If you want to be impressed by the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus, you’ve got to take the phrase “It’s what’s on the inside that counts” to heart.
That’s not to say Samsung’s new Galaxy phones don’t leave an impression — I immediately fell in love with the range of color options and appreciate the sleek look and feel of the devices. But it does mean the biggest flexes come in the form of AI enhancements. That includes everything from AI-powered agents to new navigation tools to camera improvements.
That’s no surprise, given how AI stole the spotlight in Samsung’s Unpacked invite. Ahead of the Wednesday keynote, the company heavily teased updates to Galaxy AI and mentioned the new Galaxy series, too — namely, how it ties in with AI, of course.
Appearance-wise, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus borrow heavily from their predecessors (a common theme across phones these days), with smooth rounded edges and three stacked camera lenses on the back. They come in Navy, Icyblue, Mint and Silver Shadow, as well as the online-exclusive colors Blueblack, Coralred and Pinkgold. (Why have one color when you could have two?) The phones are both outfitted with Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and feature aluminum frames.
The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus arrive with a slew of expected features like an IP68 rating, a trio of rear cameras, Android 15 and Samsung’s One UI 7. And like the Pixel 9 series, you’ll get seven years of OS and security updates, helping you get the most bang for your buck. But ultimately, it’s the new AI features, powered by a custom-built Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, that Samsung hopes will make its latest series stand out from competitors.
Watch this: Samsung Galaxy S25 First Look: AI Everywhere
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How much do the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus cost?
Let’s start with the big question: Will you have to pay more for this year’s Galaxy devices? Thankfully, the answer is no.
The Galaxy S25 starts at $800, while the S25 Plus starts at $1,000. If you want to go with the most premium option, the S25 Ultra rings in at $1,300. All three devices are priced the same as last year’s models.
CNET has collected all of the best preorder deals for the Samsung Galaxy S25 that you can take advantage of right now.
The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus come in Navy, Icyblue, Mint and Silver Shadow.
When is the Galaxy S25 available?
The Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra are available for preorder immediately and will be launching on Feb. 7. You can preorder the new phones through Samsung’s website, Amazon, Best Buy and carriers.
What’s new with Galaxy AI?
While the phrase “artificial intelligence” has been tossed around incessantly over the last few years, Samsung emphasized at an early press event on Tuesday that the Galaxy S25 lineup is “purpose-built” with Galaxy AI in mind.
What does that mean? It means you can use more natural, conversational language when searching for an image in your Gallery. It means you can long-press the side power button and ask when the next Warriors game is, have it added to your calendar and text your friends about it, all with one voice command. It means your phone will pick up on your habits and show you the weather, remind you of today’s meetings and share news articles you may be interested in when you wake up, all without asking, via the Now Brief widget.
The S25 lineup also introduces a tool called AI Select, which you can access via a panel on the edge of your screen. AI Select will detect what’s being shown and then make suggestions, like turning part of a YouTube video into a GIF or summarizing text on a webpage. Circle to Search is also better at recognizing objects on your screen and surfacing relevant information and links. It can now also be used to look up sounds, like that song playing on your Instagram feed or a tune you hum or sing. (I can confirm it accurately detected my hummed rendition of Taylor Swift‘s Love Story.)
These new Galaxy AI features will be available on the S25 lineup at launch and will eventually expand to older models, Samsung says.
What about camera improvements?
Both the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus feature a 50-megapixel wide camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 10-megapixel 3x telephoto camera. They can both shoot 4K video at 60 frames per second, or 8K video at 30 frames per second.
For the biggest camera upgrade, you’ll have to look to the S25 Ultra, which gets a new 50-megapixel ultrawide camera. While the lenses on the S25 and S25 Plus remain the same as last year’s models, it’s again AI that levels things up, according to Samsung.
Nighttime videos, for instance, get a boost with the help of a new removal tool that examines individual pixels to detect any noise. It then uses AI to correct those issues and serve up clearer, more true-to-life footage, according to Samsung. The company also says the latest phones do a better job of distinguishing between moving and static objects to maximize and enhance color, contrast and movement, so you don’t get a blurry person walking through a video. This is all done in real time, on device. I look forward to testing these features out for myself during a more in-depth review.
Me and my Portrait Studio twin.
Generative Edit, which lets you move, resize or remove objects as well as alter backgrounds, gets faster and more accurate, and can recognize shadows attached to objects you’re removing for a cleaner final image. Portrait Studio, which creates a range of stylized portraits, also gets more accurate and adds detail to those final images. My own demo with this impressively captured the color and flow of my hijab in the 3D cartoon rendition of Portrait Studio, and is what I imagine I’d look like as a Pixar character.
Ultimately, AI fine-tunes what the S25 and S25 Plus’s cameras capture and gives photo generation and editing a boost.
Do the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus support Qi2 wireless charging?
The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus support 15W-watt wireless charging, which is the same as what you’ll get with Qi2. You can use Samsung’s own case with the Qi2 magnetic profile or a compatible third-party case to take advantage of those wireless capabilities.
What separates the Galaxy S25 from the S25 Plus?
The short answer: not much.
A more detailed answer: The S25 Plus is, not surprisingly, bigger than the baseline model, with a 6.7-inch QHD Plus Dynamic AMOLED display, versus the baseline’s 6.2-inch FHD Plus Dynamic AMOLED display. They both feature a 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate. This makes the S25 Plus clock in at 190g, versus the baseline’s 162g – but they both feel nice and relatively lightweight in hand.
More room means higher battery capacity, with the S25 Plus packing a 4,900-mAh battery, versus the baseline’s 4,000-mAh battery. We’ll have to see through more hands-on experience and testing how those batteries stack up.
The parallels between the S25 and S25 Plus can place the latter in an awkward position; although it’s a larger device, it’s still not as advanced as the more premium (and expensive) S25 Ultra. But it’ll still cost you $200 more than the baseline model. Whether that’s worth it ultimately comes down to personal preference, but based on my initial impressions, it appears you won’t be sacrificing much in terms of performance by pocketing that money and sticking with the baseline model. But that, again, is something we’ll explore more with further testing.
