Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Laptop
Laptop
Technology
Madeline Ricchiuto

Samsung's Galaxy S25 phones offer a big performance boost and even more AI

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with S Pen resting on the back.

Samsung unveiled its Galaxy S25 series of phones during its annual Unpacked event, ushering in the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra.

The phones are solid spec upgrades over the S24 series from last year, but many of the big changes have come via Galaxy AI, offering the latest on-device LLM support compared to the previous generation.

Here's everything you need to know about the Galaxy S25 series.

Galaxy S25 Series: Features

Image of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra camera array, showcasing all five cameras on the flagship smartphone. (Image credit: Evan Blass / Samsung)

Samsung's Galaxy AI launched first on the S24 series last year, and we got to test it out on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but things have changed a bit this year. The new Galaxy AI focuses heavily on on-device AI features baked into the operating system. Because the new Galaxy AI features are on-device, you've got increased security for your personalized AI that can support you and offer suggestions and integrations across multiple apps with your personalized, multi-modal AI Agent.

All three Galaxy S25 series phones feature the new 3-nanometer Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite CPUS. Samsung claims these new chips offer a performance boost of 37% in CPU performance, 30% in GPU performance, and 40% in NPU performance over the S24 series.

The Galaxy S25 series also features Samsung's fast charging technology for charging from a wall outlet — Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, and Wireless PowerShare. The Galaxy S24 Ultra charged to 71% after 30 minutes of wired charging on a 45W charger. Since the S25 series features the same charging technology, we can expect similar or better charging speeds from the S25 generation.

The Galaxy S25 series includes the same biometrics we expect from Samsung, with an ultrasonic fingerprint reader and face recognition through the selfie camera.

Other features include the Now Bar, Now Brief, Audio Eraser for better sound quality on videos, ProScaler for QHD+ display support, and an improved cooling system. Additionally, the S25 Ultra features an embedded S Pen.

Galaxy S25 Series: Specs

All three Galaxy S25 series phones feature new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy (3nm) processors, Android 15 with a Samsung One UI 7 overlay, 12GB of RAM, and AMOLED 2X displays.

All three come in Icyblue, Navy, Mint, and Silver Shadow colorways.

The full specs for all three Galaxy S25 Series phones are below.

Galaxy S25 Series: Camera Specs

One of the most important parts of a smartphone can be the camera array. And for Samsung's flagship Galaxy phones, that's never been more true than the last few years as Samsung has added more and more cameras to the rear camera array.

In case you're not sure of the camera differences between the three phones, we've included the full camera specs for the S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra below.

Outlook

(Image credit: Evan Blass)

We'll need to see how well the phones perform in our lab and hands-on tests to know for sure if those new 3 nanometer Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processors are worth the price tag, or if the new Galaxy AI provides a smooth, seamless experience. But from our first look at the Galaxy S25 series, these do look like a decent upgrade from the previous generation.

If you haven't upgraded from the Galaxy S22 or S23 yet, the S25 series is worth the upgrade. Owners of the S24 can probably get another year or two out of their smartphones, but if you want the latest and greatest Galaxy AI you will need to switch to the S25 series. However, non-AI enthusiasts will still have plenty of performance and battery life on the S24 series to last at least another year.

Pre-orders for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 start today. The phones will be on shelves starting February 7, 2025.

More from Laptop Mag

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.