The Galaxy S25 was finally announced during Galaxy Unpacked. So, if you're considering an update, you're no doubt eager to see how Samsung's new phone will compare to the current Galaxy S24.
That's why a Galaxy S25 vs. Galaxy S24 comparison matters. Finding out a phone might change year over year can help you decide if it's worth an upgrade, whether that's from an older model or one of the more recent Galaxy S phones that make up the best Samsung phones available.
Having now seen the official release and the announcement about the new device, we have a better idea of how it compares to the Galaxy S24. So read on to find out what kind of improvements could emerge from a Galaxy S25 vs. Galaxy S24 showdown.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Specs
Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: Price
One of the most prevalent rumors regarding the Galaxy S25 was that it could see a price increase. However, Samsung announced that the device will launch at the same $799 as the Galaxy S24. This isn't that surprising, as the majority of the hardware has remained the same.
What this means for the average consumer is that there is no major price drawback between the new model, and there are some rumored preorder bonuses that can help make the cost less dear.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Design and display
The Galaxy S24 featured a 6.2-inch screen, a slight increase from the 6.1-inch display on the Galaxy S23, with Samsung shrinking the bezels to add more screen space. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 comes with the same 6.2 AMOLED display.
For the most part, the displays between the two devices are essentially the same, however, there is one difference that we noticed. One of the biggest issues the Galaxy S24 series had was a problem with the Mura effect that caused the screen to look grainy at low brightness.
In our hands-on test of the phone at Galaxy Unpacked, we found the phone was much more vibrant looking. When John tested the screens with a movie trailer he found that the sheer color saturation and its iridescent glow at the highest brightness setting did not disappoint.
As such, when comparing the displays, the new Galaxy S25 offers a much better experience and is much brighter, but overall it has the same base screen.
Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: Cameras
The Galaxy S24 offered an impressive camera setup, with a 50MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide and a 10MP Telephoto with 3x optical Zoom. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 offers the same basic camera setup as the older model with the same hardware.
This is a disappointing revelation, however, there are some benefits to upgrading at his point. Firstly, while the hardware is much the same several software changes improve the photo experience on the Galaxy S25. For instance, the Audio Eraser feature gives you much more control over background noises. There's also the new Nightography mode that makes taking video in the dark much easier.
Finally, we also saw a new feature called Log Video that records in a flatter picture profile, which will make life much easier for editors. There's also a new virtual aperture on the cameras that gives way more depth of field control.
Overall, the Galaxy S25 offers you way more finetuning over the images and video that you take. However, the base images will still largely be the same, making it hard to recommend upgrading for the camera alone.
Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: Performance & AI
Qualcomm just took the wraps off the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the top-of-the-line system on-chip likely to power the best Android phones coming out over the next 12 months. Samsung isn't missing out on this as all of the Galaxy S25 series comes with Qualcomm's latest chip.
This is a pretty big contrast from Samsung's approach to the older lineup. The Galaxy S24 Ultra exclusively featured the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, Qualcomm's best chip at the time of release. The Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus split the difference on which chip appeared in which model. North American phones featured the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, while models in other parts of the world ran on the Exynos 2400, which is a step slower than Qualcomm's silicon.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 was a strong performer, topping Apple's A16 Bionic in graphics testing and some speed benchmarks. The Snapdragon 8 Elite figures to be even faster, according to our initial benchmarks of Qualcomm's chipset. In those tests, a Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered reference device even managed to top the A18 Pro chip in the iPhone 16 Pro Max on some tests.
The bigger story with the Snapdragon 8 Elite could be its faster neural engine, which will surely help with the speed of Galaxy AI features, even opening the door for more of those features to run on the Galaxy S25 itself. Samsung claims that this particular chipset sees a boost of 40% in NPU, 37% in CPU, and 30% in GPU compared to the previous chip.
Samsung is also pushing the improved Galaxy AI and Google Gemini experience on the new smartphones. During Galaxy Unpacked Samsung showed off a trailer revealing how easy it will be to talk to AI Chatbots on the new device. Not only that, Gemini and Android have a host of new features and extensions when running on the S25 series.
Now, it is worth noting that the majority of these features will likely appear on some of the older Galaxy phones, including the Galaxy S24. However, thanks to the power of the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the best experience will undoubtedly be on the Galaxy S25 when comparing the two.
Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: Battery
As with much of the hardware on the Galaxy S25, there isn't really much change when it comes to battery. The phone will come with the same 4,000 mAh battery as the Galaxy S24. However, the big factor will be how good the Snapdragon 8 Elite is at power regulation. Usually, Android phones are good at getting the most out of their battery, and we would expect the same here.
One other change is that the Galaxy S25 series will support Qi2 charging, however, there is a bit of a twist regarding the feature: no magnets. What this means is that the phones won't feature the trademark magnetic ring on the back of the phone. That means that to get the most out of the feature, you'll have to buy a case that supports it.
We won't know the full capabilities of the Galaxy S25's battery until we have a chance to test it. However, when we know we will update you with the full comparison of the two models' capabilities and if the Galaxy S25 belongs in our longest-lasting phones list.
Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: Outlook
With the official announcement, we have a lot more information to compare the two models. At a base glance its an odd comparison, with the hardware being much the same and very few changes to the design. However, there's a little more to it than you would expect.
The main thing to note is that Samsung is improving the software, and the majority of those improvements will be more noticeable on the Galaxy S25. However, for users of the older phone, likely, you'll already see many of the new features. At this point, we'll only know if the upgrade will be noticeable enough when we have a chance to fully test the new device.
For the time being, you can see our initial impression in our hands-on review of the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus. We also have a hands-on for the more powerful Galaxy S25 Ultra.
