Is Samsung Galaxy S25 the Best Phone of the Year? Our Review

Samsung Galaxy S25 offers powerful performance, sleek design, and advanced AI features, making it a top choice for 2025.

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The Samsung Galaxy S25 is a bit of a letdown this year. While Samsung has focused on AI features and a redesigned Ultra model, the regular Galaxy S25 feels like it hasn’t moved much forward. It looks similar to last year’s Galaxy S24 and the year before’s S23. It’s slightly thinner and lighter but doesn’t offer many new features.

The camera setup is the same as the S23, and the phone now has 12GB of RAM instead of 8GB, but it still starts with just 128GB of storage. The battery is only a little bigger and charging speed hasn’t improved. It’s almost like Samsung just put a new processor into the Galaxy S23 and called it the S25.

While the hardware feels unchanged, Samsung is betting on software and AI. The S25 will use data from your phone, watch, ring and smart home devices to learn about you. It promises things like adjusting lighting or turning off the TV when you sleep, but the AI features are still a work in progress.

Samsung’s press release suggests the S25 is just the beginning of something bigger with AI, but right now, it’s not a finished product. It’s more of a platform for future improvements. The S25 has potential, but we’ll have to wait to see how the AI evolves over time.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Specifications

Feature	Details
📅 Release Date	February 03, 2025
⚖️ Weight	162g
📏 Dimensions	146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm
🔨 Build	Glass front and back, aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass Victus 2
📱 SIM	Nano-SIM + Nano-SIM + eSIM (max 2 at a time)
💧 Water Resistance	IP68 (dust-tight, water-resistant up to 1.5m for 30 minutes)
🖥️ Display	6.2″ Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 2600 nits (peak)
🔲 Display Resolution	1080 x 2340 pixels
🛡️ Display Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
📲 OS	Android 15, One UI 7, 7 major upgrades
🔋 Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm)
🧠 CPU	Octa-core (2×4.47 GHz + 6×3.53 GHz)
🎮 GPU	Adreno 830
💾 RAM	12GB
💽 Internal Storage	128GB, 256GB, 512GB
📦 Expandable Storage	No
📷 Main Camera	Triple: 50MP (wide), 10MP (telephoto, 3x zoom), 12MP (ultrawide)
🎥 Main Camera Features	8K video, HDR10+, OIS, auto-HDR, panorama
🤳 Selfie Camera	12MP (wide), HDR, 4K video
🔊 Speakers	Stereo speakers
🎧 Audio	32-bit/384kHz audio, Tuned by AKG
📶 Bluetooth	5.4, A2DP, LE
📶 Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7, tri-band, Wi-Fi Direct
🗺️ Positioning	GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS
🔗 NFC	Yes
🔌 USB	USB Type-C 3.2, DisplayPort 1.2, OTG
🔋 Battery	Li-Ion 4000mAh
⚡ Charging	25W wired, 15W wireless (Qi2.1), 4.5W reverse wireless
🎨 Colors	Icy Blue, Mint, Navy, Silver Shadow, Pink Gold, Coral Red, Blue Black
💲 Price	₹ 80,999 / $ 799.99 / £ 799.00 / € 899.00
📊 Performance	AnTuTu: 2,193,701, GeekBench: 10,050, 3DMark: 6,755
🔋 Battery Life (Active Use)	12 hours 21 minutes

Samsung Galaxy S25 Price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy S25 was officially revealed at the Galaxy Unpacked event on January 22, and it’s now available for pre-order. You can choose from four colors: Icyblue (light blue), Navy (dark blue), Mint (light green), and Silver Shadow (silver).

The phone comes with different storage options—128GB, 256GB, and 512GB—depending on where you live. All models are equipped with 12GB of RAM.

Shipping starts on February 7 and here are the prices:

128GB: $799 (US), £799 (UK)
256GB: $859 (US), £859 (UK), AU$1,399 (Australia)
512GB: Not available in the US, £959 (UK), AU$1,599 (Australia)

The availability and pricing may vary based on your region, so check for local details if you’re planning to order.

Samsung Galaxy S25 design and display

I’ve been focusing a lot on AI features in the Samsung Galaxy S25 because, honestly, this year’s Galaxy S looks pretty much the same as last year and the year before. The main difference is the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which is just a bigger version of the Galaxy S25 Plus. The basic design feels familiar and a bit stale.

I don’t blame Samsung for not doing a huge redesign this year. They’ve included some expensive new components, so a big change would have increased the price. It’s impressive that they’ve managed to keep the price stable, especially with the rumored high costs of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chips.

When it comes to design, the Galaxy S25 is like the Toyota Camry of smartphones—reliable and consistent. It doesn’t change much, and if you squint, it might even look like its competitors. We’re beyond expecting a completely new look every year. Instead, we see small tweaks and improvements, with the biggest changes happening inside the phone.

Samsung Galaxy S25 cameras

The Galaxy S25 doesn’t seem to have many big changes on paper. We may see real improvements when we test the cameras, thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which has performed well in other phones.

The specs are mostly the same as last year’s models, except for the Ultra version, which got a new 50MP camera. The S24 and S24 Plus still have the same 50MP main camera, 10MP 3x zoom, and 12MP ultra-wide lens.

It looks like Samsung missed the trend of offering better cameras on smaller, cheaper models. Phones like the iPhone 16 Pro and Google Pixel 9 Pro have great cameras without needing to buy the bigger, pricier versions.

I wish Samsung did the same for the smaller Galaxy S25. Instead, they’ve focused on improving photos using AI, both before and after the shot. I tried out Samsung’s new AI photo-editing tools, and they worked well, like when it removed someone from a photo but kept the background intact.

However, software can’t replace better camera hardware. With the cameras and other areas, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus feel like an afterthought for Samsung this year.

Samsung Galaxy S25 performance and battery

The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset in the Galaxy S25 is impressive. It continues Samsung’s trend of using a slightly faster version of Qualcomm’s top chip. Difference is small, around a 5% boost to the main core, which mainly shows up in benchmarks. But it gives Samsung bragging rights for having the fastest chip.

Beyond the chipset, Samsung Galaxy S25 has some cool hardware features. The Personal Data Engine is a dedicated space for your data, protected by Samsung’s Knox security, which is trusted by some U.S. government agencies. Your personal info stays on the phone, keeping it safe.

If you get a new phone, you can transfer your data with Samsung Smart Switch, but if you lose your phone, all that personal data is gone.

It’s a bit disappointing because AI is supposed to learn and adapt to you over time. I wonder how different the S25 will feel after it has years of my personal data.

As for charging, Samsung still hasn’t upgraded to faster charging speeds. Samsung Galaxy S25 charges at about 45W, while the OnePlus 13 can charge at 80W, with even faster charging on the way. This slower charging can feel like a setback if you’re waiting for your phone to charge.

Samsung Galaxy S25 software

Samsung Galaxy S25 is a phone that will learn about you over time, but it’s not quite there yet. It has a lot of potential, but for now, it’s a blank slate waiting for your personal data.

Samsung has a “personal data engine” that stores your data safely. This includes things like your sleep habits, photos, and messages. What will the phone do with all this info? We don’t know yet, but the goal is for the AI to make useful suggestions, like adjusting lights for better sleep or turning off your TV when you fall asleep.

The phone uses Bixby for controls and Google’s Gemini for text generation. Samsung keeps the details quiet, but it’s meant to work seamlessly without you noticing which AI is in use.

However, many of the new AI features didn’t work during my time testing the phone. They will likely need more data from users before they’re fully functional.

Pros and Cons of Samsung Galaxy S25

✅Pros	❌Cons
💡 Light and easy to use	🔄 Few upgrades from last generation
🌟 Good LTPO OLED display, bright enough	⚡ Charging still limited to 25W, no charger in the box
🔋 Same battery life as S24, with a better Snapdragon 8 Elite	🚫 No UWB support
🔄 One UI 7 is a nice upgrade, with 7 major OS updates	💾 Entry-level storage is only 128GB
🤖 Lots of AI features, including some new ones	❌
🔊 Better speaker sound than S24	❌
📷 Reliable camera quality (if ultrawide issue fixed)	❌

Conclusion

Samsung Galaxy S25 may look similar to previous models, but inside, it’s waiting to gather personal data from all your Galaxy and Samsung devices. It’s a good phone focused on the future, so if that doesn’t excite you now, you might be wondering what makes it special. I spent some time with the phone, and while I heard a lot about its future features, I didn’t see much of that yet.