be fair, it's Samsung in conjunction with Google (along with some help from Qualcomm) that's making the magic happen inside the just-launched Galaxy S25. From the outside, Samsung's new S25 mobile phone is simply the latest iteration of the company's long-running line of premium Android smartphones powered by Qualcomm's latest generation Snapdragon processor. It's also got a pleasant, rounded-edge design, better cameras, a fresh set of color options, and a few cool new features - all the things you'd expect from a next-generation device. But what really stands out on the Galaxy S25 - based on some of the demos and brief hands-on time we've had with the device - is the fact that it has digital assistant capabilities that actually work. Plus, it offers options for learning individual preferences that go well beyond what's been available on other devices. In other words, it brings the remarkable breadth, impressive accuracy, and highly individualized personalization promises of modern LLM-enabled AI to life in an always-on, always-connected, always-with-us mobile device. Part of this is due to the new level of partnership between Samsung and Google that suggests a deeper level of cooperation and co-design than has existed before. For example, in the past, it often felt like Samsung tried to replicate the software functionality that Google already offered in Android. With the Galaxy S25, however, the companies are working to bring the best of both worlds together to enable the best possible user experience. The most notable example is the default action of automatically launching Google's Gemini personal assistant with a long push on the S25. Yes, you can enable that option on Google's latest Pixel phones, but it's not on by default, and Samsung sells a significantly larger number of phones than Google. That means most people will experience this for the first time on a new S25 - or previous generations of Galaxy smartphones when Samsung provides upgrades to them. Our experience with Gemini - both voice-based and text input-based - so far has been extremely impressive, offering a huge range of options for requesting information, getting suggestions, and even participating in long conversations on virtually any topic imaginable via Gemini Live. In addition, Google announced that future extensions of Gemini - Screen Share and Live Video, which add new multimodal intelligence capabilities that can understand what's currently on your phone's screen and what the phone's camera is seeing - will be coming to S25 first. But it's not just the Gemini integration that makes the S25 impressive. Samsung has also integrated Bixby as well as several other custom AI models it created for on-device data personalization options. Samsung smartly recognized that Gemini can offer a much more comprehensive set of cloud-based personal assistant features than Bixby, but Bixby has the advantage of running directly on the device and having access to both the actions we perform on devices as well as things like device settings. As a result, Bixby and these other on-device models can start to learn the types of actions we regularly perform, data we search for, etc., and it can store all that information securely on the device through the use of Samsung's Knox device security framework. Best of all, Gemini and Samsung's onboard models can work together in some pretty compelling ways. For example, we can ask Gemini for information about an upcoming event and have it put on our personal calendar. This public information to private calendar integration is possible because Samsung worked with Google to allow data to be passed from Gemini to several of Samsung's own apps, which have access to the data stored on the phone. While this might seem like a small step, it's hugely important because it's one of the first times the ability to combine these two "data worlds" has been enabled. More importantly, it means the experience is as completely seamless and intuitive as it needs to be for regular people to actually use these kinds of capabilities. At present, these integrations are limited to Samsung native apps, Google's suite of apps, as well as Spotify and WhatsApp, but apparently, a number of integrations with popular third-party apps are in the works. In addition, eventually, we'll be able to do things like push the side button to call up Gemini, request a change to the phone's settings, and have Bixby perform the operation. In the meantime, the two can work side-by-side, and we can launch either of them by voice using the appropriate keyword if we don't want to use the hardware button. Regardless, hiding the workings of multiple models behind a simple, unified user interface of Samsung's OneUI 7 is exactly what makes the combined design efforts on the S25 so intriguing. One of the other important advantages of having Bixby run on the device - with help from the NPU on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform - is the ability to discover and store information about our personal preferences and routines on the phone. The new Snapdragon SoC, by the way, will now be built into every S25 worldwide - the sign of increased collaboration between Samsung and Qualcomm as well - and instead of just offering slightly higher speeds, includes new custom circuitry to help with the camera processing and other AI features on the S25. Leveraging what Samsung is calling the Personal Data Engine, the onboard Samsung models are able to see what activities occur on our phone screen - regardless of the app we're running - and then train the onboard model to learn the kinds of information we're requesting, the types of activities we do on a regular basis, etc. From that, using what the company referred to as knowledge graph technology, it can eventually start to make recommendations or automatically program routines and perform them on our behalf (all with our permission, that is). Importantly, all of this knowledge graph data stays on the device and never goes to the cloud. The Personal Data Engine (PDE) is also what powers the new Now Brief and Now Bar functions, which serve up information based on our preferences and the information gleaned from the knowledge graph. It's this level of customization that has the potential to turn on-device AI into something that evolves from a clever parlor trick into an indispensable personal digital assistant. Of course, it also has the potential to create an incredible privacy and security nightmare. Data of this type could provide the most detailed dossier about what any individual does online that we've probably ever seen - a huge magnet ("honeypot") for the bad guys. Thankfully, Samsung recognized that and embedded the PDE data into its hardware-based, on-device Knox Vault security solution, which has now been upgraded to offer post-quantum levels of cryptography. Because of these potential security concerns, Samsung allows us, of course, to turn off the data tracking features if we don't want to leverage them. It's an issue that any kind of AI-powered personalization device or service is going to face. Collectively, Samsung is calling all of these various AI-related capabilities Galaxy AI - a phrase that has expanded to cover the company's own AI models, the extensions that integrate Gemini with Bixby, the AI features built into several of its apps, and the personalization enabled by the Personal Data Engine. Trying to make sense of it all isn't particularly easy, nor is it anything that the vast majority of consumers will ever really care to understand. But it's the combination of these Galaxy AI features along with the clean integration of Google's Gemini in the S25 that makes this such a compelling offering. To be clear, there's still a great deal more work to be done at a model integration and app ecosystem level, but at last, it seems the promise of AI on devices is finally coming to life. Bob O'Donnell is the founder and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC a technology consulting firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community. You can follow him on Twitter @bobodtech

Samsung Galaxy AI becomes more personal and cohesive

With new multi-modal features, Samsung hopes its can save you time. For the second year in a row, the story of Samsung's new flagship Galaxy phones isn't about hardware changes. For better or worse, the Galaxy S25 features few material changes from its predecessor, and many of the most substantive enhancements come courtesy of new AI features Samsung has built into One UI. The highlight of those is something Samsung is calling the Personal Data Engine. Over time, One UI 7 will collect and analyze data about how you use your S25 to personalize the software experience. This customization will be most visible in two new features called Now Brief and Now Bar. The former will generate morning, midday and evening summaries of information that might be relevant to you. For instance, in a morning brief, you might see the day's weather, a calendar of your upcoming meetings, and news stories that might interest you. The latter, on the other hand, is a new interface element you can access from both the S25's lock screen and just below the digital clock when the phone is unlocked. The Now Bar will automatically generate a Rolodex of reminders you can flip through throughout the day. One widget might include directions from Google Maps, while another could feature the 45-minute timer you set earlier in the day. It's all basic stuff, but Samsung is betting these features -- and the ones I'm about to detail -- will save S25 users time by reducing the amount of jumping between apps they need to do. According to the company, any usage information the Personal Data Engine records is kept secure and private inside the S25's Knox Vault security enclave. The Galaxy S25 also includes a series of interconnected features that broadly fall under a concept Samsung is calling AI agents. These agents are powered by multi-modal machine learning models, meaning they can parse images, videos, audio and text. Samsung has deployed these throughout One UI 7, though you're most likely to encounter them through the Samsung sidebar. The most interesting of the new agents is called AI Select. It builds on the Smart Select tool previous Galaxy phones featured. When evoked, AI Select will scan the screen and suggest actions based on what it sees. As mentioned, the model powering this feature is multi-modal, so it's not limited to reading just text. For example, say you bring up AI Select while watching a YouTube video. In that context, the tool will offer to create a GIF for you. Again, the idea here is to simplify an action that previously may have required multiple apps and steps. At the same time, Samsung has polished existing AI tools to make them better. Most notably, Sketch to Image, now known as Drawing Assist, is more accurate and detailed and includes the option to import existing images. Separately, the Galaxy S25 series will ship with an improved version of Circle to Search. For the uninitiated, Circle to Search is a way to access Google Search from nearly anywhere on your phone without switching between apps. You activate the feature by long-pressing your phone's Home button. Circle to Search arrived at the start of last year, with Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8 owners among the first to get access. The latest version of Circle to Search can recognize phone numbers, emails and URLs, allowing you to call, email or visit a website with a single tap. Additionally, Circle to Search now also includes integration with Google's AI Overviews. These enhancements aren't limited to Samsung devices, and Google is in the process of rolling them out to all Android phones.

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 AI Assistant Will Do Everything For You, Except Hit Send

The AI features on Samsung's Galaxy S25 phones uses both on-device and cloud-based AI models, but the real test is the AI assistant's reliability. There’s a graveyard full of failed dedicated AI assistant devices from last year. Samsung is here to trample on those burial mounds and declare the real age of the AI assistant has arrived. The Samsung Galaxy S25 phones could be the first real shot at mobile cross-app capabilities. These devices ask you to trust they’ll take a text and turn it into a calendar event, nearly hands-free. That is, as long as you believe the AI model won’t make a mistake. These AI features debuted at Samsung’s latest Galaxy Unpacked are nearly everything Apple promised with Apple Intelligence last year, now made flesh. But among these promises is the underlying problem of AI reliability. Samsung demoed the feature for Gizmodo behind closed doors, but we have yet to put it through its paces. Samsung promises its on-device and cloud-based AI processing is keeping all your data secure, The Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra phones are now using Google Gemini rather than any proprietary blend of AI like Samsung’s previous devices. However, just because Google’s software is prominent doesn’t mean you can ignore all your Samsung apps. If you ask the AI assistant to make a calendar event for you based on a screencap, the device will default to your Samsung Calendar, not Google. If you want it to use Google Calendar, you’ll need to specify it in your prompt. Older features like call translation that were prominent in last year’s Galaxy S24 remain on-device, though that’s not the case with every new AI feature. The generative edit Magic Eraser-like feature now works on-device, which Samsung said is due to the more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. AI-enhanced Gallery and settings search are both on-device, but your Gemini-based assistant won’t keep to your phone all the time, based on some prompts. It’s the reason why Google is packing six months of Gemini Advanced subscriptions (along with 2 TB of cloud storage) with every new S25. Samsung showed how you can select what apps and content you will let the AI access. This isn’t just for the prompts you give to the AI assistant. The new Now Brief widget that appears on the lock screen is also suffused with AI. By default, it has access to everything from your health and wellness tracking to your photos and calendar events. Samsung calls the on-device AI privacy the “personal data engine.†Samsung said all of the users’ data is end-to-end encrypted when it's sent to the company for cloud processing. The company also promises it doesn’t use prompts or data for targeted advertising. Still, you can also change a setting only to process data on-device. Doing so may cut out access to several AI features that require cloud data. All these new software features could find a use, though we still need to try it all outside of Samsung's locked-down preview vacuum. What's more, you need to remember that not all the new AI features work directly on-device. The most complicated tasks require a more sophisticated AI model, and that means relying on Google’s taxed data centers that guzzle down hoards of water and electricity. AI will continue to make our ongoing climate crisis worse, even while big tech continues to promote nuclear power. If you’re asking the AI to write a text, the bot won't hit send for you. If you ask it to change your settings, it will bring you to the correct page, but you’ll need to hit the button yourself. As long as users have control, they can fix any mistakes the AI model is prone to making. The bigger problem will be whether the AI will still accomplish the task, even when you’re not looking.

5 Samsung Galaxy S25 AI Features We Can't Wait to Try

From Gemini integration to offline generative image editing, these are the five AI features we're most looking forward to testing. 1. Cross App Action AI is getting better at finding specific information no matter how you word your query. However, once you get that info, you have to figure out what to do next. Depending on what you need, you might have to copy and paste your result into a calendar event, email, or note. With the Galaxy S25, Samsung introduces Cross App Action to streamline the process. Here's how it works. Launch Google Gemini and say, "Put the next Buffalo Bills game on my calendar." Gemini will search for and grab the scheduling information and then create the event in your calendar with that request. It can handle even more complex requests like, "Find me pet-friendly vegan restaurants and send that list to Joey." In this scenario, it searches for those places in your area and will then send the list as an email or message. This Cross App Action eliminates the need to cut and paste the results from one app into another. We saw a demo of this in action, and it works fairly seamlessly. At launch, Cross App Action works with Google and Samsung apps and a few third-party ones like Spotify and WhatsApp. 2. Natural Language Search The Gallery app and Settings menu are the first of the Galaxy S25 devices to gain access to natural language search. Normally, when seeking a particular photo, you might have to remember when and where the event took place to help locate it in your library. Now, you are able to search based on the content of the image and its metadata. For example, you can say, "Find pictures of the wedding in Pittsburgh," and Galaxy AI will look for images that match the idea of a wedding in the specified location. You don't have to search for "white dress" to find a wedding (although that should work, too). Your searches can be more conceptual than concrete. These natural search tools in the Settings menu may prove quite useful. The Settings menu of most phones is lengthy and contains dozens of features buried in multiple layers of submenus. Specific settings can be a pain to locate. With the S25, you can say certain things like, "My eyes hurt from looking at the screen," and it will bring you to a setting that can reduce eye strain, like the Eye Comfort Shield. This type of search can be helpful to novices and experts alike. 3. Time to Get Personal The Galaxy S25 will learn your habits over time and can suggest routines to automate things. It does this via the Personal Data Engine, which analyzes user data to deliver personalized experiences. For example, maybe you often turn on Bluetooth to pair with your car before you leave the house and then turn it off again when you get home. Samsung's AI will recognize this pattern and offer a routine to automate the process. This feature can also work in coordination with other Samsung devices. One scenario presented by Samsung demonstrated how a wearable or smart home device can assist with your sleep. For example, the personalized AI can learn that your sleep is better or worse at certain temperatures in your home. Galaxy AI can then alert you to this data and suggest a course of action, such as automatically adjusting the thermostat at bedtime. 4. Offline AI AI requires a lot of processing power and that is often best left to remote servers accessed in the cloud. With the Galaxy S25, generative image editing is now possible without a network connection if you download a Large Language Model (LLM) pack. This Photos app feature lets you remove or resize items in an image, and when you do, your phone can fill in obscured areas. Until now, this required an active internet connection. With the S25, you can edit your photos no matter where you are. Samsung still allows you to use cloud-based processing if you prefer, and it says the results will be exactly the same. Samsung also rolled out its own Audio Eraser in the Samsung Gallery app. It's similar to Google's Audio Magic Eraser in that it analyzes the background audio in a video and separates it into channels like wind, noise, voice, and music. Audio Eraser works completely offline, and you can remix the audio in real time, dialing back noise so the end result is easier to hear. It lets you actively alter each level as if you were using audio faders on a mixing board. This is made possible in part by the new Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which has improved AI tools thanks to its high-charged CPU, GPU, and NPU. It's better able to handle offline processing needs. 5. Improved Contextual Search Sometimes, you want your phone to help you with something on the screen. Circle to Search is already a great tool that can help you find information about the text or images on your display. With the Galaxy S25, Circle to Search can now search the audio playing on your phone. If you're watching a video and want to know what song is playing in the background, you can use Circle to Search. Additionally, Samsung's AI Select function can provide actionable suggestions depending on the context. If a video is playing and you call up AI Select, it could recommend making a GIF. If you're looking at a website, AI Select might suggest the Summarize tool. If there's text embedded within a video, AI Select lets you select and search it. AI Select makes these suggestions automatically. Putting Galaxy AI to the Test We're already putting the Galaxy S25 lineup and Galaxy AI through their paces. We're eager to see if these features work as Samsung claims. Check back soon for our full reviews.

Galaxy AI is at the core of the Samsung Galaxy S25 - here are the 5 best new features

Samsung just unveiled the new Galaxy S25 lineup of flagship smartphones at its Galaxy Unpacked event and AI is at the heart of the experience. The Samsung Galaxy S25, Samsung Galaxy S25+, and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra all have new AI capabilities thanks to a mix of Galaxy AI and Google Gemini, and Samsung is calling the lineup a "true AI companion with the most natural and context-aware mobile experiences ever created." The Galaxy S25 series introduces multimodal AI agents which the company hopes will "change the way users interact with their phone - and with their world." Here are the five best AI features built into Samsung's new smartphones, and how they might genuinely change the way you interact with your most-used device. The first new Galaxy AI feature you'll notice on the S25 lineup of devices is what Samsung is calling Now Brief. It's a highly customizable morning, afternoon, and evening briefing powered by Samsung's Personal Data Engine which powers personalized AI features by "safely analyzing your data on-device to deliver highly tailored experiences that reflect your preferences and usage patterns." Samsung wants you to think of the Personal Data Engine as your own personal LLM, and Now Brief is where you'll notice it first. Now Brief will give you suggestions via Now Bar on the S25's lock screen such as when coupons are going to expire, your appointments for the day, and when you need to leave to get home in time for the Buffalo Bills game. Now Brief will learn with time as you use your S25 device and will keep all personalized data private and secured by Knox Vault. Samsung says this protected AI experience is unique to Galaxy, and Now Brief is a major leap in making Samsung's vision of an AI companion a reality. S25 devices now have access to what Samsung is calling Audio Eraser. This new AI tool analyzes your videos and makes removing unwanted noise easier than ever before. Audio Eraser will isolate sounds into different categories so you can choose to manipulate the audio levels of voices, crowds, music, wind, and even nature. The Galaxy S25+ and S25 Ultra feature efficient AI image processing called ProScaler which Samsung says achieves "a 40% improvement in display image scaling quality, while incorporating custom technology with Samsung's mobile Digital Natural Image engine (mDNIe)) embedded within the processor using Galaxy IP to enable greater display power efficiency." Think of it as a more efficient way to enhance image quality which should allow for higher resolutions without as much battery drain. Samsung says ProScaler takes technology from the company's class-leading TVs and brings it to the smartphone in your pocket, pretty cool indeed. The Galaxy S25 lineup improves on the S24's Drawing Assist tools for generating AI images. Now you can input prompts via voice, text, sketches, and images. You can take the AI-generated images and superimpose them on real-life photos as well as use the S-Pen to transform sketches into AI-generated art. We've seen most smartphone providers introduce some form of AI-generated image creation over the last year or so and Galaxy AI's improvements here will do a good job at giving those who enjoy these features new ways to create and bring ideas to life. Quite possibly the most exciting AI feature coming to the brand-new S25s is One UI 7 which allows for personal context awareness within the device's voice assistant. Using Google Gemini, you can now ask AI complex prompts linked between multiple applications. For example, you could ask Gemini to find your favorite sports team's fixtures for the season and add them to Samsung calendar - with a single command. Gemini will also be available directly from the side button of the S25 smartphones so you can seamlessly interact with Google's AI assistant without jumping through any unnecessary hoops. Gemini is integrated throughout Samsung apps, Google apps, and third-party apps such as Spotify, so you'll feel like you've got your very own personal assistant in your pocket.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Series: The Biggest New AI Features

While the initial wave of Galaxy AI features focused on single use cases, such as editing a photo or translating a phone call, the new tools announced on Wednesday are intended to simplify navigating your phone in general. Such tools include the ability to execute actions in multiple apps using voice commands and speaking or typing in natural language when searching for photos or device settings. The updates are another sign that smartphone makers like Samsung are increasingly leaning on AI to make their phones feel fresh and new at a time when annual hardware changes have become incremental. Apple and Google took similar approaches with the iPhone 16 and Pixel 9, both of which centered on new AI software. But Apple has been rolling out its suite of Apple Intelligence features in phases through software updates, whereas Samsung says its new crop of AI-powered functions will be available on the Galaxy S25 family at launch. While the tools are launching on Samsung's newest phones, the company hasn't ruled out the possibility of trickling them down to older devices -- as it's done with certain Galaxy AI features. However, it hasn't announced specific plans to do so, and not all features are likely to be supported on previous-generation phones since they run on older and less capable processors. Here's a closer look at the Galaxy S25 lineup's new AI tools. Read more: Your Phone's Camera Is Paving the Way For Virtual Assistants of the Future Among the most significant new AI features is what Samsung is calling cross app actions. This essentially allows you to execute tasks that would normally require opening multiple apps with just a voice command. For example, you should be able to say something like, "Find me a vegan pet-friendly restaurant nearby and send it in a text message," or "Find the next Buffalo Bills game and add it to my calendar." Apple is also updating Siri to take action within apps, although that functionality hasn't launched yet. Samsung says cross app actions will use a combination of Samsung and Google's AI models depending on the action. So if your voice command is primarily centered on search, it'll likely use Google, but if it involves interacting with Samsung apps (like saving something to Samsung Notes), it may lean more on Samsung's tech. At launch, Spotify and WhatsApp will be supported in addition to apps from Samsung and Google. AI Select is a tool that suggests actions or apps based on the content of your phone's screen. For example, it may recommend capturing a GIF if you're watching a video, or setting an image as your phone's background if you're viewing a photo. You can access AI Select by swiping out from the screen to launch the Edge Panel, which is a sidebar with app shortcuts. Once you tap the button, it'll analyze what's on screen to provide you with the appropriate suggestions. You'll also be able to search for specific photos and settings using language that's more natural and general. In the photo gallery app, for instance, you could type something like, "bottles of wine from France" or "wedding in Pittsburgh" to pull up the right photo. Samsung says its phones use location data to determine where the photo was taken along with AI to analyze the contents of the image. Apple and Google have launched similar features for their own respective photos apps. The settings menu will also support this type of conversational search. So if you don't know what a specific setting is called, you can say or type something like, "My eyes are hurting, can you help me with the screen?" to pull up relevant settings like brightness and the blue light filter. Patrick Chomet, Samsung's executive vice president and head of customer experience, hinted at this type of functionality when speaking with CNET last year about the company's approach to AI on smartphones. "My very top-down view is that long term, I would like a phone where you would never have to go into the settings menu," Chomet said in a previous interview. "You shouldn't have to know the name of any feature. And we wouldn't have to name them, because the device would have full enough intelligence and context to support the actions that you want to do." Samsung also wants to make the software on its phones more personal. The company is using a large language model to provide recommendations based on your personal habits across products and how you use your phone. For example, if you sleep better when your thermostat is set to 68 degrees and you happen to wake up at the same time each night, your Galaxy S25 might recommend a routine to change the temperature once you fall asleep. Of course, in that scenario you're ideally wearing a Samsung Galaxy Ring or Watch to sleep and using a SmartThings-compatible thermostat. Otherwise, Samsung is also adding a new Now Brief widget to the home screen, which displays a batch of information specific to your routine such as data about your morning commute, reminders about events on your calendar and weather conditions among other tidbits. Circle to Search is getting an upgrade. Instead of just searching for what's on screen, it'll be able to recognize sounds such as songs from videos and social media posts. Samsung says you'll also be able to hum a tune to have Circle to Search identify it, although I haven't had the chance to try this yet. You'll be able to trigger this feature by tapping a new icon that looks like a music note in the Circle to Search interface. Overall, the Galaxy S25's new AI features feel like a step in the right direction -- although it's impossible to tell how useful they are without spending extensive time with Samsung's new phones. It's also unclear whether features like these will be enough to drive upgrades, especially considering 25% of respondents to a CNET survey last year said they don't find AI features helpful and don't want more integrated into their phones. But the notion of using AI to make software more proactive and prevent the need to bounce between apps seems like a promising endeavor.

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Is Thinner, Lighter, and Stuffed to the Gills With AI

The Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra all feature rounded corners and minuscule bezels, but the real standout is the “cross-app AI†agent. The age of Agentic AI arrives with the Samsung Galaxy S25 phones. At its latest Unpacked conference, Samsung revealed the the Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra. Even if you ignore the newfangled "integrated AI platform" and talk about cross-app capabilities, the new devices already feel like the upgrade Galaxy fans were waiting for, especially the ultra-expensive S25 Ultra. Though they all share the same chip and RAM specifics, the three phones maintain the S24's pricing structure. The starting $800 Galaxy S25 comes back with more curved corners. It shares a very similar frame to the $1,000 S25+. The flagship $1,300 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has had its corners clipped to better resemble the rest of the S25 line and, by extension, the latest iPhones. In person, the Ultra still looks more squared than the other devices, so it remains distinctâ€"albeit less so than previous generations. Let’s ignore all the mumblings around AI and focus on the phones themselves. The S25 lineup features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. It's a powerful 3nm CPU we enjoyed in an overclocked form with the ROG Phone 9. Even better, no matter which Galaxy phone you go for, you’ll get 12 GB of RAM (the unified memory is necessary for the phone's AI processing, but it’s welcome in any case). Other than that, there are the typical storage options up to 1 TB and a 5,000 mAh battery on the most-expensive Galaxy S25 Ultra. You only get super-fast charging and ultra-wide band support on the S25+ and Ultra variants. The screen is bigger on the S25 Ultra thanks to shrunken bezels, though the regular, plus, and Ultra variants maintain the same overall length and width of the Galaxy S24 phones. The phones are thinner overall, with the S25 Ultra at 8.2 mm, 0.4 mm less than the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It’s not glass-pane thin, but to ease your wrist strain the phones do feel significantly lighter than the previous generation. The S25 Ultra weighs 218 grams, or 0.48 pounds. The regular Galaxy S25 is 162 grams, compared to the S24's 167 grams. I've held the S24 Ultra and S25 Ultra side by side, and the difference in weight is obvious. As for color options, the regular Galaxy S25 and S25+ comes in a light "icyblue" plus a mint colorway, though the real star is the deep navy blue. There's also a dark silver shadow color. For the Ultra, your choices are between the deeper titan black, gray, "silverblue," and "whitesilver." Samsung also promised a black colorway that blackens the rims of the device; that will be exclusive to those who order from Samsung's website. Each phone is running on Android 15 and Samsung’s OneUI 7. Though older Samsung devices may get the upgraded OS, only the Galaxy S25 phones will feature an “Integrated AI Platform†with cross-app AI capabilites at launch. When you long-press the Galaxy S25’s side button, you’ll see a popup box where you can either type or speak your prompt. If you wanted to search for your favorite sports team's next big game and add it to your calendar, the AI should do all that without needing any extra action from users. If you wanted to drag your friend to a nearby vegan restaurant, you could ask Galaxy AI to look for local spots in Google Maps, then form that into a text. The AI won’t hit send, so you can change anything the AI may (and likely will) get wrong. The platform works across all Samsung and Google apps, alongside WhatsApp and Spotify. Samsung reps told us that app developers can use a free APK to get their apps working with Samsung’s AI. When that happens, users will only need to install the app update to get it working with Galaxy AI. There’s plenty of other AI features in store, including an AI-powered settings and photos search to make it easier to find that one pic or setting that regularly eludes you. The new Galaxy S25 also sports a so-called “personal AI†that interacts with the new “Now Bar†and “Now Brief†widgets that appear near the bottom of the lock screen. This normally shows a “Morning Brief,†offering a quick glimpse of the weather and other daily info. Depending on whether you use many Samsung Health features or need up-to-date info on current game day scores, the Galaxy S25 should show you those first before you unlock your phone. The Galaxy S24 Ultra also had 12 GB of memory, though Samsung hasn't said yet which AI features will come to past phone generations. The company told us it will take some time to trickle these AI features to older devices. We'll have to wait and see if the company grants its first phones to feature Galaxy AI with agentic capabilities. The sensors on Samsung's previous flagship phones take great photos, butâ€"in our own testsâ€"not to the level of detail of the iPhone 16 Pro or Google Pixel 9 Pro. If you’re hoping to see improvements to Samsung’s camera technology, the company has more in both hardware and software. The Galaxy S25 Ultra has the same 200 MP wide and 50 MP telephoto lens with 5x optical tele zoom as the S24 Ultra, though it now features a 50 MP ultra wide for taking more detailed landscapes. On the software side, Samsung says it updated the phones' ability to shoot video at nighttime. However, the more interesting feature is an Audio Eraser built into the gallery. This analyzes a video for up to six different tracks, whether they’re speech, wind, music, or any other background noise, then lets you adjust them individually. The feature worked surprisingly well in a short demo to keep speech crisp while eliminating the sound of wind blowing past the mic, though we’ll need more time with it to see if it will work to block out the constant stomping from upstairs neighbors while we try to record videos for social media.

5 AI features on the Samsung Galaxy S25 that make me forgive the minor hardware changes

AI is all the rage right now; companies like Samsung and Google know it and want to capitalize on it. Here are the best AI features Samsung unveiled at Unpacked. Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, and during its Unpacked event, Samsung proved that the company is all over AI. In addition to upgrading its new flagship Galaxy S25 series smartphones with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, Samsung also added new Galaxy AI improvements and integrations with Google Gemini. AI isn't great for most users if it can't be personalized, especially on smartphones. Thankfully, the level of personalization is one of the best things about the new AI features of the Galaxy S25 Series. One UI 7 makes the S25 models AI companions rather than simple smartphones, helping provide more personalized AI experiences in daily life. The new smartphones can give context-aware suggestions and responses as you navigate your device, like recommending that you create a GIF from a video you've selected with AI Select. Also: Everything announced at Samsung Unpacked 2025: Galaxy S25, Gemini AI, more It's only natural that personalization will become more helpful with more advanced natural language processing (NLP). Samsung claims the new Galaxy S25 series lets users intuitively ask to adjust the size of display fonts or find a specific photo in their device's Gallery. Now that Samsung is integrating Google Gemini into many applications, Galaxy S25 users can press and hold the power button on their phones to activate the AI. This approach is just like iPhone and iPad users can do with Siri, and it makes for easy access to the AI assistant. "The greatest innovations are a reflection of their users, which is why we evolved Galaxy AI to help everyone interact with their devices more naturally and effortlessly while trusting that their privacy is secured," said TM Roh, president and head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. "Galaxy S25 series opens the door to an AI-integrated OS that fundamentally shifts how we use technology and how we live our lives." This AI upgrade allows quicker, more intuitive interactions with Gemini. Users can use Gemini Live across the Galaxy S24, S25, and Google Pixel 9 lineups. You can add files, photos, and even YouTube videos to your conversations with Gemini Live. Samsung announced a new 'Now Brief' feature that uses user insights and past interactions to offer suggestions on the lock screen. These proactive suggestions are featured in the Now Bar, a new feature on the Galaxy S25 lineup. Also: I went hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S25 - and the AI features were surprisingly polished In the morning, for example, Now Brief could show you a summary of last night's sleep quality, weather forecast, calendar events, and suggestions for routines based on your data. In the evening, it could summarize what you did during the day, including photos you took, and provide reminders for upcoming events. The new Samsung Galaxy S25 models feature more seamless Google and Samsung integrations than before. Gemini can perform quick actions across Samsung and Google apps, like asking the assistant to create reminders in the Samsung Reminder app, create events in the Samsung Calendar, or edit Samsung Notes. Gemini on the Samsung Galaxy S25 will work across Google apps, native Samsung Galaxy apps, and third-party apps, like WhatsApp and Spotify. Google initially demoed Project Astra during its I/O event last May, but, as its name indicates, this was merely a 'project' or prototype. Now, Google plans to bring some Project Astra features, like screen sharing and live video streaming, to the Gemini app for Samsung Galaxy S25 and Pixel smartphones. "Project Astra is the brainchild of Google DeepMind; the company's vision of a multimodal, super-charged AI assistant that can process visual information, show reasoning, and remember what it's been told or shown," Kerry Wan, ZDNET's senior reviews editor said of the AI project after I/O last year. Also: This surprise Android phone gives the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra a run for its money "Ultimately, Google DeepMind gave me a strong vision of what the future of AI interactions could look like. They just have some wrinkles that need to be smoothed out before I'm ready to introduce another voice assistant into my life." The plan to add Project Astra features to the Gemini app on select phones is expected over the coming months.

Galaxy AI on Samsung Galaxy S25 series: Future of flagship AI on smartphones?

The smartphone industry has reached an inflexion point where hardware specifications alone no longer define the flagship experience. In 2025, Samsung's Galaxy S25 series will emerge as a trendsetter in a way that will reimagine what artificial intelligence (AI) can accomplish. At the heart of this transformative leap is Galaxy AI, an innovation poised to turn smartphones into true intelligent companions. The question isn't just what Galaxy AI does but how it redefines the relationship between users and their devices. Let's dive into Galaxy AI and try to make sense of what the AI experience on the flagship will look like - The centrepiece of the Galaxy S25 series, Galaxy AI, elevates the concept of a digital assistant to an entirely new paradigm. This isn't just about responding to commands or managing schedules; it's about orchestrating complex, multi-step tasks effortlessly. Picture this: you're planning a weekend getaway. A single prompt to Galaxy AI triggers a cascade of actions - from finding the best flight options to booking accommodations, notifying your travel companions, and syncing itineraries across apps. It's not merely helpful; it's intuitive, proactive, and attuned to your specific needs. Such seamless multitasking is powered by Google's Gemini AI, a powerhouse of natural language processing and contextual intelligence. By collaborating with Google, Samsung ensures that Galaxy AI doesn't just follow instructions - it understands the nuances of your intent. This symbiotic relationship between user and AI is a glimpse into the future of personal technology, where convenience meets sophistication. Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S25 vs S25 Plus vs S25 Ultra: Specifications and Features Compared While Galaxy AI shines in grand scenarios, its true brilliance lies in enhancing everyday life. Consider the mundane yet universal challenge of deciding what to cook. Snap a picture of your refrigerator, and Galaxy AI analyses the contents, generates recipe suggestions, and even guides you step-by-step through the cooking process. It's a feature that does more than save time - it transforms how we engage with routine tasks, reducing food waste and encouraging culinary exploration. For creators, the Drawing Assist feature unlocks new possibilities. By transforming simple text prompts into stunning visuals, Galaxy AI empowers users to produce professional-grade imagery for social media, presentations, or personal projects. The result? Creativity becomes more accessible, and the barriers to expression are dismantled. Samsung's innovation extends to how users capture and edit their memories. The Audio Eraser tool, for instance, offers a level of precision previously reserved for professional-grade software. Imagine recording a cherished moment in a bustling setting - with a few taps, Galaxy AI removes distracting background noise, leaving only the clarity of voices and the essence of the experience. Video editing, too, benefits from AI enhancements. Intelligent scene optimisation, automatic cropping, and advanced filters empower users to transform raw footage into cinematic creations. These tools democratise professional-grade media editing, putting power and precision in the hands of every user. Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25+ first impressions: Familiar faces, powerful performance Perhaps the most significant change in the Galaxy S25 series is Samsung's decision to replace its long-standing Bixby assistant with Google's Gemini AI. This bold move reflects Samsung's commitment to delivering the best-in-class experience, even if it means adopting external solutions. Gemini AI's ability to multitask across apps redefines what it means to be hands-free. A single voice command - "Find a romantic restaurant, book a table, and share the details with my partner" - can now trigger a seamless sequence of actions, eliminating the need for tedious app-switching. This integration of AI into the fabric of daily life marks a turning point, where assistants evolve from reactive tools to proactive collaborators. Underpinning the AI innovations is a robust hardware foundation. The Galaxy S25 series, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, ensures lightning-fast performance and efficiency. The Ultra model takes things further with a 50MP ultra-wide camera, delivering breathtaking detail and clarity even in challenging conditions. This synergy of hardware and software creates an experience that feels effortless yet powerful. Whether you're capturing a sunset, editing a video, or navigating through AI-powered workflows, the Galaxy S25 series ensures that every interaction is smooth, responsive, and satisfying. Samsung's One UI 7 isn't just a skin over Android - it's a reimagining of how users interact with their devices. Features like the Now Brief and Now Bar provide real-time, context-aware updates and recommendations, ensuring that your device works proactively to keep you informed and organised. Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra first impressions: A bold design shift One of the most commendable aspects of Samsung's AI integration is its focus on inclusivity. The Galaxy S25 series introduces enhanced compatibility with braille readers, hearing aids, and other assistive technologies. Features like One UI 7's context-aware updates and recommendations ensure that technology isn't just smart - it's accessible to everyone. This isn't just a nod to corporate social responsibility - it's a recognition that true intelligence lies in adaptability. AI, which serves only a fraction of the population, isn't living up to its potential. By prioritising accessibility, Samsung positions itself as a leader not just in technology but in societal impact. The Galaxy S25 series is more than a product - it's a statement about the future of AI in personal devices. By blending intuitive functionality with cutting-edge technology, Samsung redefines what it means for a smartphone to be "smart." Galaxy AI's ability to transcend app boundaries, anticipate needs, and seamlessly integrate into daily life sets a new benchmark for the industry. But the implications go beyond Samsung. As AI continues to evolve, the smartphone industry faces a critical question: how can devices enhance our lives without becoming intrusive? The Galaxy S25 series provides one answer - by prioritising user needs, fostering inclusivity, and ensuring that technology remains a tool for empowerment rather than a distraction.

5 exciting AI features that make the Samsung Galaxy S25 worth the upgrade

AI is all the rage right now; companies like Samsung and Google know it and want to capitalize on it. Here are the best AI features Samsung unveiled at Unpacked. Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, and during its Unpacked event, Samsung proved that the company is all over AI. In addition to upgrading its new flagship Galaxy S25 series smartphones with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, Samsung also added new Galaxy AI improvements and integrations with Google Gemini. AI isn't great for most users if it can't be personalized, especially on smartphones. Thankfully, the level of personalization is one of the best things about the new AI features of the Galaxy S25 Series. One UI 7 makes the S25 models AI companions rather than simple smartphones, helping provide more personalized AI experiences in daily life. The new smartphones can give context-aware suggestions and responses as you navigate your device, like recommending that you create a GIF from a video you've selected with AI Select. Also: Everything announced at Samsung Unpacked 2025: Galaxy S25, Gemini AI, more It's only natural that personalization will become more helpful with more advanced natural language processing (NLP). Samsung claims the new Galaxy S25 series lets users intuitively ask to adjust the size of display fonts or find a specific photo in their device's Gallery. Now that Samsung is integrating Google Gemini into many applications, Galaxy S25 users can press and hold the power button on their phones to activate the AI. This approach is just like iPhone and iPad users can do with Siri, and it makes for easy access to the AI assistant. "The greatest innovations are a reflection of their users, which is why we evolved Galaxy AI to help everyone interact with their devices more naturally and effortlessly while trusting that their privacy is secured," said TM Roh, president and head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. "Galaxy S25 series opens the door to an AI-integrated OS that fundamentally shifts how we use technology and how we live our lives." This AI upgrade allows quicker, more intuitive interactions with Gemini. Users can use Gemini Live across the Galaxy S24, S25, and Google Pixel 9 lineups. You can add files, photos, and even YouTube videos to your conversations with Gemini Live. Samsung announced a new 'Now Brief' feature that uses user insights and past interactions to offer suggestions on the lock screen. These proactive suggestions are featured in the Now Bar, a new feature on the Galaxy S25 lineup. Also: I went hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S25 - and the AI features were surprisingly polished In the morning, for example, Now Brief could show you a summary of last night's sleep quality, weather forecast, calendar events, and suggestions for routines based on your data. In the evening, it could summarize what you did during the day, including photos you took, and provide reminders for upcoming events. The new Samsung Galaxy S25 models feature more seamless Google and Samsung integrations than before. Gemini can perform quick actions across Samsung and Google apps, like asking the assistant to create reminders in the Samsung Reminder app, create events in the Samsung Calendar, or edit Samsung Notes. Gemini on the Samsung Galaxy S25 will work across Google apps, native Samsung Galaxy apps, and third-party apps, like WhatsApp and Spotify. Google initially demoed Project Astra during its I/O event last May, but, as its name indicates, this was merely a 'project' or prototype. Now, Google plans to bring some Project Astra features, like screen sharing and live video streaming, to the Gemini app for Samsung Galaxy S25 and Pixel smartphones. "Project Astra is the brainchild of Google DeepMind; the company's vision of a multimodal, super-charged AI assistant that can process visual information, show reasoning, and remember what it's been told or shown," Kerry Wan, ZDNET's senior reviews editor said of the AI project after I/O last year. Also: This surprise Android phone gives the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra a run for its money "Ultimately, Google DeepMind gave me a strong vision of what the future of AI interactions could look like. They just have some wrinkles that need to be smoothed out before I'm ready to introduce another voice assistant into my life." The plan to add Project Astra features to the Gemini app on select phones is expected over the coming months.

Leak: Samsung's Galaxy S25 may go all in on AI summaries

Samsung is set to debut its new Galaxy S25 series smartphones today during the annual January Unpacked event, and significant leaks from a reliable tipster reveal a focus on AI for the S25. Based on images shared by Evan Blass, Samsung seems to focus on its new smartphones' powerful AI capabilities as a top-selling feature rather than next-gen hardware. And honestly, we're not surprised. (The event begins at 1 p.m. Eastern; see the YouTube video below.) Last week, we deemed the Samsung Galaxy S25 debut to be the biggest test of AI phones yet, and that's precisely why these promo images are framing the S25 series as an AI-powered starting point for all other Android phones to follow. Samsung's Galaxy S series smartphones are widely regarded as some of the best phones for those who want a smashing camera setup. With the Galaxy S25 launch, Samsung is taking that stellar camera array and adding some fresh AI flavor. The Night Video feature closely resembles what Google's latest Pixel offers in low-light situations. According to the marketing material in Blass' screenshots, According to the marketing material in Blass' screenshots, Using Night Video with the Audio Eraser tool will supposedly let users "captu. "" Then, there's a screen feature called ProScaler. This tool makes images and videos look better overall, with "sharper visuals and brighter colors." As impressive as these photo- and video-related features are, they've got nothing on Samsung's AI summaries. Equipped with the new Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, Samsung's upcoming phones will be more capable of tackling complex AI tasks, including AI summaries that pull relevant information from other apps. In the leaked promo image, we can see a morning brief, a commute summary, and an evening brief -- all of which appear to be compiling information primarily from Samsung's proprietary apps, like Samsung Health and Weather. As the tool expands, more apps will likely become compatible with these neat summaries. The commute summary has prompted to "Open Maps" and "Play media," and the marketing reads, "You often use these features while driving. You can make them run automatically when you get into your car." Ideally, users will be able to connect whichever maps and media apps they'd like to this AI summary. It seems like a great feature to see all the essential information you need in the morning, evening, and while driving on a single screen. Rather than opening a separate app to check the weather, check your schedule, scan for important emails, and check your Samsung Health Energy score, you can now do it all from one screen. These look like official marketing materials, but as always, until we hear directly from Samsung, take them with a grain of salt with a grain of salt.

Samsung Galaxy S25 AI features -- here's everything that's new

The much-anticipated AI features of Samsung's Galaxy S25 series unveiled during Samsung Unpacked yesterday (January 22) are set to redefine the smartphone experience. Boasting a suite of advanced AI features powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, the latest phones offer enhanced AI assistance and improved visual search, building on the features Samsung introduced a year ago. Designed to naturally and seamlessly integrate into daily life, enhancements such as Cross App Actions allow users to execute tasks without having to open multiple apps. At the same time, Samsung is promising interactions that more intuitive and personalized with Galaxy AI. Some of the AI tools Samsung showed off at Unpacked are baked into the One UI 7 software that runs on the Galaxy S25 and is coming to other Samsung flagships via a software update. Other features look to be specific to the S25 models -- we'll find out more as we get to spend more time with the new devices and dive into each feature. Here's what we know about Galaxy AI so far. One of the standout One UI 7 features is Now Brief, an AI-driven tool that provides users with personalized summaries according to their preferences. For example, in the morning, users can check their daily schedules and get energy scores from their Samsung wearables. Commuters can use Now Brief to utilize Google Maps to save their preferred locations and music. At the end of the day, the feature recaps your daily activities and can curate special moments with a photo collage. Samsung has deepened its collaboration with Google's Gemini AI, enabling more sophisticated interactions with the AI assistant across supported apps. For example, users can now instruct Gemini to analyze on-screen content, such as summarizing a YouTube video and saving the key points directly into Samsung Notes. Another popular example shared by Samsung featured looking up information about a place and sharing the results with a friend via text while also getting directions to the location. One UI 7 brings call recording along with a transcription feature to save you the trouble of having to jot down notes. Even better, you can use AI to generate a summary of the call for quick reference. There's support for 20 languages for on-device translations, making it easier to communicate in spite of any language barriers. Samsung also touted the Personal Data Engine that's now a part of the Galaxy S25. It's built to delivers hyper-personalized user experiences while also ensuring full privacy and security. The feature analyzes user data to deliver highly tailored experiences that reflect personal preferences and usage patterns, then applies them across multiple apps to ensure the most personal experience possible. From the way Samsung describes, the Personal Data Engine will learn from how you use your phone. Say you frequently connect to Bluetooth when you get in your car -- going forward, you'll get prompts asking if you want to turn on Bluetooth as you get in your car. The Circle to Search feature that arrived a year ago has been refined to enhance visual searches. By circling any part of the screen, users can prompt the AI to provide detailed information about the selected content. This function now extends to video content, allowing users to identify and learn more about elements within videos, to enrich the viewing experience. AI Select empowers users to extract specific segments from videos, text, even QR codes. By simply drawing a circle around the desired content, users can select want they want to save, share, or search. Users can even create high-quality GIFs effortlessly with this same feature. These integrations streamline multitasking and information management, making it easier to capture and organize content across different apps. AI advancements are seamlessly integrated into One UI 7, which should lead to more natural and intuitive interaction with AI. Essentially, the AI intuitively understands the context of your needs and preferences to provide more thorough personalization. The updated interface introduces the Now Bar, a feature that provides quick access to essential information directly from the lock screen, such as live activities like music playback and timers. This design ensures that users can interact with key functions without the need to unlock their devices, enhancing convenience and efficiency. The Samsung Galaxy S25 series represents a significant leap forward in smartphone AI capabilities. By focusing on personalized assistance, seamless integration, and intuitive interactions, Samsung aims to offer a device that not only meets but anticipates the needs of its users. As AI continues to evolve, the Galaxy S25 series positions itself at the forefront of this technological advancement, setting new standards for what users can expect from their smartphones.

What Samsung's Galaxy S25 AI platform means for you

During its latest Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S25 phone lineup, which includes the base S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra. The devices prioritize a new "integrated AI platform" that performs multiple tasks based on user prompts. Samsung also teased an "Edge" variant of the S25, as well as a pair of AR glasses expected to launch later this year. The Galaxy S25 and S25+ are priced at $800 and $1,000, respectively, and their designs resemble that of the iPhone while retaining the characteristic three vertical camera bumps of Galaxy devices. Both phones feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC and 12 GB of RAM to support their AI capabilities. While they do not include the larger camera sensors found in the S25 Ultra, they come equipped with new AI functionalities, including "cross-app actions," Now Briefs, and an Audio Eraser. The Galaxy S25 Ultra stands out in the lineup with its more rounded corners, distinct from the other models. It shares the same processor and RAM as the S25 and S25+, but adds a 50 MP ultra-wide lens for enhanced landscape photography. Additionally, the Ultra employs the ProScaler technology from Samsung's TVs to boost on-screen image resolution to QHD+. The device continues to feature the built-in S Pen, though the new version lacks the air actions present in previous iterations. The new Galaxy S25 Edge is a surprising addition, reminiscent of earlier Samsung mobile devices. Specific details regarding its specifications and camera functionalities have yet to be disclosed. Reports indicate that this model will be slimmer than its S25 counterparts, and further information is anticipated soon. Samsung emphasized its commitment to AI, showcasing smart glasses with a new conversational AI assistant projected for release later in the year. While details remain scarce, these glasses are expected to support Android XR similar to the company's Project Moohan AR headset, which was also displayed at the Unpacked event. The integrated AI platform features a built-in Gemini AI that allows users to conduct "cross-app actions." By holding the side power button on the S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra, users can access a pop-up assistant to issue voice or text commands. This capability facilitates tasks across both Samsung and Google applications, including email searching and calendar management. Currently, support is limited to WhatsApp and Spotify, with plans for more app compatibility through a new APK. Samsung also introduced a conversational search functionality for the Gallery and Settings apps to ease the navigation process, though it does not change settings automatically. The Galaxy S25 lineup will come with a "Now Bar" on the lock screen, providing real-time updates, including weather information and personalized health metrics based on user habits. Further enhancements include an Audio Eraser feature capable of isolating soundtracks in video content, allowing users to adjust the volume of different audio sources. This feature aims to help eliminate background noise in various settings, ensuring clear audio capture during video recordings. Additionally, Gemini Live allows users to upload images and converse with Google's AI about those images, offering insights into photo composition or related content. The functionality will extend to files uploaded to the AI and linked YouTube videos. Circle to Search receives updates, enhancing its ability to provide AI overviews for image and text searches. It will also offer improved recognition of numbers, email addresses, and URLs, as well as the ability to identify sounds from videos. The Galaxy S25 series includes new AI-supported features for the Gallery app that allow users to conduct audio searches. This capability is similar to that of Shazam, letting users hum melodies to identify songs. Samsung's "AI Select" feature simplifies content capture on screen and introduces GIF recording directly from videos without additional software. While it has time constraints for recording GIFs, it streamlines the process for users looking to create and share animations quickly. Professional videographers will benefit from the ability to shoot in logarithmic format directly through the camera's Pro mode, supporting 10-bit HEVC recording for advanced post-processing in editing software like DaVinci Resolve. In health tech advancements, Samsung Health is set to provide enhanced tracking features, including a vascular load indicator and antioxidant index, to support users in dietary management. Future updates will incorporate AI for a more personalized health assistant experience, with further details expected later in the year. Okay, so Samsung's new Galaxy S25 phones are all about AI. What you need to know, in summary is this:

Samsung's One UI 7 ushers in the era of AI agents

Summary Samsung is focusing on expanding its Galaxy AI tools with One UI 7. New features like Restaurant Finder & Cooking Master use agentic AI to perform various tasks. One UI 7 update brings big changes to the side button's functionality, Now Bar, Now Brief, settings searches, and more. If 2025 is going to be the year we see "agentic AI" take the internet by storm, consider the Galaxy S25 trio a warning shot. Samsung's focus this year has been placed almost entirely on One UI 7 and a new generation of Galaxy AI tools, both of which are arriving first with these three phones. Samsung says this software update -- delayed out of 2024, when we originally expected to see the company's take on Android 15 -- has been in the works for three years, and based on the sheer amount of tools included, I'm almost inclined to believe it. But what are those tools? The focus on AI agents might seem premature, and indeed, Samsung is primarily focusing on some of the abilities we've seen in demos from different OEMs. Tools like Restaurant Finder and Cooking Master promise to use multimodal LLMs to bring photos, text, and voice commands together to locate the best local eats or recipes using whatever's in your fridge, all without lifting much more than a finger. Circle to Search is also getting a multimodal upgrade, adding support for Shazam-like music search. Galaxy AI is back, and this time, it's all about agents The year of agentic AI is launching in full force It's part of Samsung's new approach to the side button, which now activates a themed variant on Google's Gemini UI. Other changes -- many of which we knew about from either earlier rumors or the One UI 7 beta -- include the Now Bar, Now Brief, and an upgrade to settings that allows for searching while utilizing natural language. The Now Bar is Samsung's take on Apple's Live Activities, while Now Brief is a hybrid between Apple's Scheduled Summary and legacy Google Now. Of everything announced this year, Now Brief seems the most promising; delivering a roundup of notifications, weather, sleep conditions, and more could be seriously useful. The change to settings is interesting. It's a much softer take on last year's rumor that the entire menu would be replaced with a chatbot -- though, who knows, that could come sometime in the future. Theoretically, you should be able to type a request or query into the search bar before One UI returns a select group of potential matches, but instead, it simply changes your suggested actions as you type. I found it mildly disappointing, but it's possible this could improve over the coming years.\ It's difficult to sum up everything coming to One UI 7 without an official changelog -- this is a big update -- but I'll do my best. Other changes include conversational searches within the Gallery app; cross-app actions for using Gemini to interact with your calendar, Spotify, and more; AI Select for taking specific actions with an Edge Panel shortcut; and much more. Of course, you probably won't need to buy a new phone to use the majority of these tools. Don't think for a second that older Galaxy S-series phones won't see these improvements throughout 2025. One UI 7 will, as usual, roll out to older devices throughout this year, while Samsung confirmed during its briefing that any tool capable of coming to legacy hardware will, in time, do so. 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 Samsung Galaxy S25+ Samsung's Galaxy S25+ finds just the right middle ground between its two siblings. With a 6.7-inch display, up to 512GB of storage, and 12GB of RAM, this smartphone includes practically everything you could ask for in the modern AI age, without driving up the price. $1000 at Samsung 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

Samsung's Galaxy S25 Phones Once Again Lean Heavily on AI

The three flagship Android phones debut new ways to interact with Google's Gemini and, yes, Samsung's Bixby. Samsung's latest Android smartphones may give you déjà vu. The company showed off the new Galaxy S25 series at its Galaxy Unpacked event today in San Jose, California. Samsung has once again loaded its flagship phones with artificial intelligence capabilities, and while many of those features are tricks we've seen before -- even almost a decade ago -- they have now been infused with large language models that make them more effective. No, really. One of the Galaxy S25 Ultra's stylus features is being rebranded from "Smart Select" to "AI Select," and a Samsung executive joked, "Smart Select really wasn't that smart," highlighting the efficacy of the new multimodal LLMs powering the feature (and the lengths these companies go to make every little feature sound "smart"). The Galaxy S25 range is comprised of the Galaxy S25 ($800), Galaxy S25+ ($1,000), and Galaxy S25 Ultra ($1,300). The phones are available for preorder today and will officially go on sale February 7. Here's what's new, including a breakdown of the AI features that were given the spotlight. The hardware is not much different from last year's Galaxy S24 series. I still find Samsung's design language rather anemic -- these are rectangular slabs with very little flair. Even Apple is doing something different with all the new buttons available on the iPhone 16. The phones go up in size, with the Galaxy S25 being the smallest and the Ultra being the largest. In an annual tradition, the bezels around the screens have been shaved down, and that's how Samsung says the Galaxy S25 Ultra achieved its slightly bigger 6.9-inch screen size despite having close to the same dimensions as its predecessor. The corners of all three phones are rounded now -- the Ultra is no longer boxy -- though Samsung flattened the edges for a nicer grip.

Every New Galaxy AI Feature in Samsung Galaxy S25 Series

Samsung held its annual Unpacked event today, and as expected, it took the curtains off the latest devices in the Galaxy S25 lineup. These flagship phones not only come with top-notch internals but also feature the latest of Samsung's AI innovations. Starting with the handy AI Writing assist everywhere, to the AI Nightography. There's a lot to discuss here, so let's "unpack" this new Galaxy AI features. In the excitement of catching up with friends, we often forget to take notes of the important stuff. No need to worry now as Samsung's AI Call transcript feature is here to the rescue. It can create a transcript of the entire call, and accurately differentiate between the speakers. So once you're done with the chatter, you can go back and read through it to pick up the stuff you missed. It works in tandem with the call recording feature. So you're getting a two-for-one offer here. Once you start recording, it will alert both parties and automatically start transcribing in real-time. Call recording is coming for the first time in the U.S. on a Samsung smartphone with the S25 series and the One UI 7 update. You can learn more about Call transcripts in our separate read. Circle-to-search has made it easier to do visual searches than it ever was with Google Lens. With the S25 series, this handy AI exclusive gets a new power-up as it will be able to recognize phone numbers, emails, and web page links and then show a shortcut to quickly perform and action. Samsung's Gallery app lets you do something similar, but you'll need to take a screenshot and image and then jump into the app to do it. With Circle to Search, you can perform the same action anywhere on your phone. So no need to copy a number and then paste it into the dialer. Simply draw a circle around it, and let Google handle the rest. Samsung bundles its S series devices with the best camera hardware without a fault. And it helps you capture some stunning shots. But even the mighty need some help when the sun goes down. Last year, the company introduced Night Photography Zoom, and this year they are expanding upon this feature set with Nightography. As the name suggests, this AI-powered camera mode will help you capture more detailed, and clear night videos in real-time. So you can expect some stunning results even in dimly lit scenarios thanks to this Galaxy AI addition in the S25 series. With your shiny new Galaxy S25, I am sure you might want to take a trip to the beach to record some crystal-clear videos. But playing back the footage, you can only hear the wind and random noise of the seagulls taking over the fun banter between you and your friends. This is where Galaxy AI's new Audio eraser feature comes in handy. It automatically identifies different noise sources in the video and helps you get rid of them with ease. So you can mute those screeching birds and all the other background noise. We have seen the Audio Magic Eraser in action on the Pixel 9 series, and it worked surprisingly well. This is the same case on these devices as well. Want to make sure that you're prepared for the day when you wake up? Then you should try the new Now Briefs feature. It gives you a complete report of all the things that you would want to catch up with. This includes the weather, energy score, sleep data, reminders about expiring coupons, upcoming events, and even apps. All this info is neatly arranged and displayed to you on a single scrollable screen. You can access your Now briefs within the Now bar on your phone's lock screen along with the rest of the live activities. And it's not just for mornings, but whatever time of the day you feel you need to catch up with all the important stuff that you missed out on. Samsung and Google's ever-growing collaboration has allowed the Korean giant to leverage the prowess of Gemini and involve it deeper in their new S25 series of devices. This now lets Gemini perform various tasks across Samsung and Google apps. So you can ask it to search for Italian restaurants on Google and then send their location to a friend over text in one go. You can even instruct it to scan texts in an image and save it to notes. Gemini will do both tasks without your intervention thanks to its deeper integration. You can invoke this smarter assistant with a new, "Hey, Gemini" hot word. Have trouble trying to make your sick leave email sound more convincing? Samsung's Writing assist is here to help. With One UI 7, this Galaxy AI feature became available for all third-party apps. So you can use it anywhere to change the tone, summarize, or highlight text in bullet points or a table. It can even translate the contents of a page or compose something new out of a simple prompt. The feature has become my favorite on the One UI 7 beta and helped me score some much-needed leaves, so I suggest that you give it a try as well. There's an artist in all of us, and the Drawing assist feature in the S25 series helps to bring it out. With the help of this AI tool, you can add objects to your pre-existing images just by drawing. It can also bring your rough sketches to life. But now it's been updated with a fresh new look, and you can add prompts to further add depth to your scribbles. As you can see in this promo image, you can just add a prompt of "Watching fireworks" with your rough cat sketch and see Galaxy AI do its magic. It will add the fireworks as instructed. All you need to do is to bring up the Sketch to Image option from the sidebar and draw your next masterpiece. Some of our personal moments can be as goofy as the ones we spot on online GIFs, making you wonder if you could only give the same treatment to your captures. Well, now you can with the AI Select feature. Just bring it up from the side panel and use it to select a portion of the video and choose to turn it into a GIF. Within no time, you'll have a GIF collection of your own special and funny moments. But that wraps up this list of the new Galaxy AI features in the S25 series. If any one of them, in particular, piqued your interest, then let us know in the comments below.

Here Is Every New Galaxy AI Feature Announced by Samsung

AI Select can recommend actions based on the user's screen Now Brief offers a personalised overview of the user's day Now Bar is a lock screen quick view of Now Brief statistics Samsung hosted the Galaxy Unpacked 2025 event on Wednesday, announcing the Galaxy S25 series and several new artificial intelligence (AI) features. The South Korean tech giant called the new generation of its flagship devices a "true AI companion," highlighting that the new One UI 7 operating system was redesigned to be better optimised with AI workflows. The company has now integrated AI features deeply into the system and they are available across the device. These are all the major Galaxy AI features announced during the event. Now Brief arrives as the first ecosystem-based AI feature by the tech giant. The feature offers overviews of the user's device usage and activities across the day and presents them in a card-styled interface. Some of the examples shared by Samsung included a morning insight card that includes weather forecast and energy score. There are separate cards for when the user is commuting, or working out. Notably, activities and health metrics for these features are taken from Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Ring. Samsung also introduced Now Bar, which is essentially a lock screen quick view of Now Brief insights. It is a rectangular bar featuring multiple cards near the bottom of the screen which can be vertically scrolled with a card deck-like animation. Notably, Now Brief and Now Bar are powered by Samsung's Personal Data Engine. The company explained the AI system as a personal large language model (LLM) that collects data from the user's everyday device usage and routines. This data is then used to create a personalised experience for users. Samsung highlighted that the data is only stored on the device. Another device-wide AI feature is AI Select. It is Samsung's version of Circle to Search. The feature can be used to generate AI-powered suggestions based on the visual information displayed on the screen. For instance, if a user uses AI Select for a text message, the tool will automatically activate Writing Assist and all the AI-powered writing tools within. This feature does not use the Internet. AI Select can also be used to turn part of a video into a GIF. Samsung stated that using the tool, which is available in the side panel, while watching a video, will let users pick any particular portion of the video and instantly turn it into a GIF. Samsung is also making it easier to find relevant Settings menus and look for a particular image in the Gallery. Dubbed Conversational AI, users can now go to the search option in Settings or Gallery to describe what they are looking for in natural language, and the AI will find the exact item. This feature supports both text and voice commands. During the event, the company demonstrated this feature by telling the AI "My eyes are sore" in Settings, and the AI automatically opened the Blue Light Filter option. Similarly, when asking the AI in the Gallery to find "A photo of Max from last winter in a red coat, eating cake", the AI will be able to understand that Max is a dog, and then isolate images from the particular period that fulfil the requirement. Samsung said this feature is also processed entirely on the device. Drawing Assist is also getting an upgrade. Sketch to Image now supports multimodal input and can generate images by taking cues from both what has been doodled as well as a text prompt that the user can optionally add. Samsung says this will enable users to create art that they struggled to visualise earlier. While the abovementioned features are available across the device on relevant screens, Samsung has also added several new AI-powered features to cameras. AI capabilities are also being expanded to photo and video editing features as well. Samsung is using AI to let users create a custom look for photos. Users can select any existing image, and the AI can analyse the colour tone, saturation, and brightness to add these elements to the desired photo. The company is calling this feature Personal Filter. AI is also being added to video recording. The tech giant stated that AI can now isolate moving and stationary objects in a video to apply separate noise reduction to them. This will allow low-light videos to be brighter and show more details, the company claimed. Audio Eraser is a new feature under Galaxy AI that can analyse and isolate sounds in a video specific to their sources. Once isolated, the tool offers users the ability to adjust the volume of each isolated channel separately. This means users can reduce crowd noise and car horns and boost speech in a video shot outdoors on a busy street to make it easier to listen to.

AI Means Always Impending: Future AI Features Teased at Galaxy Unpacked

Following a trend established by tech companies last year, Samsung's latest Galaxy Unpacked event was heavy on promises of what AI technologies will bring us...sometime later. Although this presentation revolved around the reveal of new Samsung S25 phones -- with a surprise thin S25 Edge teased at the end -- most of the time was spent on AI technologies that are still out of reach of anyone not working in research labs. To be sure, not all of the announced AI features are hype. The ProScaler screen technology uses AI to improve image quality ("by up to 40%") by giving photos what looks like a live sharpening pass. Best Face can pull sections of frames recorded around a photo to replace things like someone's eyes mid-blink with a version where their eyes are open. Both features appear to be shipping with the Samsung Galaxy S25 models starting February 5. However, those were buried deep into the presentation when Samsung finally got around to spotlighting the actual phones. Here are some technologies designed to convince you to buy a new phone to run them someday (hopefully) soon.

Every new Galaxy AI feature Samsung just announced for the S25

While the company excelled in bringing AI to its flagship smartphones with previous generations, the Galaxy S25 series is going to be more capable than ever to efficiently and securely assist users with AI-powered tasks. Some new AI features are surface-level, like a personalized AI style agent that can give you tips and suggestions on what you're wearing. Other AI innovations go deeper, and can actually help you stay on top of your habits, photos, schedules, and much more. Here's everything you need to know. One of the most noteworthy AI-powered features headed to the Galaxy S25 series is more advanced AI summaries called Now Briefs. In the morning, you can see your schedule, sleep data and your energy score via a Galaxy wearable from the previous night, weather info for the day ahead, and so much more. You can view similar info in the afternoon during your commute or in the evening. Samsung unveiled an AI-powered, native search experience that can help you navigate your photos. While this isn't a new concept, it's still an exciting step forward toward more useful AI integration. A new Auto Trim feature can transform multiple videos into a single highlight reel, Audio Eraser gets rid of distracting or unwanted background noise in videos, and Generative Edit allows you to move, erase, enlarge, and otherwise alter components within a photo. Samsung's Call Transcript feature lets you record, transcribe, and summarize phone calls, super helpful for remembering important work details or info after a doctor's visit. Writing Assist is a classic AI feature that can help you find the right words, whether you're chatting with a friend or responding to a work email. Galaxy AI can also help translate conversations with its interpreter tool, designed to facilitate real-time conversations between people speaking different languages. You'll be able to use Google's classic Circle to Search feature on the Galaxy S25 series, which allows you to circle an object in a photo or video to quickly perform a Google search and see what you're looking at. You can also now listen to a song playing on the radio or in a store, and figure out what it is thanks to AI. And here's the icing on the cake: All new Galaxy S25 phones will come with 2TB of cloud storage and six months of Gemini Advanced for free. To see what else is new with the S25 series, check out our live coverage of Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event.

Samsung's new Galaxy S25 devices boast new AI features and higher spec

Samsung has lifted the lid on its newest artificial intelligence (AI) in its new Galaxy S25 series. Euronews Next got hands-on with the new devices. The race to incorporate the best artificial intelligence (AI) features into handsets is hotting up with electronics giant Samsung revealing its latest AI-enabled smartphones on Tuesday. The new Galaxy S25 series is being unveiled at the Samsung Unpacked event in San José, California. With the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Galaxy S25+ and Galaxy S25 models, Samsung is endeavouring to offer consumers what they call a true "AI companion" with their latest features. Euronews Next had a sneak peek beneath the hood to find out what's in store for users. Continuing its collaboration with Google and its Gemini generative AI (GenAI) model, the three new devices boast new intuitive AI agents with multimodal capabilities that make for easier and more natural interactions for users. Google's Circle Search has had an upgrade, now being able to recognise phone numbers, email and URLs on your screen to make calls and so on much easier than before. If you circle an address, it will take you straight to Google Maps, for example. As well as being able to search using text and images on screen, the enhanced Circle Search function will now allow you to listen to and search with audio. For instance, if you want to know what the soundtrack is to a film you're watching on your device, you can using the Circle Search to find the answer. In what may prove to be a boon for content creators, one of Euronews Next's favourite features is the 'audio eraser'. Simplifying the removal of unwanted background noise in your videos, you will now be able to isolate different categories of sound - voices, the hubbub from crowds, the wind, and more - and tone them down or eliminate them. The next time you're at a concert, for instance, and you whip out your phone to film your favourite song being performed, you needn't worry about your friend's tone-deaf singing ruining the ambience when you watch it back.

Samsung Galaxy AI adds agentic features. What it will do for you.

Samsung is charging ahead with its plan to pack AI into every nook and cranny of its devices. At Samsung Galaxy Unpacked on Wednesday, the tech giant unveiled a slew of AI-powered features for its Galaxy S25 lineup that are both user-facing and operate behind the scenes to automate various tasks. Notably, this includes a step further into agentic AI with features that can perform actions on the users behalf. Underpinning the Galaxy S25 series as what Samsung describes as a "true AI companion," is the One UI 7 operating system. In partnership with Google, the Galaxy S25 series uses the Gemini AI model to provide contextual awareness and personalized actions based on a user's behavior and data. New features include customizable multimodal agents, the ability to activate Gemini with the side button, on-screen awareness, Google Circle to Search, and natural language search. That's on top of pre-existing AI features introduced with the S24 series, like writing and summarization tools, live translation and transcription, and Circle to Search. Samsung kicked off the event by touting its Google partnership which integrates the Gemini AI model with Samsung Galaxy devices. Based on Google's Project Astra which develops agentic AI, the new S25 lineup showcases Gemini Live's reasoning capabilities with screensharing and live video streaming, which enables the device to understand what's on your screen, like whether dough has been kneaded enough or shopping for the right pants size. The event also showed off the side button to invoke Gemini, which brings up a way to interact with the model and recommended next actions to take. Users can also check in realtime updates with the Now Brief, and AI-powered report, throughout the day, which compiles information from third-party apps and can be customized with suggestions accessible in the Now Bar. Google's Circle to Search capabilities on the S25 series are getting an upgrade by being able to recognize phone numbers, email, and URLs on the screen "letting you call, email or visit a website with a single tap," according to the announcement. Speaking of searching, with the S25 series, Samsung also introduced something called AI Select, which makes suggestions based on highlighted information like adding a calendar event for a friend's birthday party from an invitation that was texted to the user. Generative edit can suggest and execute ways to summarize, proofread, and generate images based on what's on your screen. The S25 series has improved searching for image, documents, etc. on the device by understanding natural language. For example you can find recent pictures of a wedding you attending by saying, "show me pictures of wedding in Pittsburgh," or finding a picture of your beloved dog getting a bath.

Will Samsung's new Galaxy AI features come to older devices? Here's what we know

Samsung finally made the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra official at its first Galaxy Unpacked event of 2025, and along with the new hardware, a number of new features for Galaxy AI were unveiled. While the Samsung Galaxy S25 preorder deals are impressive, you might be reading this very news story on a Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy Z Flip 6, or even a Galaxy Z Fold 6, and thinking that these are still pretty new phones - and wondering if some of these new features might be arriving on your device in a future update. Well, we already know that One UI 7 with call transcriptions will be arriving on the S24 lineup. As for other AI-powered features such as Samsung's Personal Data Engine, Now Brief, and improvements to generative image features, it's not yet clear which devices these features might eventually land on. Personal Data Engine is basically a dedicated core on the device for handling AI tasks and building out a personal large language model (LLM) to the phones owner, to help the AI serve up better suggestions and implement them. Now Brief is an app that changes through the day to show pertinent information. Speaking to TechRadar, a Samsung spokesperson told us the company is "assessing which features" can come to which devices. In full, Samsung states: "Nothing to share right now, but Samsung is committed to providing the best possible Galaxy experience to all our users, and we are assessing which features will be available on which devices." Clearly, the focus is on the S25 range, and it seems that a lot of these new Galaxy AI features were tailor-made for the new lineup thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip, which has a specific processor unit dedicated for AI tasks. That processor is paired with 12GB of RAM across the lineup - no more 8GB for the 'standard' model. Samsung's really aiming to integrate Galaxy AI throughout the entire phone, allowing it to learn how you use it and the other apps on it. Ideally, the Now Brief app will work with Galaxy AI at its core, and in the dedicated part of the processor acting as a personal LLM to serve up the right suggestions and cards to you. It could be that you have a busy day with a look at your calendar, a reminder that it's someone's birthday and to create a digital card, or even a suggestion about your commute home. In a demo, I also saw cards for the weather and even news stories that might interest you, but as with most AI features it'll take some time for these features to learn your habits and routines. The Galaxy S25 lineup follows the idea of 'agentic AI' that we've been hearing about, and will likely see more of in 2025. It remains to be seen how much of this relies on that new processor, or if Samsung can figure out a way to trickle this down further. Even so, the ability to ask Gemini to complete chain requests - for instance, asking when the next New York Jets game is, adding it to your calendar, and sharing that invite with a friend - seems like it could arrive on other devices, and should be easy to roll out to them with Gemini - Google has even confirmed that. Integrating Gemini with, say, Samsung Notes and other third-party apps will likely take a bit longer, but could likely be introduced via an update. The same thought process could apply to the improvements to generating images, and improvements to Samsung's native tool for removing people from the background of photos that were unveiled for the Galaxy S25 family. Samsung so far has a good track record of rolling its AI features out to older phones, so we'll keep our fingers crossed and hope that some of these new Galaxy AI features trickle down.

Samsung's Galaxy S25 phones are -- you guessed it -- all-in on AI

Maybe that's because people want to see what the hype is about, or because they've been adopting AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini and want easier access to them. Or maybe it's because Samsung lumps a bunch of other desirable features -- like camera quality and battery life -- into an overall "performance" category that remains the bigger selling point. In any case, the Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra are loaded with AI features, which Samsung says are more deeply integrated on both the hardware and software levels compared to last year's phones. "We have built AI in, from the Android framework and even the chipset AP (application processor) on up," says Blake Gaiser, the director of product management for Samsung Electronics America.

Samsung Cracks The AI Puzzle With Galaxy S25

Apart from the default action of automatically launching Google's Gemini personal assistant, what makes the S25 impressive is also that Samsung has integrated Bixby as well as several other custom AI models it created for on-device data personalization options. After years of half-filled promises and underwhelming realities, it looks like Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF) has finally succeeded in bringing the kind of seamless experience that we all hoped AI, digital assistants, and agents would or could bring to our mobile Bob O'Donnell is the founder and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC a technology consulting and market research firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community. You can follow him on Twitter @bobodtech.

Ahead Of The Galaxy Unpacked 2025 Event, Leaked Promotional Material For The S25 Series Reveals The AI Features In One UI 7

With the Galaxy Unpacked 205 merely being hours away, users and the tech community are hooked on what Samsung would be bringing forward this time around. The speculations so far have given away quite a few details on the upgrades making their way to the Galaxy S25 series, leaving little for the imagination. The leaks are not slowing down as the new promo material gives away the One UI 7 AI features that are making their way prior to the big event. There is no doubt that the star of the show would be the Galaxy S25 series and with the three main devices lined up, users are anticipating the changes brought ahead from previous generations. Speculations have suggested that the series' biggest selling point would remain the AI integration, and it has given us a sneak peek into some of the features that could help the lineup stand out. Now, promotional images highlighted by 9to5Google have surfaced that give a more detailed look at One UI 7 and the AI capabilities it would bring about via Evan Blass. As per the images shared, the Galaxy S25 lineup would feature the advanced Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, and this would handle the more demanding AI commands with greater ease. One of the out-of-the-box AI-powered features is Galaxy Insights, which, although it would not be too complex, would still require power to handle varied tasks. The Insights feature is part of the One UI 7 and the set of AI features it would bring about. It is meant to offer a summary of the day and night or even help with insights during the commute. We are assuming this would rely on the company's stock apps, but it could extend support for third-party apps later on. The Galaxy S25 lineup is said to offer improved camera performance, especially in comparison to last year's models. Samsung has never been known for its post-processing, and it is something it could significantly improve on, but there is hope that with the AI advancements the company is bringing about, it might be able to cater to these shortcomings. The images highlight features like ProScaler and Night Video, which are meant to offer low-light capabilities in order to offer clearer pictures, especially outdoors. An Audio Eraser tool is also mentioned, which is going to enhance functionality for users even further. ProScaler on the other hand, acts like a dedicated video engine for the phone and is to enhance the overall visuals on the AMOLED panel. The feature seems to be exclusive to devices with QHD+resolution and possibly be available for the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Galaxy S25 Plus. It is yet to be seen how these models could have an edge over other devices in terms of visual quality. Other features highlighted in the images are familiar ones like Samsung Wallet and Smart Switch and also emphasize the inclusion of RCS messaging as the messaging standard. The Galaxy S25 lineup is going to be launched today at the Galaxy Unpacked 2025, so stay tuned for more updates as details emerge on the upcoming models.

These Gemini-Powered AI Features Are Coming to Samsung's Galaxy S25 Series

Gemini Live will let users add images, files, and YouTube videos Samsung Galaxy S25 series was launched at the company's Galaxy Unpacked event on Wednesday. During the event, artificial intelligence (AI) were front and centre, as the South Korean tech conglomerate announced several new AI features for the devices. While some of these features are powered by the South Korean tech giant's Galaxy AI suite, several new AI features are powered by Google AI and Gemini. The Gemini AI assistant can now access Samsung apps, allowing it to perform app-based tasks with ease. These are the new Gemini-powered AI features that will arrive with Samsung's new flagship series. The most notable new feature is Gemini's cross-app capability with the Galaxy S25 series. Samsung announced that Gemini will now be supported by Samsung's apps such as the Calendar, Clock, Notes, and Reminder apps. Additionally, Google's in-house AI system will also support Spotify and Google apps such as Maps, Messages, YouTube, and more. Along with this, the Gemini AI assistant's ability to perform complex tasks has also been enhanced. Supported by extensions, Gemini will now be able to perform multi-step tasks that typically require a user to open multiple apps. As an example, the company said that users can ask "Can you high-protein vegetarian snack ideas and add them to my notes?" and the AI will perform a Google Search, find the recipes and automatically add them to a new note in the Samsung Notes app. Additionally, the Gemini AI assistant can now be activated by long-pressing the power button placed on the right side of the Galaxy S25 series devices. A new redesigned overlay will appear which was reported earlier. Once activated, the virtual assistant will open in voice mode by default. The overlay allows users to add an image and access the 'Ask about screen', 'Ask about PDF', and 'Ask about video' tools. Google AI-powered Circle to Search is also getting some new upgrades. During the event, a representative from the Mountain View-based tech giant highlighted that the visual lookup tool can now automatically identify phone numbers, email addresses, and URLs even when they are part of an image. It will show a small icon tapping which will directly open the dialler screen, default email client, or the website, respectively. Circle to Search can also identify music playing on the screen. Google was reportedly testing this feature as early as August 2024, and it has finally been released with the Galaxy S25 series. With this, if music is playing in a video, users can open the visual lookup tool and it can identify the song. Further, Circle to Search will now also support AI Overviews. The feature will show a short AI-generated summary and related links when users highlight unique objects, trending images, places, and more. Several new upgrades were also announced to Gemini Live. The real-time two-way conversational feature is now multimodal and supports images, files, and YouTube videos. By tapping a new Talk Live about this, users will be able to have a live conversation with Gemini about an image or a document and have a discussion with the AI, seeking suggestions or help to solve problems. It can also provide insights and explanations about a YouTube video. In the next few months, Gemini Live will also support screen sharing and live video streaming capabilities as well. Notably, these features were first unveiled at Google I/O last year as a part of DeepMind's Project Astra. Samsung also highlighted new ways users will be able to use the Gemini AI assistant. For instance, users can capture an image of a menu written in French and tell the AI chatbot to "scan the menu and recommend me something under Rs. 500". The AI will be able to translate the menu items as well as recommend items that fit the user's budget. It can also make the order in French, saving the user the hassle of interacting with the waiter. Similarly, one can click an image of items in a fridge and tell the Gemini AI assistant to suggest a recipe. The AI will be able to analyse the items, recommend recipes, and guide the individual through the cooking process. Finally, Samsung is offering six months of free Gemini Advanced subscription and 2TB of free cloud storage to everyone buying the Galaxy S25 series devices at no extra cost.

Samsung wants to transform Galaxy smartphones into AI companions

Samsung is positioning its next-generation Galaxy smartphones, notably the Galaxy S25, to serve as AI companions. This move will see an expanded rollout of AI features that are integrated to enhance user experience. According to recent announcements, the Galaxy S25 family will showcase both overt and subtle AI functionalities, designed to adjust to user habits seamlessly. In 2024, the collaboration between the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy AI positioned Samsung as a leader in the AI-driven smartphone sector. The upcoming Galaxy S25 intends to capitalize on this success. It will incorporate advanced AI tools ranging from voice recognition to personalized user profiles, learning from user behavior over time. The integration will also extend to cloud-based services, allowing for more personalized and efficient device management. Samsung's commitment to AI is not limited to generative functionalities; it spans multiple aspects of Galaxy AI, aiming for versatility and adaptability. As 2025 progresses, Samsung continues its journey toward embedding artificial intelligence deeply within the fabric of its flagship devices.