Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus Review: Brilliantly unremarkable
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Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus Intro
I've been reviewing the annual flavor of Samsung's Galaxy S flagship for years now, and it was probably somewhere between the Galaxy S22 Plus and the Galaxy S23 Plus when I lost all hope that Samsung will truly overhaul the range.
The Galaxy S21 Plus threw me into the denial stage. Samsung notably downgraded some crucial specs (display and battery size) and overall design in comparison with the Galaxy S20 Plus, which wasn't ideal.
With the Galaxy S22 Plus, a mix of downgrades and upgrades threw me in a state of mild anger as I realized the future that the Galaxy S Plus was headed into. Not ideal at all.
The Galaxy S23 Plus, on the other hand, was when I started bargaining. "Maybe it's not that bad that Samsung's flagships are always the same, they're just like the iPhone," I uttered as my SIM card fit snugly in the Galaxy S23 Plus slot. Depression came the next year, when I held the Galaxy S24 Plus in my palm and realized that was true.
Flash-forward to today, when it's finally the age of acceptance. Yes, the Galaxy S25 Plus is mostly similar to almost all of its immediate predecessors, with few upgrades and sparse improvements, as well as the tiniest baby steps when it comes to scoring new features and refreshing existing ones.
So what?
After using it for a couple of days, one thing is obvious: the Galaxy S25 Plus is a very, very good phone and offers great value. I'd even go out of my way and say that if you don't really need an S Pen (you don't), then you should totally skip the Galaxy S25 Ultra and get the Galaxy S25 Plus instead. Of course, this only applies if you're upgrading from a much older Galaxy flagship or are freshly exploring the possibility of entering the Samsung ecosystem.
Let's explore what makes the Galaxy S25 Plus such a good device.
So, is the Galaxy S25 Plus another top-value gem in Samsung's flagship arsenal for 2025? Let's explore!
Looking at the score achieved by the Galaxy S25 Plus, it fares exceptionally well and definitely shines when it comes to overall performance, software, and battery life. However, there are some issues with the camera, which is a bit too soft and slightly worse than last year's Galaxy S24 Plus.
Table of Contents:
Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus Specs
Here are the Galaxy S25 Plus versus Galaxy S24 Plus specs based on the leaked specs:
| Galaxy S25 Plus | Galaxy S24 Plus |
|---|---|
| Size and Weight 158.4 x 75.8 x 7.3mm 190gr | Size and Weight 158.5 x 75.9 x 7.7mm 196 g |
| Display 6.7-inch QHD+, 1-120Hz refresh rate, 2600-nit peak brightness | Display 6.7-inch |
| Processor Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy (all markets) 12GB RAM 256GB/512GB | Processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (US) Exynos 2400 (RoW) 12GB RAM 256GB/512GB |
| Software One UI 7 Android 15 7 years of updates (until 2032) | Software One UI 6.1 (will be updated to One UI 7) Android 14 (Android 15 uprgade imminent) 7 years of updates (until 2031) |
| Cameras 50MP main camera (2X optical zoom) 12MP ultra-wide 10MP telephoto (3X optical zoom) 12MP selfie camera | Cameras 50MP main camera 12MP ultra-wide 10MP telephoto (3x optical zoom) 12MP selfie camera |
| Battery Size 4,900 mAh | Battery Size 4,900 mAh |
| Charging Speeds 45W wired 15W wireless | Charging Speeds 45W wireless 15W wireless |
| Prices 256GB for $999 512GB for $1,119 | Prices 256GB for $999 512GB for $1,119 |
Galaxy S25 Plus Design and Display
Galaxy S25 Plus in all its familiar glory (Image by PhoneArena)
Samsung's so-called Armor Aluminum has remained the material of choice for the frame of the phone, while the front and back of the device feature Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus 2. Sadly, the anti-reflective coating of the Galaxy S24 Ultra hasn't trickled down to the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus; it remains an exclusive feature of the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
The Galaxy S25 Plus is mostly similar to the Galaxy S24 Plus in terms of overall aesthetics, with a mostly flat design with right edges. Despite the flat design, however, there are no sharp edges to cave into your palm.
Galaxy S Plus on Ozempic (Image by PhoneArena)
From an ergonomic perspective, Samsung has once again has perfected things all around. Great job! The Galaxy design language has largely stayed unchanged, but Samsung has perfected and improved it, so the Galaxy S25 Plus feels smart and refined. Although a titanium frame would have been nice to see here, it wouldn't be an overstatement to call this latest design language the best one so far!
In terms of size, Samsung has successfully trimmed down a lot of fat and significantly slimmed the Galaxy S25 Plus down to 7.3mm, down from the 7.7mm on the Galaxy S24 Plus. The new phone is also lighter by six grams.
A very ergonomic package (Image by PhoneArena)
Of course, those differences are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, but surprisingly for me, you can feel them if you hold the new Galaxy S25 Plus in one hand and the older Galaxy in the other. The new flagship phone definitely feels more compact, which is always welcome, especially in this size range.
The Galaxy S25 Plus colors are four standard ones, but as usual, Samsung has added a couple of exclusive ones on Samsung.com:
- Navy
- Ice Blue
- Silver Shadow
- Mint
- Blue Black (Exclusive)
- Coral Red (Exclusive)
- Pink Gold (Exclusive)
Samsung once again gives us an exceptional display
Display-wise, the Galaxy S25 Plus employs the familiar 6.7-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen as its predecessor, with HDR support and a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate for a smooth viewing experience, with up to 2,600 nits of peak brightness.
Essentially, nothing has changed from a pure hardware standpoint, but that's fine: this display is already pretty wonderful, so the lack of changes is not that big of a deal. Sure, we'd have loved if the anti-reflective coating of the Ultra flagships had trickled down to the Galaxy S25 Plus, but that's hopefully happening in the coming years.
As per our in-house tests, both phones score similar maximum and minimum brightness levels, but the newer Galaxy S25 Plus proves to be slightly more color-accurate and certainly closer to the ideal color temperature of 6500K. It's a joy to look at.
Display Measurements:
One software new feature that has been introduced is Samsung's ProScaler, borrowed from the company's TV division. It upscales content viewed on the display by up to 40% with the help of AI. This will minimize artifacts when watching, say, a blurry low-bitrate YouTube video and will provide a more pleasing viewing experience.
However, in real-life, it can't be said that you'll notice a difference. We tested the same low-res video on both the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S24 Plus, and it doesn't felt like you're getting much higher quality on the newer phone.
Biometrics-wise, we still get the very decent in-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner and face unlock. The fingerprint is fast and accurate, no issues with erroneous fingerprint scans, while the face unlock is very convenient, but you should not rely on it too much.
Galaxy S25 Plus Camera
Zero hardware changes, but important software changes (Image by PhoneArena)
Well, with the Galaxy S25 Plus, we get the same camera system as the one on the Galaxy S24 Plus… and Galaxy S23 Plus… and Galaxy S22 Plus. That's right, say hello and "welcome back!" to the 50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP 3X telephoto rear cameras, which have remained a signature mainstay of the regular Galaxy flagships.
While the hardware is the same, Samsung has overhauled a large swath of the camera backend, with new ProVisual Engine that's tightly integrated into the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and delivers updated image-processing algorithms.
Video has also reportedly got some crucial updates. Instead of 8-bit HDR video, we get 10-bit HDR video capture on the Galaxy S25 series, as well as Galaxy Log video capture for a flexible color-grading post-processing experience.
On-device AI has also been reined in for the new Audio Eraser feature, which lets you intelligently adjust the volumes of six different audio categories in your videos. This allows you to mix and isolate the sounds you actually want, while also minimizing undesired noise and other sounds.
Other AI features, like generative edits and the object eraser have also been improved, and will no longer generate any undesirable artifacts.
In the PhoneArena camera score test, however, the Galaxy S25 Plus turns out to be a slight downgrade from its predecessor. Oversharpening and overprocessing are gone for good, which lets the Galaxy capture significantly more natural-looking photos that look closer to real life in comparison with the older Galaxy S24/Galaxy S24 Plus. However, this has also led to a reduced overall sharpness across the board. This applies to both the wide and ultrawide cameras.
Galaxy S25 Plus vs Galaxy S24 Plus camera samples
The same applies to videos as well. Significantly more natural and true-to-life with the Galaxy S25 Plus, but the Galaxy S24 Plus is slightly sharper still.
Galaxy S25 Plus Performance & Benchmarks
Exceptional performance
The Galaxy S25 Plus arrives with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the first 3nm chipset by Qualcomm available to Android manufacturers, making this. However, it's not the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite, but a slightly overclocked and tuned-up Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, which is similar to what Samsung and Qualcomm have done for the past few years.
Interestingly, unlike last year with the Galaxy S24 series, the Galaxy S25 series will feature this chip in all regions around the globe, which will deliver consistent performance and features.
One of the potential issues with 3nm chips is the excessive heat that's generated and could potentially lead to thermal throttling, which is undesirable. To combat this, Samsung has increased the size of the vapor chambers to help dissipate all the heat away; on the Galaxy S25 Plus, we get a 15% larger vapor chamber, while the top flagship gets a massive 40% size increase.
In terms of performance gains, Samsung cites a 37% increase in CPU performance in comparison with the previous Galaxy generations, as well as improved graphics-processing, namely 40% better ray-tracing and improved average FPS in games.
Our in-house benchmark tests confirm that: the Galaxy S25 Plus beats its rivals in all synthetic benchmark tests that we conducted except for the single-core Geekbench 6 one, where the iPhone 16 Pro is slightly ahead. Still, Samsung's latest phone totally beats the competition in the 3DMark Extreme stress test and the multicore Geekbench one, which is a major win for Samsung and Android as a whole.
What's even more intriguing here is that the latest iPhone 16 Pro now lags a bit behind Samsung's top flagship and wouldn't have a chance to trade a revelatory blow until September 2025, when we expect the iPhone 17 series to go official.
From our experience with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, it is a proper powerhouse, especially in terms of graphics processing. It's a great fit for the Galaxy S25 Plus, which will not only put it on par with the iPhone 16 lineup, but could even help it get comfortably ahead performance-wise.
Aside from the Snapdragon chipset, we also get a universal 12GB of RAM as native on the Galaxy S25 series in all regions, which is another key factor that will equalize the level of performance regardless of the market.
The Galaxy S25 Plus comes with either 256GB or 512GB, with no hardware options to expand this; if you need more, you will have to get the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which will be available with up to 1TB of storage.
Galaxy S25 Plus Software
One UI 7 screenshots
The Galaxy S25 Plus arrives with Android 15 and One UI 7 out of the box. The latest software update is already available in beta and comes with a solid visual refresh and some new features that boost the user experience. Read more about this in our One UI 7 review.
The One UI 7 beta did not deliver any new AI features, but Samsung announced some cool Galaxy AI features alongside the Galaxy S25 series.
The most intriguing one among these is the Gemini-powered Cross App Action functionality, which allows the on-device AI to access multiple apps and execute cross-app actions with a single natural-language query.
For example, you can ask your Galaxy to check your favorite sports team schedule and add each entry separately to your calendar so that you can get notified in advance. Sounds similar to what Apple's revamped Siri might be able to do soon. This feature reportedly has access to all the apps you have installed on your phone and is capable of tinkering with the settings of each so that you always achieve the desired effect.
Of course, Google's Gemini is fully on board, and so is an enhanced Circle to Search functionality. It now comes with what's called Action Chips, which are basically intelligent shortcuts to relevant features. For example, if you circle-to-search a phone number, Action Chips will allow you to quickly make a phone call; if you circle-to-search an address, you will be able to quickly navigate to it with Google Maps, and so on.
In terms of software support, Samsung will support the Galaxy S25 Plus for seven years, including both major software updates and security patches.
Audio and haptics
The audio quality that the Galaxy S25 Plus provides is great. The phone gets fairly loud, with little to no distortion even at higher volumes. At the same time, a fairly wide soundstage is delivered, with boomy bass and rich sound that's a joy to listen to. Sure, the Galaxy S25 Ultra might have some extra oomph, but this phone right here is certainly a decent one in terms of audio quality.
There are many sound-related features tucked away in a dedicated menu, allowing you to enable Dolby Atmos, tune a nine-band equalizer, a boost dialogue option, loudness normalization, adaptive sound, and others. That's more than the average flagship phone allows.
The same applies to the haptic feedback as well. Vibrations are strong and precise as is usually the case with Samsung flagships, delivering a very pleasing user experience. Of course, you can fine tune what features trigger those vibrations, as well as their strength.
Galaxy S25 Plus Battery
The same battery in a smaller body, so... a win? (Image by PhoneArena)
No changes on the Galaxy S25 Plus battery front: a 4,900mAh battery makes the rounds inside the phone once again, just as much as the Galaxy S24 Plus had in store. Not bad, considering it's just a smidgen smaller than the 5,000mAh battery inside the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but still, it would have been great if Samsung had adopted the lithium-silicon battery tech found on phones coming from China, like the OnePlus 13.
According to our in-house battery test, the Galaxy S25 Plus delivers great battery life, mostly on par with last year's Galaxy S24 Plus.
PhoneArena Battery Test Results:
In our browsing test, which aims to emulate a regular everyday browsing experience, the Galaxy S25 Plus achieves a bit over 19 hours, which is a great result, but last year's Galaxy S24 Plus achieved an hour and a half extra in this test. This is the only battery test in which the new phone fails to beat its predecessor.
In our video playback test, where we go through a video playlist with the screen set at 200 nits, it's the Galaxy S25 Plus that inches forward with a half-hour lead. Finally, in the dedicated 3D gaming test, the Galaxy S25 Plus achieves a significantly better result thanks to the more powerful and therefore efficient Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip.
So, the bottom line is that the Galaxy S25 Plus would be a better pick for those using their phones mostly for gaming and video streaming.
In our video playback test, where we go through a video playlist with the screen set at 200 nits, it's the Galaxy S25 Plus that inches forward with a half-hour lead. Finally, in the dedicated 3D gaming test, the Galaxy S25 Plus achieves a significantly better result thanks to the more powerful and therefore efficient Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip.
So, the bottom line is that the Galaxy S25 Plus would be a better pick for those using their phones mostly for gaming and video streaming.
The Galaxy S25 Plus boasts 45W wired and 15W wireless charging, which is consistent with what we got last year and similar in speed to the Galaxy S 25 Ultra. This is why it comes to no surprise that the Galaxy S25 Plus charges just as fast as the Galaxy S24 Plus with a wall adapter.
Should you buy it?
No reasons to upgrade (Image by PhoneArena)
There's no two ways about it––the Galaxy S25 Plus is the absolutely smallest inter-generational upgrade that Samsung could come up with. Aside from the hardware improvements that come of as natural, there's little here that's exciting and simply beckoning consumers to upgrade to this phone.
However, as a person who has used and reviewed all the Galaxy S Plus phone from recent years, this one is definitely the most refined out yet. Years of slow but persistent evolution here and there have culminated to a phone that's very unremarkable, but hardly has any major flaws at all. In fact, the biggest issues with the Galaxy S25 Plus are called the Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S23 Plus.
If you look past the close family resemblance, this one does a lot of things right. It has a decent and dependable camera, excellent performance, and great battery life. The new One UI 7 software is very fun to use and gave the phone a much-needed visual refresh. This makes it a polished and reliable phone that delivers in the most essential areas of a modern smartphone.
Priced at $999 (256GB) and $1,119 (512GB), it offers excellent value as a reliable alternative to competitors like the iPhone 16 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro. If you don't really see yourself using an S Pen or need the slightly more premium factor a Galaxy S25 Ultra comes with, then the Galaxy S25 Plus is the perfect choice for Samsung fans.
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