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Samsung has just announced the Galaxy S25 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S25, its regular flagships for 2025 that complement the Galaxy S25 Ultra and offer a large swath of the same features at a lower price tag.
While the Galaxy S25 Ultra is sure to steal the spotlight of the Android world (and rightly so), the smaller and more budget-friendly flagships certainly deserves their fair share of attention, too.
Samsung has been perfecting the "Galaxy S" formula for the past few years, and the latest chapter in the story, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus, seems like the most polished one yet, despite featuring zero revolutionary changes. That's because slow and steady usually often wins the race!
Let's delve in and see what's new with Samsung's latest flagships.
Price and release date
First things first, the most important tidbits of info.
Samsung hasn't changed the prices of the Galaxy S25 Plus or the Galaxy S25, which means that they cost just as much as their predecessors did at launch, which is great news!
Expect to pay $800 for the entry-level Galaxy S25 and a thousand bucks for the Galaxy S25 Plus. All devices will be released on February 7, but pre-orders are opening today, January 22.
Pre-order the Galaxy S25 Plus for up to $800+ off
$299
99
$999
99
$700 off (70%)
The exciting Galaxy S25 Plus has finally been revealed. Pre-orders are now open, and you can pre-order a unit for up to $700 off at the Samsung Store with eligible trade-ins. There's an additional $100 Samsung Credit available.
The "vanilla" Galaxy S25 is here! Now's the time to pre-order one with exclusive discounts of up to $500. To get the discount, you must trade in an eligible device. There's an additional $100 Samsung Credit available, which includes your $50 Reservation Gift!
Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus in all the standard official colors (Image Credit-Samsung)
You are excused for not noticing any major differences with the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus when compared with their predecessors, the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus: that's because there aren't any major ones.
The familiar and cozy Galaxy DNA dominates the aesthetics of the two devices, which use matte Armor Aluminum and frosted Gorilla Glass Victus 2 in their build. Both still utilize the flat design language that is trendy these days, and the edges at the top and bottom are still rounded. Actually, the Galaxy S25 Ultra now also follows this design language, so the uniformity and design synergy of the Galaxy S25 trio is nearly perfect.
Size-wise, Samsung has found ways to make both the Galaxy S25 and S25+ more compact than the previous Samsung flagships. Both phones are slightly shorter, narrower, and noticeably thinner than their predecessors; Samsung has also shed some weight from both. As a result, the ergonomics have improved, and handling either phone in your hand is now easier and more pleasing.
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Colors-wise, the two devices are available in Icy Blue, Navy, Mint, and Silver Shadow colors. Of course, in a typical Samsung fashion, some nicer paint jobs are only available exclusively on Samsung.com: Pink Gold, Coral Red, and Blue Black.
In terms of durability, both carry the standard IP68 water and dust resistance.
Hardware
This year, all Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 units, regardless of the region, will be powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip. That's the first 3nm Qualcomm chipset available to Android manufacturers. It's not the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite, but a slightly overclocked and tuned-up chipset, which comes with some in-house features, like the new ProVisual Engine and Spatio-Temporal Filters during video-recording.
No major changes to the displays of either device. The Galaxy S25 scores a 6.2-inch FHD+ screen, while the Galaxy S25 Plus gets a 6.7-inch QHD+ one. Common on both is the dynamic 1-120Hz refresh rate for a smooth viewing experience and the peak 2,600-nit brightness. Samsung says that both displays are now more efficient thanks to a new mDNIe (mobile Digital Natural Image engine). Another new feature here is borrowed from Samsung's TV division: AI-powered ProScaler lets you upscale low-res content with 40% less artifacts than before.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy is a true powerhouse (Image Credit-Qualcomm)
With the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Samsung promises a 37% increase in CPU-processing and 30% bump in GPU-processing, but the 40% increase in the NPU performance for the on-device AI is definitely more spectacular.
Both phones now support Wi-Fi 7 and are the first commercially available smartphones that feature Snapdragon Satellite communication, letting you send and receive messages via narrowband NTN.
Both devices come with 12GB of RAM as standard, and Samsung's hasn't changed the storage tiers: we get 128GB and 256GB on the Galaxy S25, while the larger phone is available with 256GB and 512GB.
Finally, on the battery front, the Galaxy S25 Plus arrives with a 4,900mAh battery, while the Galaxy S25 gets a 4,000mAh one, similar to last year. No changes to the charging speeds either: 45W wired on the Galaxy S25 Plus and 25W for the Galaxy S25, while wireless charging stays at 15W for both models.
Little changes in the hardware (Image Credit-Samsung)
The lack of obvious changes continues with the camera of either new Galaxy phone, which once again share the same setup: 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 10MP 3X telephoto. Not a bad setup, given how well the previous Galaxy phones have fared in our dedicated Camera Test, but we've been hoping for some changes here.
What's new here is the "backend" of the camera. Embedded in the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy is a new ProVisual Engine, which promises improved image-processing and algorithms. Samsung has also introduced 10-bit HDR video-recording (up from 8-bit), which delivers richer colors and a wider dynamic range. Low-light and macro videos have also seemingly been improved a lot.
Other new camera features include a virtual aperture for the Expert RAW shooting mode, allowing you to customize the background blur and sharpness between F1.4 and F14. There's also a Galaxy Log video-recording feature, which will give you footage that's way more flexible for color-grading in post.
A new Audio Eraser feature will let you edit the volume of up to six different sound categories in your videos, eliminating the undesired noise or boosting speech.
Audio Eraser in action (Image Credit-Samsung
Finally, Portrait Studio inside the camera app has been enhanced with new filters and improved personalized avatars.
Galaxy AI and software
Both devices come along with the new One UI 7 software, based on Android 15. It introduces a ton of visual and functional changes across the interface, which will surely suit those who love customizing their phones to the maximum. Read more about One UI 7 in our review right here.
Both phones will be supported for seven years, until 2032.
Many new features come to Galaxy AI, but none are exclusive to the Galaxy S25 or Galaxy S25 Plus, as they are part of the Gemini package. There's an enhanced Circle to Search, which now intelligently identifies phone numbers, emails, URLs, or addresses and gives you contextual options, like quickly calling, sending an email, or navigating with Google Maps.
Circle to Search is now better than ever, while the Now Bar will deliver live activities on your lock screen (Image Credit-Google)
But probably the most intriguing new feature is actually a Gemini functionality, which allows Google's AI to access all apps on your phone (stock and third-party) and execute cross-app actions between them. For example, you can ask your device to check the schedule of your favorite sports team and then add the matches to your calendar so that you never miss a game. This feature isn't exclusive to Samsung phones, but will arrive on all Android devices as part of the Gemini assistant.
Other newcomers to the software scene on the Galaxy S25/Galaxy S25 Plus are the Now Brief, which gives you proactive and contextual suggestions, and the Now Bar, which lives at the bottom of the lock screen and could display live activities, charging information, now playing and other mini widgets, similarly to the iPhone's Dynamic Island widgets.
AI-powered generative edits have also been improved (Image Credit-Samsung)
Of course, AI mainstays like Call Transcript, Writing Assist, and Drawing Assist are also here, while generative edits and the object eraser have also been improved, and will no longer generate any undesirable artifacts.
Both the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 will let their users enjoy Gemini Advanced and 2TB of cloud storage for six months after device activation.
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Peter, an experienced tech enthusiast at PhoneArena, is captivated by all things mobile. His impartial reviews and proficiency in Android systems offer readers valuable insights. Off-duty, he delves into the latest cryptocurrency trends and enjoys sci-fi and video games.
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