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Samsung’s Galaxy S25 series—the S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra—represents a thoughtful evolution in smartphone technology. It combines advanced AI integration, refined camera systems, and impressive performance capabilities. While it introduces meaningful upgrades, the series remains grounded in Samsung’s mission to deliver reliable, user-focused devices.

Designer: Samsung

Each model in the lineup has been designed with specific users in mind. The S25 caters to those who value compact and efficient devices, the S25+ strikes a balance with its larger display and battery, and the S25 Ultra targets tech enthusiasts with its cutting-edge features and premium build. After spending time with the lineup, it’s clear that Samsung is refining the formula to appeal to a wide spectrum of needs without straying from its established strengths.

Design and Durability

Samsung’s design refinement is on full display with the S25 series, showcasing slimmer edges, a lighter profile, and refined materials that make each device feel both premium and practical. “With the S25 Ultra, we’ve focused on a design that feels lighter and also improves grip and usability,” Charles Uptegrove, Samsung’s product manager, shared during the demo. “The titanium frame plays a huge role in achieving this balance—it’s lighter yet sturdier, giving users confidence in everyday handling.”

Galaxy S25 Ultra

The flatter edges enhance grip and lend a modern, streamlined aesthetic. Uptegrove also highlighted the subtle lift in the frame: “If you look closely, there’s a slight elevation around the edge, ensuring that the display never comes into direct contact with a surface when placed facedown. It’s a minor detail that offers major peace of mind.” This thoughtful addition minimizes the risk of scratches, especially for users who prefer to go caseless.

Galaxy S25 Ultra

The S25 and S25+ are equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both the front and back, providing excellent scratch resistance and durability. The S25 Ultra, on the other hand, steps up its toughness with enhanced Corning Gorilla Armor on the front and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the back. Adding to this, the Ultra incorporates a titanium frame, ensuring a premium yet rugged build.

Galaxy S25 Ultra

“The titanium not only reduces weight but also adds to the overall feel of durability,” Uptegrove explained. At 218 grams, the Ultra strikes a balance between a solid, premium feel and comfort in hand. “It’s slimmer, lighter, and more ergonomic, thanks to the redefined edges and materials. These adjustments make the Ultra easier to use for extended periods without any fatigue,” he added. At the same time, the smaller size doesn’t compromise its usability, with the S25 offering a compact design that weighs only 162 grams.

Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra

The combination of premium materials and subtle ergonomic improvements showcases Samsung’s attention to detail. “We wanted to create a device that feels effortless to handle while still exuding that premium Samsung quality,” Uptegrove emphasized. For users seeking a balance between aesthetics and functionality, these design updates are sure to resonate.

Display and Visual Excellence

The display is where Samsung continues to shine. The Galaxy S25’s 6.2-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen offers vivid colors, excellent brightness levels, and a fluid 120Hz refresh rate, making it perfect for users who value smooth scrolling and lifelike visuals. The S25+ steps up with a larger 6.7-inch QHD+ display that enhances sharpness and delivers deeper contrast, ideal for watching movies or editing photos. Meanwhile, the S25 Ultra’s expansive 6.9-inch QHD+ screen offers an immersive viewing experience that is unrivaled in clarity and detail, ensuring even the smallest on-screen elements remain crisp.

During hands-on time, I found the Ultra’s ProScaler feature particularly transformative. Borrowed from Samsung’s premium TV lineup, ProScaler intelligently upscales lower-quality content to QHD+ resolution in real-time. Even older videos or low-resolution social media images gain impressive sharpness, providing a visually satisfying experience regardless of the source content. Charles Uptegrove highlighted the real-world value of this feature: “Even if the original content is far from 4K, it will look vibrant and crisp on the Ultra’s QHD+ display.” This capability bridges the gap between source quality and display potential, enhancing every viewing experience.

AI Features and Innovations

Samsung’s integration of artificial intelligence across the Galaxy S25 series enhances everyday functionality to unprecedented levels. During the hands-on demo, Charles Uptegrove emphasized the thoughtfulness behind the Galaxy AI Platform and its seamless integration into One UI 7. “We’ve spent years ensuring that these features not only feel intuitive but actually make life easier for users,” he noted, setting the tone for a deep dive into the device’s AI capabilities.

Samsung Galaxy AI Agent Now Brief

Central to this is NowBrief, described by Uptegrove as a ‘curated AI’ that learns and adapts to the user’s daily routines. “It’s like having a personal assistant that knows exactly what you need,” he explained. For instance, NowBrief consolidates data from various apps to create a personalized dashboard. “You might wake up and see the weather, your energy score from your Galaxy Watch, reminders of friends’ birthdays, and even playlists for your commute—all in one place,” Uptegrove added. Demonstrating the drawing assist feature, he showcased how AI generates creative designs, such as a birthday card complete with a chocolate cake image, which can then be sent directly to contacts.

Another highlight is AI Select, which transforms traditional Smart Select into a smarter, context-aware tool. “If you’re watching a video, it might suggest creating a GIF, summarizing the content, or translating subtitles,” Uptegrove explained. This feature consolidates over 30 tools, making complex tasks remarkably simple and accessible.

The Circle of Search feature introduces multimodal search capabilities, allowing users to identify songs in videos or find specific photos using natural language commands. “Say something like, ‘Find pictures of wine bottles in Suwon,’ and the AI will filter through your gallery using tags and location data,” he demonstrated, illustrating the precision of this feature. Uptegrove emphasized how this functionality simplifies navigating vast photo libraries, making it easier for users to locate exactly what they need.

Personalization is another area where AI shines. Uptegrove detailed how the Personal Data Engine securely learns user habits, suggesting actions like automating thermostat settings or enabling the blue light filter at night. “For example, if you use your TV as a sleep aid, the device can detect when you’ve fallen asleep via your Galaxy Watch and turn off the TV to improve your sleep quality,” he explained. This level of personalization extends to managing health metrics, such as sleep scores and energy levels, and integrating them into daily routines.

One of the most innovative features is the audio eraser, which isolates and removes specific background sounds from videos. During the demo, Uptegrove showcased how AI can identify up to six sound types, including wind, crowd noise, and voice. “You can completely remove the wind or adjust the voice volume—all in real time,” he shared, underscoring the feature’s utility for content creators and everyday users alike.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra also features generative editing, allowing users to seamlessly remove unwanted objects from photos. “If there’s someone in the background of your shot, the AI can identify and erase them, along with their shadow, with a single tap,” Uptegrove explained. These enhancements cater to photographers and casual users who want professional-grade results with minimal effort.

Camera Systems and Photography

Samsung’s camera systems in the S25 series deliver major enhancements across all three devices. The Galaxy S25 and S25+ share a solid camera setup: a 50MP wide sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS), a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 10MP telephoto lens offering 3x optical zoom. These cameras are perfect for everyday photography, delivering impressive results whether you’re shooting landscapes, portraits, or close-ups.

Galaxy S25 Camera System: 200MP Ultra-Wide, 50MP Wide, 10MP and 50PM Telephoto

The Galaxy S25 Ultra takes mobile photography to another level with a 200MP wide sensor that captures stunning levels of detail, even in challenging conditions. This is complemented by a 50MP 5x telephoto lens, which supports both 3x and 5x optical zoom, enabling users to achieve up to 100x Space Zoom. Imagine capturing intricate architectural details or wildlife from a distance with remarkable clarity. Additionally, the Ultra includes high-resolution macro photography capabilities, making it perfect for close-ups of small objects like flowers or jewelry.

The Ultra’s virtual aperture stands out as a transformative feature. Charles Uptegrove aptly described it as “painting focus,” highlighting how it lets users fine-tune the depth of field to accentuate either the subject or the background for a professional-grade touch. This flexibility provides a DSLR-like bokeh effect, allowing photographers to craft their images with precision and creativity. This software-based tool allows users to adjust the depth of field and background blur for photos, mimicking the effects of a physical aperture in a DSLR. For example, while shooting portraits, the virtual aperture enables precise control over the bokeh effect, allowing the subject to stand out against a beautifully blurred background. During the demo, Charles Uptegrove explained, “It’s like giving users the ability to paint their focus—whether they want sharp details in the background or a dreamy, isolated subject.” This feature enhances creative flexibility and makes portrait mode feel more like a professional-grade camera.

AI advancements like Samsung’s Pro Visual Engine further refine photography. The Ultra’s cognitive lens technology adjusts settings based on the scene, ensuring optimal brightness, contrast, and color balance. For group photos, the cognitive lens identifies individual faces and applies adjustments for each subject, delivering professional-quality results. In low-light conditions, the Ultra’s double-analysis noise reduction ensures clearer images and videos by analyzing every pixel and correcting artifacts in real time. Video capabilities also differ: the S25 and S25+ record in 4K at 60fps and 8K at 30fps, while the Ultra supports 4K recording at 120fps for smoother, more cinematic results.

For professional photographers, the Ultra offers log video and advanced exposure controls, including zebra patterns and false color modes. These features cater to users who want precise post-production capabilities, enabling them to fine-tune color and lighting. Combined with the virtual aperture, these tools empower users to push creative boundaries, whether capturing stills or video.

Performance

Under the hood, all three models are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which Charles Uptegrove described as a “tailored processor that ensures unparalleled efficiency and responsiveness.” This 3nm chipset boosts performance and optimizes AI-driven tasks like NowBrief and AI Select, seamlessly integrating advanced capabilities into daily use. a 3nm processor that sets a new benchmark for efficiency and power. With a 40% improvement in AI task efficiency, the chipset ensures that resource-heavy operations like multitasking, gaming, and media editing run smoothly. For gaming enthusiasts, Samsung has partnered with the Vulkan Engine to enhance real-time ray tracing capabilities, achieving an 18% improvement in frame rates while reducing GPU and CPU workloads by 23% and 10%, respectively.

To support this leap in performance, Samsung has implemented a significantly upgraded cooling system. The vapor chamber, now 40% larger than its predecessor, works in tandem with a new thermal interface material (TIM) that eliminates air gaps around the chipset. This design efficiently dissipates heat, maintaining peak performance during intensive tasks such as gaming or 4K video rendering.

Samsung’s ProScaler, borrowed from its premium TV lineup, further enhances the viewing experience by intelligently upscaling standard-definition content to QHD+ resolution in real time. Even older videos or low-resolution social media images gain impressive sharpness, providing a visually satisfying experience regardless of the source content. Charles Uptegrove highlighted the real-world value of this feature: “Even if the original content is far from 4K, it will look vibrant and crisp on the Ultra’s QHD+ display.” This capability bridges the gap between source quality and display potential, enhancing every viewing experience.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series delivers a compelling blend of innovative AI capabilities, enhanced camera systems, and premium design refinements. With features like NowBrief, ProScaler, and advanced photography tools, these devices set a new benchmark for what smartphones can achieve in 2025. Each model is thoughtfully crafted to meet the diverse needs of users, whether they prioritize compact functionality, immersive displays, or cutting-edge performance.

Stay tuned for our upcoming unboxing experience and in-depth review, where we’ll dive deeper into the everyday usability, real-world performance, and unique details that make the Galaxy S25 series stand out.

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