Samsung Galaxy S25 & S25 Plus Review: More AI, More Power, Same Price

Whenever Unpacked comes around in January, Samsung spends a load of time talking about the “Ultra” model, and very little time talking about the base and plus models, individually. Why? Well, a big part of that is, the specs haven’t changed much since the Galaxy S22. Yet there’s very little complaints going around about that, as everyone is focused on the Galaxy S25 Ultra being the “same” as last year. Samsung hasn’t changed the cameras on the base and plus models since they were upgraded on Galaxy S22, which was back in 2022.

Now that’s not the whole story here, as we have seen some incremental changes over the years, for instance the Galaxy S22 had a 6.1-inch display and now the Galaxy S25 has a 6.2-inch display. That’s largely down to the slimmer bezels. There’s also more RAM across the board, and the Plus model has gotten its QHD+ resolution back, as well as 45W charging.

In a feature I wrote and published last week, I stated that the Galaxy S25 Ultra would not be the Galaxy S25 model I would recommend. Does that still hold true after using the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus for almost two weeks? Let’s find out in our full review.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Review: Design and Build Quality

I absolutely love the design of the Galaxy S25 (Plus). Not only does it look great, but it also feels great in the hand. One of the bigger reasons why I prefer the Galaxy S25 over the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes down to the design. The Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus are both more rounded, particularly in the corners, versus the Ultra model. Making it much more comfortable in the hand. The Galaxy S25 Plus is also a bit smaller, making it easier to hold onto.

Similar to the Galaxy S24, the Galaxy S25 does still have the flat sides, which does make it look like the iPhone, but so what. The edges are rounded off slightly, so they aren’t as sharp and aren’t digging into your hand. Buttons and ports are where they always are. Power and volume are on the right side, with the volume above the power rocker, unlike how Google does it. The bottom of the phone has the USB-C port, SIM card slot and the speaker. There is a whole between the SIM card slot and the USB-C port, please do not put your SIM ejector tool in there, as that is the microphone.

On the left side, you’ll see what looks like a Camera Control button, like what the iPhone has. But this is actually the 5G mmWave antenna. And it’s only on the US version of the Galaxy S25, it’s on all three models too.

The frame now uses Armor Aluminum 2, which is stronger than before, but not quite as strong as the titanium frame on Galaxy S25 Ultra. It also has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. Unfortunately, Gorilla Armor 2 is still exclusive to the “Ultra” model, and hasn’t trickled down to the base and plus models just yet. Having said that, I’ve been using this phone for a couple of weeks with no screen protector, and haven’t picked up any micro abrasions yet or micro scratches. So that’s a good thing.

The build quality is exactly what you’d expect from Samsung. It’s top-notch and worthy of a flagship smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Review: Display

On the Galaxy S25, we’re looking at a 6.2-inch FHD+ display that can adaptively refresh at up to 120Hz, thanks to LTPO. It also has a peak brightness rating of 2,600 nits. This is actually pretty much unmatched in this price range. The only other phone with a display similar to this, would be the Google Pixel 9. Which is 6.3-inches, has adaptive refresh of up to 120Hz, and also has 2,700 nits of peak brightness.

However, this is a Samsung made, and calibrated display. So despite this being a FHD+ display, it still looks incredible. The colors absolutely pop on this panel, and it’s a joy to watch content on the Galaxy S25. Adaptive Brightness also works quite well, getting very, very dim, and also getting pretty bright. Taking this phone outdoors under direct sunlight, you’ll have no issues with seeing the display. And that’s without putting it at max brightness.

Now as for our testing, we were able to get it to read 1,700 nits of brightness. Which is right around where the HBM number is. Peak brightness you will likely never hit, unless you’re in a lab, with perfect conditions. However, HBM or High Brightness Mode, is a much more realistic number to reach.

On the bright side, pun intended, this is a slight increase over the Galaxy S24’s display, which only reached around 1,400 nits in the same test. So it is a brighter panel, that also covers more of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and has a better Delta-E color accuracy.

Basically, this is the best display you’ll find on a $799 smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Review: Performance

Inside the Samsung Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus is the same Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy that is inside the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It also has the same amount of RAM across the board, at 12GB. That’s a win for those that want top-notch performance, but in a smaller screen size. The only difference internally, other than size, is the vapor chamber in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It’s a pretty large one, and it does make a difference in benchmarks and with thermal tests that we’ve conducted across the three models.

However, in day-to-day usage, you won’t notice a single slowdown on the Galaxy S25 series. Part of this is due to the fact that this is a 4.47GHz processor, and the other part is One UI 7. Which is a much smoother version of One UI with faster animations, which makes it feel even faster. During my usage, I haven’t once been annoyed by anything loading up slower than it should be. And that’s rather impressive.

Samsung does have its ultrasonic fingerprint sensor under the display, which is still incredibly fast. It’s one of the faster, and more accurate under-display fingerprint sensors out there today. There’s also facial recognition available, however, it is not available to use with apps for authentication, so it’s only for unlocking your phone. Only the Google Pixel has that ability right now.

Samsung has added support for Qi2 wireless charging on the Galaxy S25 series, but it is a bit complicated. You see, the Galaxy S25 does not have magnets built into the phone. Instead, to get Qi2, you need to use a case that has magnets. And because of that, I have not used Qi2 much with the Galaxy S25 or the S25 Plus. However, on the bright side, if you do want to be able to use MagSafe and Qi2 on the Galaxy S25, it is an option. Providing you buy the correct case for the Galaxy S25.

Benchmarks

Now, let’s talk benchmarks. We will be comparing all three Galaxy S25 models here, as well as the Galaxy S24 Ultra, to see the improvements year-over-year. As we do with every review that we do, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus were put through three different benchmarks. This includes Geekbench 6, 3D Mark’s Wildlife Extreme Stress Test, and a video export test in Capcut.

Starting off with Geekbench, all three Galaxy S25 models scored very similarly. The differences likely come down to the environment they were in. The Galaxy S25 scored a 3044 in single-core, 9365 in multi-core and 18,978 in the GPU test. While the Galaxy S25 Plus scored 3116, 9,865 and 18,685 respectively. Interestingly, the Galaxy S25 outscored the Galaxy S25 Plus in the GPU test, though it is a very small margin.

When compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra from last year, which had a 2,176 single-core score, 6,567 multi-core score, and a 11,414 GPU score. That’s quite the improvement, and roughly 40% better, which is what Samsung and Qualcomm both are quoting here.

Moving onto 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test. This is a gaming benchmark that is aimed at pushing your device to its absolute limits, really stressing the processor, battery and the thermals inside. It runs the same 60-second loop 20 times, and then gives us the best loop score, followed by the lowest loop score, and from all 20 scores, it is able to give us a stability percentage. This helps us determine if it is throttling the CPU, or if it is preferring better performance at the cost of heat.

The Galaxy S25 had a score of 5,898 in its Best Loop, and 3,105 in its lowest loop, giving it a stability of 52.6%. The Galaxy S25 Plus had a much higher score with lower stability actually. Best loop of 6,803, lowest loop of 3,448 and stability of 50.7% for the Galaxy S25 Plus. The Galaxy S25 Ultra had similar scores, with an even lower stability of 47.7%. This tells us that Samsung is not really throttling the CPU at all, and is letting it run as hot as it needs to. Which we’ll learn more about that in the thermals section.

Finally, our video export test. We do this benchmark, because many people are editing short videos on their phones to upload to YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, at least until it gets banned. So what we do here, is we import the same 60-second video into Capcut, we make zero edits, and export it at 4K30 (not all phones are able to export at 4K60 for some reason, with Capcut), and then we time how long it takes to export.

The Galaxy S25 series had all very similar times, all under six seconds. With the Galaxy S25 Ultra having the fastest time at 5.56 seconds. That is actually one of the fastest times we’ve recorded. Only the iPhone 16 Pro and a few gaming phones have done it faster. The Galaxy S25 is actually about 36% faster than the Galaxy S24 Ultra was last year. Again, following Samsung and Qualcomm’s claims of the Snapdragon 8 Elite being around 40% faster.

Thermals

Now let’s talk thermals. Since we do have all three Galaxy S25 devices, we are able to see how much of an advantage the vapor chamber in the Ultra really has. It actually really only made a noticeable difference in one of three thermal tests we conduct.

The first test that we run is with 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test. After the benchmark is finished, we measure the temperature and write it down. The Galaxy S25 had a temp of 109.5, surprisingly the Galaxy S25 Plus had the same exact temp of 109.5 despite the larger footprint to dissipate the heat. The Galaxy S25 Ultra had a temp of 104.1 degrees Fahrenheit. Showing you that the vapor chamber did make a difference, of about five degrees. That is actually one of the lowest temps we’ve recorded on a flagship, so quite impressive.

The next test we do is, playing Genshin Impact for an hour at max brightness and at max graphics settings. Now yes, Genshin Impact is not as intensive as it used to be, it’s actually very well optimized for mobile. But it is still a good gauge of how well the Galaxy S25 performs in longer gaming sessions. The Galaxy S25 had a temp of 95.7, Galaxy S25 Plus at 95.6 and the Galaxy S25 Ultra was 95.1. So as you can see here, that vapor chamber made a difference, but it was barely half of a degree – and that’s Fahrenheit too.

Finally, we do a camera test. We record in 4K60 for 10 minutes, taking temperature readings at 5 minutes and at the end of the 10 minutes. These temperature readings are super similar actually. The Galaxy S25 has temps of 94.1 and 98.7. The Galaxy S25 Plus at 94.4 and 98.7. And the Galaxy S25 Ultra at 94.4 and 97.8. So does that vapor chamber make a difference? Of course it does, but it’s not as big of a difference as you might think.

Surprisingly, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is both faster and more efficient in the Galaxy S25 versus the OnePlus 13. It’s honestly very impressive.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Review: Battery life and Charging

Now, let’s talk about the most important part of the Galaxy S25, and that’s the battery life. I have to say, going into the Galaxy S25 review period, I was a bit worried about the battery life on the smaller Galaxy S25. It’s the one I really wanted to use the most, since I do really like having a smaller phone, but with just a 4,000mAh capacity battery, I was worried it wouldn’t last a full day. Boy was I wrong. I actually found in my own usage, that the battery life between the three phones is extremely similar. I was able to hit 10 hours of on screen time over 28-30 hours on all three models, with similar usage. So needless to say, it gets me through the day.

Typically, I end the day with around 30-40% charge, depending on the day. Obviously, on the weekend, I spend more time on my phone versus during the week, since I’m on my laptop during most of the week. I’d say even for heavy users these phones should get you through a full day and then some, without much issue.

Now, it is important to note that battery life isn’t one size fits all. There are a ton of variables at play here, like WiFi and mobile data connections and signal strength, as well as your settings, the apps you use, etc. So still take this with a grain of salt.

Charging is, not bad. It’s a lot slower on the Galaxy S25 than the Galaxy S25 Plus, though this comes down to the Galaxy S25 only supporting 25W while the Galaxy S25 Plus does 45W. All three Galaxy S25 models do only support 15W wireless charging, however. If I’m being honest, this really doesn’t both me, since I’m charging at night. As long as it’s fully charged by the time I wake up, I couldn’t care less how long it takes.

Benchmarks

We also benchmark the battery and charging on every phone that we review, and the times for both the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus are similar to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, surprisingly.

For battery life, we fully charge the phone to 100%, then letting it charge for another half hour, to ensure it is actually fully charged (some phones hit 100% before they are actually fully charged). Then we unplug, load up a video on YouTube that is about 24 hours long, and play it nonstop until the phone dies. We set the brightness to about 1,000 nits. We used to set it to max brightness but now that phones have such differences in max brightness, setting them all to the same brightness is a better way to test it.

Galaxy S25 scored a time of 19 hours and 45 minutes in this test, with the Galaxy S25 Plus scoring 20 hours and 12 minutes. Those aren’t too shabby, whereas the Galaxy S25 Ultra did have a time of 22 hours and 3 minutes. We typically say anything over 18 hours is good battery life, and anything over 24 hours is incredible battery life. Very few phones have been able to outlast the video that we play, which shows you just how good the battery life is on those that do surpass 24 hours.

After the battery test is finished, we then start charging the device, and timing it. If there’s a charger in the box, we use that. Otherwise, we use a charger that can output the max supported charging speed on the device, and verifying the speed. For the Galaxy S25, it charged to full in 1 hour and 16 minutes, the Galaxy S25 Plus took 1 hour and 8 minutes. That’s actually not too bad, considering the Galaxy S25 caps at 25W, though it does have a much smaller battery. The Galaxy S25 Ultra did just under an hour at 59 minutes and 57 seconds.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Review: Software

The Galaxy S25 launches with Android 15 and One UI 7, which is the latest and greatest version of both Android and One UI. Samsung is also promising to support the Galaxy S25 series for 7 years. This means that the Galaxy S25 will get Android 22, which is incredible. It puts the Galaxy S25 up there with the Galaxy S24, Pixel 8, and Pixel 9 series as the only phones with 7 years of updates guaranteed.

Lately, most of what’s new with software is AI. And that’s no different with One UI 7. Sure there’s a nice face lift on the software, including loads of new and faster animations, and the Now Bar (and Now Brief). But the big change are AI. The Now Bar and Now Brief are part of that. The Now Brief is a pretty cool briefing that you can open up throughout the day, and it’ll give you different information like the weather, top stories, and if you have Samsung Health connected, you can see your steps, sleep, and much more. It can be very useful, however, if you are not deep into Samsung’s ecosystem, it won’t make a huge difference.

Samsung’s AI Agent lives in the power button now, which will essentially use Gemini and Bixby to create an epic AI experience. So now when you long-press the home button, the new Gemini UI will pop up. After you give it a command, it will decide which AI assistant to use – it will mostly be Gemini. With this new AI Agent, you can also give it multi-step commands. For instance, ask Gemini when the next Pistons game is, add it to your calendar, and send the info to someone in your contacts via text. It actually works really well, even for research. Another example I’ve tried is asking Gemini to search YouTube videos on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and summarize them in Samsung Notes. With that example in particular you’re getting some very surface-level points from the videos, but where a lot of the reviews are going to be similar, it’s pretty easy for Gemini to do.

Natural Language search is another feature in the Galaxy S25 that I actually really like. Samsung admits that they have a ton of Settings on their phones because they like to give their users as many features as possible. This makes it hard to find things, and sometimes users don’t even know what they’re looking for. So with Natural Language Search, you can type in something like “my eyes hurt” in the settings search bar, and it’ll recommend turning on the Blue light filter. This also works in the gallery, so it can be much easier to find the specific photo that you want.

Overall, One UI 7 is a very nice update for the Galaxy S25. It provides a much-needed facelift to its software on Galaxy devices, and we can’t wait to see it roll out to older Samsung devices, like the Galaxy S24. Which should happen as soon as this week.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Review: Camera

As mentioned earlier in this review, the cameras on the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus are largely the same as the Galaxy S22. There are a few changes, like larger sensors, a wider field of view, and better aperture. But we are still looking at a 50-megapixel primary lens, a 10-megapixel 3x telephoto, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide with a 120-degree field of view. This is a very capable camera setup, though it is lacking behind the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which is expected.

Honestly, while reviewing these two phones, I didn’t have any issues with the camera. In fact, it does something that the Galaxy S25 Ultra can’t do, and that’s providing a consistent experience. With the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the cameras are fairly inconsistent. They might deliver an oversaturated image, or not. They might be out of focus, or not. The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus are both much more consistent. Still a tad on the oversaturated and oversharpened side, but for the most part, it’s perfectly fine.

Of course, this camera setup isn’t going to hold a candle to some of the competitors coming out of China like the Vivo X200 Pro, OPPO Find X8 Pro, or even the OnePlus 13 (which is available in the US, priced right between these two phones). And that’s fine. These phones are more for the soccer moms out there, or the grandparents, that just want to take the occasional photo to share with friends and family. And the Galaxy S25 is perfectly fine for that.

You can check out a slew of images I’ve taken with the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus in the gallery below.

A lot of the AI features from the Galaxy S25 Ultra are also available on the Galaxy S25. Including Generative Edit. I recently did a test between the Galaxy S25, iPhone 16 Pro and the OnePlus 13 to remove the same object from the same photo, and the Galaxy S25 performed really well. I’d say it was almost perfect. While the other two were abysmal. Audio Eraser, and Sketch to Image are also available.

Should you buy Samsung Galaxy S25?

The Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus both sit in a pretty peculiar spot. For the Galaxy S25, it’s competing with the likes of the Pixel 9 and OnePlus 13 (even though it starts at $100 more). Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 Plus is essentially competing with another Samsung phone – the Galaxy S25 Ultra – along with other flagships. Making it the red-headed step-child of the Galaxy S25 family, which I know a bit about.

Nevertheless, I really like both of these phones. I do believe that these are both more comfortable to hold than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. And to be honest, you’re not missing a whole lot by going with the Galaxy S25 or S25 Plus over the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The biggest change is going to be that 200-megapixel primary shooter, the additional telephoto, and the S Pen. If those don’t both you, then I’d definitely recommend choosing either of these phones as your new smartphone.

You should buy Samsung Galaxy S25 if:

• You want a smaller phone.
• You want a more comfortable phone.
• You want to save some cash, without missing any features.

You should not buy Samsung Galaxy S25 if:

• You want the very best smartphone experience Samsung has to offer.
• You want or need the S Pen functionality.