Samsung has finally unveiled its Galaxy S25 series during its Galaxy Unpacked event and it is exactly what we’ve been expecting based on the countless of leaks on the internet. The latest devices are mostly very minor incremental updates and Samsung continues to make Galaxy AI its key unique selling point for its 2025 lineup.
Here’s what you need to know about what’s new for both hardware and AI for the Galaxy S25 series.
Galaxy S25: Same same but different?
At a glance, the Galaxy S25 series looks like the least exciting release yet as it retains the familiar candy bar design since the Galaxy S23 series. The Galaxy S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra continue to get flat displays across the board with some tweaks to the camera bump design featuring thicker rings.
Among the three, the Galaxy S25 Ultra gets the most design change. Unlike the sharp boxy shape of the S24 Ultra, the corners of the Galaxy S25 Ultra are now rounded for greater comfort, while the display size has increased from 6.8” to 6.9”. According to Samsung, this is the thinnest Galaxy S Ultra yet and the bezels are slimmer by 15% Ultra.
The display panels itself are similar to last year’s models. The Galaxy S25 still features a 6.2″ Full HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display, while the Galaxy S25+ gets a 6.7″ Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x Display. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 6.9″ screen is still pushing Quad HD+ resolution on a Dynamic AMOLED 2x panel.
For greater screen durability, the Galaxy S25 Ultra gets Gorilla’s new Glass Armor 2 that boasts better durability and improved reflection reduction. Meanwhile, the rest of the S25 series are using Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
Snapdragon for all Galaxy S25
Under the hood, the entire Galaxy S25 series is running on the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. Yes, that includes the S25 and S25+, so there’s no Exynos processor here.
For better sustained performance for gaming and multitasking, Samsung has enlarged the vapour chamber for the entire lineup. It is now 40% larger for the Galaxy S25 Ultra and 15% larger for the S25 and S25+.
On top of that, all models now get 12GB of RAM (Galaxy S24 only had 8GB RAM) and storage options of 256GB and 512GB for all three models. Meanwhile, the 1TB storage option remains exclusive for the Ultra.
The camera arrays are all the same as last year’s S24 series except for the Ultra. The 12MP ultra-wide camera for the S25 Ultra has been upgraded to 50MP. Not only it offers higher resolution but it claims to provide greater details for macro shots. It still comes with a similar 200MP main camera and a 50MP telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom and a secondary 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom.
For the Galaxy S25 and S25+, both still get a 50MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide-angle shooter and a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. Selfie cameras remain unchanged with a 12MP shooter for all three models.
Despite using similar hardware, Samsung says it has improved its imaging capabilities further on the S25 series. With a newer next generation ProVisual engine, you can expect better Nightography with less noise and more details as the device now offers double analysis to remove noise.
It also boasts Prograde Video quality with 10bit HDR and there’s now a rather cool AI-powered audio eraser that can selectively remove or enhance, vocals, background music, wind noise, crowd and other distractions from your video recording.
For more advanced videographers, the Galaxy S25 series offers Log video recording. You can preview spot overexposed colours, record dynamic range and there are also exclusive LUTs for precise control for colour and light.
When it comes to battery and charging, there’s no major upgrades to report. The Ultra still maxes out at 5,000mAh and it supports up to 45W of fast wired charging. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 retain a 4,000mAh with 25W fast charging and the S25+ gets a 4,900mAh unit that supports 45W fast charging. In terms of wireless charging, Samsung has yet to provide extra details on the charging rate but we reckon it retains the same 15W “fast wireless charging” as before.
No bluetooth for Galaxy S25 Ultra’s S Pen
So far you’ve seen mostly incremental upgrades but there’s one downgrade for the S25 Ultra. And it’s the S Pen’s bluetooth connectivity which was first introduced on the Galaxy Note 9.
Six years ago, Samsung added Bluetooth Low Energy support for the S Pen. This allows you to use the stylus as a remote control for taking selfies, presentation and music playback.
For the Galaxy S25 Ultra, you no longer get this feature with the new built-in S Pen. However, if you have the optional S Pen Pro, the device still supports the Bluetooth-enabled features.
Improved Galaxy AI for better integration and personalised experience
Galaxy AI remains the key spotlight for this year’s flagship Galaxy devices. Samsung wants to push Galaxy AI further with One UI 7 to provide a more human like AI experience, greater integration and a more personalised AI experience. The Korean smartphone maker emphasised that its “first-of-its-kind customised” Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy delivers greater on-device processing for Galaxy AI.
This includes a new Now Brief, which aims to be a more proactive assistant to give you a rundown of notifications and things that matter to you at the moment. This includes the weather, summary of your sleep condition, suggest a routine for your drive or exercise, or a summary of photos you took for the day.
So you can have a brief when you wake up in the morning, during the mid day or in the evening. It works like a widget which is accessible on the lock screen as well as on the home screen.
There’s also a new and improved AI Select features which provides actionable suggestions which include the ability to create GIFs from a video playback. Circle to Search is also enhanced and you can now use it to search for music that’s playing on the device right now.
The Generative Edit has also been improved and portrait studio is said to offer more accurate tones. On top of that, Samsung claims to have improved the search experience so that it is more conversational.
When it comes to AI integration, Samsung is already better than Google Pixel as it integrates well beyond the native apps. Now they are expanding the integration with improved cross app actions. So you can use Gemini to find restaurants and share it to other 3rd party applications. Or you can take a picture with Gemini, search for recipes and then save to notes.
Security and Privacy remains the core of Samsung Galaxy and they boasts enhanced personal data engine stored in Knox Guard to keep your personal data safe before it goes to the cloud. Samsung says they are building a matrix chain to enhanced data security, ensuring privacy with post quantum encryption.
As usual, Samsung continues to offer 7 generations of Android OS upgrades and 7 years of security updates for greater long term support and peace of mind. In addition, all Galaxy S25 devices will come with 6 months of Gemini Advanced and 2TB of cloud storage at no extra cost.
If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it?
From what we’ve seen on the latest flagships, it looks like we have reached peak smartphone. Last year’s Galaxy S24 flagship was a refinement of the previous Galaxy S23 and the latest Galaxy S25 lineup seems to be mere facelift of the Galaxy S24 series.
While it is surprising that there’s very little hardware upgrades, Samsung is really betting all their chips on Galaxy AI to stand out from the competition. While Galaxy AI has been a solid contender with deeper integration, it would be interesting to see if Samsung’s latest AI is compelling enough to sway consumers to make the switch or upgrade from their existing device.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Pricing details in Malaysia
Compared to last year’s Galaxy S24 series pricing at the time of launch, the new Galaxy S25 and S25 Ultra have a lower starting price in Malaysia. Here’s the official pricing for the Galaxy S25 series from Samsung Malaysia:
- Galaxy S25 256GB – RM3,999
- Galaxy S25 512GB – RM4,599
- Galaxy S25+ 256GB – RM4,999
- Galaxy S25+ 512GB – RM5,599
- Galaxy S25 Ultra 256GB – RM5,999
- Galaxy S25 Ultra 512GB – RM6,599
- Galaxy S25 Ultra 1TB – RM6,599
The Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25+ comes in Navy Blue, Icyblue, Mint and Silver Shadow. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes in Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Gray, Titanium Whitesilver and Titanium Black.
Samsung Malaysia is also offering online exclusive colours such as Blueblack, Coralred and Pinkgold for the S25 and S25+, as well as Titanium Jadegreen, Titanium Pinkgold and Titanium Jetblack for the S25 Ultra.
From 23rd January to 13th February 2025, Galaxy S25 customers can enjoy offers up to RM1,600 during the pre-order period. Samsung is offering double storage upgrade worth up to RM600 for selected models and up to RM400 off when payment is made with a CIMB Bank card. Customers who have acquired their eVouchers worth up to RM600 can apply them as well before they checkout.
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