Samsung's first Unpacked event of 2025 delivered the Galaxy S25 series, as expected. Although the phones don't have dramatically improved specs, the company went all out with, you guessed it! – more ai on devices. This latest batch is more context-sensitive and predictive, and some of them even take more advantage of the phones' slightly updated hardware.
Galaxy S25 Ultra
The Galaxy S25 Ultra remains the biggest, best and most expensive of the bunch. It has a 6.9-inch screen and a more rounded edge for a “comfortable grip.” Samsung says it's the “thinnest, lightest and most durable Galaxy Ultra device ever created,” featuring a titanium body with Corning's Gorilla Armor 2 for “advanced drop protection” and scratch resistance.
Unlike the two smaller models, the Ultra's camera sensors got a specs upgrade: its ultra-wide lens is now 50MP, up from just 12MP on last year's model.
Like its siblings, the S25 Ultra is powered by a custom version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, allowing the trio of phones to process many of their ai experiences on the device. Of course, that's better for privacy.
Although the phone continues the tradition of including an S Pen (it's now essentially the Galaxy Note), Air Commands has bitten the dust. Samsung told Engadget in a briefing that less than one percent of customers with S Pens used them. And those who made it used them primarily as a camera shutter, which can be easily replicated in other ways. Samsung says the removal allowed it to lose some weight and increase the durability of the S Pen.
Engadget's Sam Rutherford had a first hands-on experience with the Galaxy S25 Ultra and said it “looks like a good phone” and described Samsung's ai suite as “much more cohesive and easier to access.” However, he also had some reservations. “But at the same time, it looks like the world's biggest phone maker could be doing more for its most expensive non-foldable phone.”
The Galaxy S25 Ultra has 12GB of RAM and ships in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage tiers. However, it's still a great investment: starting at $1,300.
Galaxy S25 and S25+
The Galaxy S25 and S25+ saw their RAM upgraded to 12GB (same as the Ultra), up from 8GB on their 2024 predecessors. It's paired with the Snapdragon 8 Elite to better handle the phones' numerous ai features. (More in a minute).
The rest of its hardware is remarkably similar to the S24 and S24+. They still have 6.2-inch and 6.7-inch screens, respectively. But Samsung's new ProScaler ai tool can enhance images in real time to perhaps make up for the unchanged specs. Samsung says it can improve the quality of what you see by 40 percent.
Engadget's Mat Smith tested the Galaxy S25 and S25+ and praised the phones' “premium, solidly built” slim designs and “vivid, bright, beautiful” displays. However, he was skeptical about the phones' ai-centric approach. “In just a few years, Samsung has amassed a substantial collection of ai tricks, features and apps,” he wrote. “While some of them have been impressive, such as live translation and annotations, others (often involving generative ai) really aren't useful enough, or notable enough, to justify regular use.”
Storage is also unchanged from the S24 series: 128GB or 256GB on the Galaxy S25 and 256GB or 512GB on the Galaxy S25+. Fortunately, the price has not changed either. You'll pay $800 and up for the S25 and $1,000 and up for the S25+.
<h2 class="caas-jump-link-heading" id="galaxy-ai“>Galaxy ai
Since most hardware upgrades (aside from the Snapdragon chip) are soft in this generation, Samsung is leaning heavily on ai features to make you want to spend your hard-earned money on the new models. This year, Samsung's One UI 7 on top of Android 15 combines to create what Samsung calls “a new ai-powered operating system.” Their goal is more personalized and context-sensitive ai, rather than just a set of one-off tools.
ai plays a central role in the phones' camera features, and the Qualcomm chip makes the phones better analyze noise, leading to what Samsung says is better low-light performance. Audio Eraser is an artificial intelligence tool that separates audio channels, allowing you to eliminate unwanted ones, like wind or a random stranger's conversation.
Samsung brings together its new collection of on-device ai tools into what it calls the Personal Data Engine. The series of multimodal machine learning agents (text, images, video, audio) leads to features like ai Select, which is based on Samsung's legacy Smart Select tool. The new ai-powered version can scan your screen and suggest contextual tasks, like creating a GIF from a YouTube video you're watching.
You could say that the ai-powered Now Bar is Samsung's answer to the iPhone's Dynamic Island. The pill-shaped bar is located at the bottom of the lock screen and below the digital clock when the phone is unlocked. Generates a series of context-based reminders. Inside the Now bar is another ai feature, Now Brief, which generates morning, midday and evening summaries of information that it thinks will be relevant to you.
Samsung's Sketch to Image tool has been rebranded as Drawing Assist, and Samsung says the feature is more polished and precise. It also adds an option to import existing images for your message. The S25 series also adds an improved version of Google Search Circle (activated by long-pressing the home button). It can now recognize phone numbers, emails and URLs, allowing you to trigger their corresponding actions with a single touch.
Galaxy S25 Edge
Well, I hope you like being made fun of because there's not much to do here. Just like it did a year ago with its big reveal of a… render of the Galaxy Ring, Samsung gave Unpacked viewers a small glimpse of its rumored “Galaxy Slim” phone, which will instead be called the Galaxy S25. Edge.
The teaser shows a quick look at a phone that is indeed thinner, but the company showed off its vapor chamber, cameras, and metal frame more than the full phone. We also don't know its price or release date. However, Bloomberg information which will use many of the same components as the S25 Ultra but will cost less.
Samsung Wallet Updates
The company added two new payment features: Instant Pay and Tap to Transfer.
As its name suggests, Instant Installment is a “buy now, pay later” service that allows you to turn purchases into an offline payment plan experience. It is managed entirely on the device and is available for purchases with Visa and Mastercard.
Samsung informed Engadget's Cherlynn Low about the service. “It's not that Samsung is changing to become a credit provider and accept loans. Instead, it facilitates your purchases and converts your payments into what the company representative says is “the first offline payment plan experience.”
Meanwhile, Tap to Transfer is a peer-to-peer payment service that rivals Apple's Tap to Cash. Tap the phones of someone you want to pay (or get paid). It's not limited to Samsung Pay; You can also use it with third-party applications, since it is linked to the associated card or account. Works with Visa and Mastercard.
Kids Galaxy Watch
The Galaxy Watch for Kids may look like a new piece of gear, but instead it's a new configuration option for the cellular Galaxy Watch 7 (and likely future wearables). You know, something like Apple Watch for kids.
Samsung, which partnered with Google on the experience, says parents can set up a child's watch from their phone and activate their eSim. From there, the child can use the smartwatch without a paired phone. Of course, parents can set safety barriers, such as which apps are installed and enable Do Not Disturb during school hours. Location sharing is optional, and Samsung and Google offer new kid-focused apps and watch faces to keep things fun.
Development…
