Samsung Galaxy S25
Rating: 4 Stars
The Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25+ represent incredibly minor updates — but that doesn’t make them bad phones.
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Pros
- Sleek design with cool colors
- Excellent performance
- Solid camera
- Good battery life
Cons
- Charging is a little slow
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The Galaxy S Ultra devices always get all the attention, but perhaps more interesting are the base models that accompany them. The Samsung Galaxy S25 isn’t as high-tech as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but at that lower price point, it’s still probably a better buy for most people.
That said, the Galaxy S25 and S25+ represent even less of an update over the previous generation than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The Ultra at least got a tweaked design to bring it more in line with the base models, but as the base models, the design tweaks to the Galaxy S25 and S25+ are much harder to spot.
Does the Samsung Galaxy S25 truly represent perhaps the most minor update in smartphone history, or is there a little more to it? In this review, I’m going to discuss the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ together, but I only fully tested the Galaxy S25+. The devices are similar in many ways, and I’ll note any differences as I go.
Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25+: Specs
| Samsung Galaxy S25 | Samsung Galaxy S25+ | |
| Dimensions | 146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm | 158.4 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm |
| IP rating | IP68 | IP68 |
| Display resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels (416ppi) | 1440 x 3120 pixels (513ppi) |
| Display size | 6.2 inches | 6.7 inches |
| Display type | Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X | Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X |
| Display refresh rate | 1Hz – 120Hz | 1Hz – 120Hz |
| Display brightness | 2600 nits (peak) | 2600 nits (peak) |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite |
| Memory | 12GB | 12GB |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | 256GB, 512GB |
| Rear cameras | Wide: 50MP, f/1.8, OISUltrawide: 12MP, f/2.2, 120-degreesTelephoto: 10MP, f/2.4, 3x zoom | Wide: 50MP, f/1.8, OISUltrawide: 12MP, f/2.2, 120-degreesTelephoto: 10MP, f/2.4, 3x zoom |
| Video | 8K at 30fps, 4K at 60fps, 1080p at 240fps | 8K at 30fps, 4K at 60fps, 1080p at 240fps |
| Front camera | 12MP, f/2.2 | 12MP, f/2.2 |
| Ports | USB-C 3.2 | USB-C 3.2 |
| Battery size | 4,000mAh | 4,900mAh |
| Charging | 25W wired, 15W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless | 25W wired, 15W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 7, 5G | Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 7, 5G |
| Colors | Icy Blue, Mint, Navy, Silver Shadow, Pink Gold, Coral Red, Blue Black | Icy Blue, Mint, Navy, Silver Shadow, Pink Gold, Coral Red, Blue Black |
| Price | $799.99 | $999.99 |
Design
The Samsung Galaxy S25 is incredibly similar in design to the S24 before it. There are some differences, but they’re very hard to spot, and unless you used the S24 for a year, it’s unlikely that you’d notice the difference just by looking at the S25 or S25+.
The devices still have flat edges with an aluminum frame, and they still have the vertically aligned triple-camera array on the top left of the back. You’ll still get the volume rocker and power button on the right edge, along with the USB-C port on the bottom.
So what is new? Well, Samsung says that the bezels around the display are slightly smaller, which makes for a minor change in the device’s footprint. Additionally, it’s thinner by around half a millimeter. Again, a minor change, but still a welcome one.
The biggest change to the phone comes in the form of the new colors, which look great. My Galaxy S25+ is the Navy color, and I think it looks fantastic. That said, it’s not as bright as the coral red color option, though that option is only available online.
Despite the fact that the changes to the phone’s design are so small, it’s still a good-looking phone. It’s comfortable to hold and feels thin in the hand. The Galaxy S25+ that I’m using isn’t too big for me, though those looking for a small phone experience will want to go for the smaller S25.
Display
On the Samsung Galaxy S25, you’ll get a 6.2-inch display with a 1080p resolution. However, the Galaxy S25+ steps that up to a 1440p resolution, which increases the pixel density a fair amount. Both phones have an LTPO AMOLED 2X screen with an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz or as low as 1Hz. And they both have a peak brightness of 2600 nits.
The display on the Galaxy S25+ looks excellent. It’s very crisp and detailed, and it’s nearly impossible to see individual pixels without looking incredibly closely. While I haven’t fully reviewed the Galaxy S25, I did have a chance to check it out for a few hours and found that the display was easily crisp and detailed enough, especially given its smaller size.
The screen was very responsive too, thanks to the high refresh rate, and I found it got easily bright enough for even outdoor use. Frankly, smartphone displays have been getting better and better, to the point where even mid-range phones offer stunning-looking screens. The Galaxy S25 and S25+ aren’t mid-range phones, but rest assured that the displays on both of them look excellent, even if the Galaxy S25+’s display is that extra bit more detailed.
Performance
Like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the base Galaxy S25 and S25+ are powered by a specially-tuned version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor — and here, it’s coupled with 12GB of RAM. Crucially, all versions of the Galaxy S25 are powered by this chip — there’s no Exynos model of the Galaxy S25 in any markets this year.
As mentioned, the version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip in the Galaxy S25 is custom-built for these phones, designed to offer better power efficiency and improved performance. You won’t really notice a difference in performance between the Galaxy S25 and other Snapdragon 8 Elite phones, but hopefully, the custom changes do make for a better battery life.
Custom or otherwise, the Galaxy S25 performs excellently. The phone is incredibly responsive and very quick, able to handle everything you could think to throw at it in 2025. It plays games like a champ, loading even complicated games relatively quickly and refusing to skip a frame while you play.
That isn’t all that surprising for a flagship-level phone in 2025. All phones with the latest top-tier chip perform very well. What remains to be seen however, is how the phone holds up in performance over the years to come. That’s something you can’t test without the benefit of years to use a device, though.
Here are the benchmark results I achieved with the Galaxy S25+.
- GeekBench 6: 3174 single-core, 9922 multi-core
- 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 6927
These are very good results and essentially show that the Galaxy S25 is at the top of the game when it comes to smartphone performance. These results also show a phone that’s very competitive with the iPhone 16 Pro, especially when it comes to multi-core performance, though the iPhone still wins in single-core performance.
The Galaxy S25 comes with either 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of storage — though the Galaxy S25+ does away with the 128GB option.
Battery life and charging
The Galaxy S25 and S25+ both have the same battery size as last year’s model, but I found battery life on the S25+ to be excellent. I’ve been easily able to get through a full day of even heavier use and well into a second day, and it would be relatively easy to get two full days of use as long as it’s under a lighter workload without taxing tasks like mobile gaming. Anecdotally, the battery life in the Galaxy S25+ seems to be similar to the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It’s a slightly smaller battery, but the screen size is smaller too, so it makes sense that you would get an equal battery life out of the cheaper phone.
Unfortunately, the charging technology offered by the Galaxy S25 and S25+ just isn’t really where it should be. The smaller Galaxy S25 supports wired charging of up to 25W, which is slower than the Galaxy S25+ and Ultra’s 45W charging, and much slower than the competition from the likes of OnePlus. This is an area where neither Samsung nor Apple has been innovating much, despite the fact that Chinese competition has been, and it’s an area where they could both dramatically improve.
Technically, the Galaxy S25 and S25+ support the Qi2.1 wireless charging standard, allowing them to charge wirelessly at up to 15W. However, they don’t have the magnets commonly associated with Qi2, so they won’t support those magnetic accessories without a case that adds the magnets. I’m glad the charging speed is there, but I love the magnetic accessory ecosystem now available for iPhone devices, and I would love to see Android competition hop on board that trend.
Camera
As usual, Samsung is pushing the boundaries of camera performance on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, leaving the standard Galaxy S25 and S25+ with a slightly worse camera experience overall. The devices offer a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. Only the telephoto camera is a camera that can be found on the S25 Ultra — though in the case of the Ultra, it’s arguably the secondary telephoto camera that serves as a stopgap between the main camera and the periscope telephoto that hits 5x optical zoom.
Despite the obviously lower-quality camera compared to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the Galaxy S25+, images captured by the device still generally look great. In 95% of situations, images are just as good as those captured by the higher-end phone. But once you start pushing the camera a little, you can see why the camera on the S25 Ultra is a little better. For example, while zoomed shots up to around 6x or 7x look good, further zoom starts to make images look a little unnatural. That’s something that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is able to avoid with the 5x periscope telephoto lens, which helps push the boundaries of how much digital zoom can be used while retaining a natural look.
The Galaxy S25 and S25+ also don’t get the S25 Ultra’s new ultra-wide camera. That means that macro shots are nowhere near as detailed or lifelike, though thankfully, they still look solid. Low-light photos look pretty good too.
There are some AI-based camera editing features on the Galaxy S25 and S25+ too. For example, the device now has Audio Eraser, which lets you manage the audio in a video recording by pulling back things like wind noise or other noise and highlighting voices or music. Features like Magic Eraser have improved too, offering more natural-looking images more of the time.
Generally speaking, the Galaxy S25 and S25+ simply don’t compare with the likes of the iPhone 16 Pro, Galaxy S25 Ultra, and Pixel 9 Pro. The triple camera array does make for a versatile camera system that’s able to capture vibrant and detailed images the vast majority of the time. Don’t expect that images will look subpar; they won’t. They’ll look great in all but the most challenging scenarios. It’s just that those higher-end phones can perform in more of those challenging scenarios.
Software
AI is the big focus for software this year, not only on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but also on the other two Galaxy S25 devices too. That largely starts with the Now Bar, a little notification bar on the lock screen that can show things like sports scores, weather information, and more. Tapping on it will bring you to the so-called “Now Brief,” which wraps all that information up into a single screen, and includes things like sleep data and calendar events.
The feature is perfectly fine, but I didn’t find myself necessarily using it all that much. Given the fact that it integrates with other Samsung apps and services, those deep in the Samsung ecosystem may find it more useful than those who only use a Samsung smartphone.
Another big change is the fact that Google’s Gemini is now more deeply embedded in the software experience, further pushing Bixby to the background, though you will still need to use Bixby to control things like devices in Samsung SmartThings.
Other aspects of One UI are fine, though One UI has never been my preferred Android skin. There are still plenty of Samsung and Microsoft apps pre-installed, and I still don’t find it to be as clean as the skin that Google ships on Pixel devices. Still, if you’re used to Samsung phones, then you’ll like One UI 7.
Conclusions
Put simply, the Samsung Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ are a little boring. They offer no major improvements to really any aspect of the phone — only really iterating when it comes to performance. While other aspects of the phone might get a minor bump, like the camera, due to improved image processing, the fact is that the Galaxy S25 and S25+ are as minor of an update as I can remember in recent history.
But that certainly doesn’t make them bad phones. On the contrary, they’re still among the best devices in their price range. Should you update from the Galaxy S24? Definitely not, but if you’re due for a new phone and like Samsung devices, you can’t lose by going for the S25 series.
The competition
With such a minor update, perhaps the biggest competition to the S25 comes from last year’s S24. If you can find a great deal on an S24 and could stand to save some cash, you won’t be missing out on much by buying it over the S25.
Other competition exists too though. The Pixel series is worth mentioning, considering the fact that I find it to offer a better software experience. That said, for a camera experience that’s as versatile on the Pixel, you’ll need to get at least the $999.99 Pixel 9 Pro, which is only a little larger than the base Galaxy S25. And, you’ll need to be fine with a lower-performance chip.
Should I buy the Samsung Galaxy S25?
Yes. It may be an incredibly minor update over last year, but it’s still a great phone.
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