Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus Review: The Best Thing About AI Is I Hardly Notice It

9.1/ 10
SCORE

Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus

Execs

• Lightning quick charging
• Good large display screen
• 7 years of OS and safety upgrades
• Nice efficiency

Cons

• Battery life is just like the baseline S25
• Related specs because the S25, at a better value
• Higher cameras on different telephones on the identical value

Samsung’s mantra when debuting the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus seems to have been, “If it ain’t broke, do not repair it,” as this 12 months’s telephones share a putting resemblance to final 12 months’s S24 and S24 Plus. However what the brand new telephones lack in innovation, they make up for in consistency and practicality. 

Whereas I discovered myself warming as much as (most of) the various AI upgrades separating the S25 and S25 Plus from their predecessors, there are different time-tested attributes that stay extra necessary to me – specifically, cameras and battery life. Nonetheless, I used to be pleasantly shocked by how a lot I grew to love sure AI-powered options after utilizing the telephones for per week. 

As an illustration, there is a new device known as AI Choose that appears at your cellphone’s display screen and suggests actions like summarizing or translating textual content, the Gallery app can discover a image you are in search of with extra conversational search phrases and Audio Eraser can clear up distracting background noises in your movies. 

Watch this: Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus Overview: AI Lastly Makes Itself Helpful (Principally)

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Google’s Gemini has been additional baked into the Galaxy’s interface and will be summoned with an extended press of the aspect energy button to reply questions and perform duties as your assistant.

At a time when main cellphone releases are as high-stakes as ever, Samsung tries to set the $800 Galaxy S25 and $1,000 Galaxy S25 Plus aside by leaning into what’s new (AI), in addition to the acquainted (good cameras and battery life). And I’m positively impressed. 

Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus: Feel and appear 

So what is the distinction between the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus? Not a lot. Apart from the Plus being, effectively, larger than the baseline mannequin.

The telephones each have AMOLED shows with 120Hz adaptive refresh charges, with the S25’s measuring 6.2 inches and the S25 Plus clocking in at 6.7 inches. At 162 and 190 grams respectively, the S25 and S25 Plus really feel mild in hand, due to their aluminum frames. The screens are coated in Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and the matte glass backs supply a sublime contact and premium really feel. 

I hesitantly dunked the S25 Plus right into a shallow pool at Filoli Historic Home & Backyard close to San Francisco throughout testing and am pleased to report it survived unscathed. This should not come as a shock, since each the S25 and S25 Plus have an IP68 score for mud and water resistance, that means they’ll survive being submerged for half-hour being below 1.5 meters of water (or about 5 toes).

The telephones are available in navy, icy blue, mint and silver shadow, in addition to the online-exclusive colours blue black, coral pink and pink gold. I completely adore the icy blue coloration of the S25 I have been utilizing, and the Plus I’ve in navy additionally seems good and wealthy.

The S25 and S25 Plus arrive with Android 15 and Samsung’s One UI 7. And just like the Pixel 9 collection, you will get seven years of OS and security updates, serving to you get probably the most bang to your buck (and there is definitely a variety of buck concerned right here). The telephones are powered by a custom-built Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, serving to to deliver these many, many AI options to life.

One of the best factor about AI is that I hardly discover it

I am not alone in feeling extreme AI fatigue. As somebody who tends to be AI-averse (do I actually need it to write down my emails, brainstorm concepts or summarize a PDF?), I are usually cautious of AI-heavy bulletins just like the one Samsung had at its Galaxy Unpacked event in January.

As soon as I obtained my arms on the gadgets, I put my skepticism apart and was shocked. 

After a couple of days, I discovered myself leaning on Gemini for assist with all the pieces from tweaking electronic mail settings (this was quicker than Googling and studying), caring for my wooden chopping board, and discovering occasions and sending corresponding texts through a single voice command. 

Finally, it is the AI options that function discreetly that gained me over, like Circle to Search. It is a Google-powered characteristic that got here out final 12 months and allows you to circle something in your display screen to shortly see product data and hyperlinks. Now, Circle to Search can acknowledge a music taking part in within the background of a video or perhaps a tune you hum or sing, and I had a variety of enjoyable testing this out. After I hummed area of interest Taylor Swift songs like I Hate It Right here and Silly One, it nailed each. (Step apart, Shazam.) To be truthful, I am undecided how usually I am going to use this explicit facet of Circle to Search, however the device as a complete stays spectacular. 

The AI Choose device additionally served me effectively, however primarily for translating textual content. My Spanish vocab has (sadly) gotten rusty since highschool. So once I got here throughout an electronic mail in Spanish, I tapped the device on the right-hand aspect of the display screen, circled the textual content I wished to translate and inside a pair faucets, it was shortly reworked into English (and hopefully, precisely). 

Not all AI options are a house run, although. Portrait Studio, which makes use of AI to create stylized portraits (type of like caricatures an artist would possibly sketch of you on the seashore or on a boardwalk), is enjoyable to play with however appears like a novelty. It did an admittedly nice job replicating particulars like my hijab, eye form and smile. However I am undecided how helpful a device like that is in the long term. Equally, Drawing Assist, which turns your sketches into totally different stylized illustrations, is spectacular at reworking my crappy drawings into pleasing photographs. I haven’t got any actual use for this device, as I am not going to be framing these random photographs of cats and flowers. 

The largest disappointment, thus far, has been the Now Transient. That is designed to study your habits – like in the event you often test the climate, learn the information and seek the advice of your calendar every morning – then floor any related options to simplify these routines. Within the week I used these telephones, the one time I used to be even barely impressed with this characteristic was when it confirmed a spotlight of the pictures I might taken that day. However in any other case, Now Transient merely lists the climate, my occasions that day and articles which might be irrelevant 90% of the time. That is to not say it will not ultimately study extra about me and get higher, nevertheless it hasn’t confirmed its worth simply but.

Images and movies are even higher with AI

The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus share the identical digicam specs as final 12 months’s collection: a 50-megapixel broad digicam, 12-megapixel ultrawide digicam and 10-megapixel 3x telephoto digicam. Additionally they each share a 12-megapixel front-facing digicam. So you will get the identical sorts of photographs on each the S25 and S25 Plus.

I’ve at all times admired the punchy colours in Galaxy S images, and the S25 and S25 Plus had been no exception. Listed below are a couple of of my favourite pictures.

This is without doubt one of the greatest examples of how every shade of coloration, from pale pinks to vibrant reds, pop. There’s a lot texture on this picture beneath, from the ripples on the water to the droplets on the petals, and the background maintains simply sufficient element and coloration with out robbing the highlight.

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The enhancements over earlier Galaxy S gadgets come within the type of – sure, AI. Generative Edit debuted on the S24 collection, however is now processed on system, permitting you to shortly and simply take away photobombers or objects cluttering your picture. I attempted this out with each folks and objects and was blown away every time. Generative Edit did a seamless job filling in backgrounds (generally even producing new graffiti patterns, as seen beneath once I eliminated a railing).

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One draw back, although an upside for transparency, is that there is a label on photographs which have benefitted from Generative Edit disclosing that that is “AI-generated content material.” I perceive the significance of this, particularly as AI will get higher at fooling folks, however object removal features are nothing new to images.

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Battery life and efficiency

Battery capability is without doubt one of the few elements separating the telephones, with the S25 sporting a 4,000-mAh battery and the Plus packing a 4,900-mAh battery.

Each telephones lasted a few day and a half with common use. In CNET’s 45-minute endurance take a look at, which includes a mix of streaming, scrolling via social media, becoming a member of a video name and taking part in video games, the S25’s battery dropped from full to 93% (the identical as final 12 months’s S24), whereas the battery on the S25 Plus dropped to 94%. 

In an extended, 3-hour streaming take a look at over Wi-Fi, through which I watched a YouTube video in full-screen mode at full brightness, the S25 dropped from 100% to 85%, whereas the S25 Plus dropped to 86%.

YouTube streaming battery take a look at

Cellphone	After 1 hour	After 2 hours	After 3 hours
Galaxy S25	96%	90%	85%
Galaxy S25 Plus	96%	91%	86%
Galaxy S24 FE	96%	90%	83%
Galaxy S24	97%	91%	86%
Galaxy S24 Plus	97%	91%	87%

Larger percentages are higher.

The S25 helps 25-watt charging, whereas the S25 Plus helps 45-watt charging. In a 30-minute take a look at utilizing a 30-watt charger, the S25 went from 0% to 47%, and reached 100% in 80 minutes. In the identical take a look at utilizing a 45-watt charger, the S25 Plus went from 0% to 63% in half-hour, and reached a full cost in 70 minutes. For comparability, in final 12 months’s take a look at, the S24 went from 0% to 51% in half-hour, and the S24 Plus went from 0% to 50%.

The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus additionally help 15-watt wi-fi charging, which is similar as what you will get with Qi2. You need to use Samsung’s personal case with the Qi2 magnetic profile or a appropriate third-party case to faucet into these wi-fi capabilities.

Benchmark exams for the CPU in Geekbench 6 place the S25 and S25 Plus effectively above your complete Galaxy S24 lineup. In a graphics take a look at utilizing 3D Mark’s Wild Life Excessive, the S25 and S25 Plus exceeded the efficiency of the iPhone 16 Professional, Galaxy S24 and S24 Extremely.

Take a look at the graphs beneath for extra specifics.

Closing ideas: Which cellphone to purchase, the S25 or S25 Plus?

Maybe the very best reward I may give to a cellphone in 2025 is that there was simply sufficient AI to not make me go loopy. The S25 and S25 Plus have their justifiable share of AI-powered options, however for probably the most half, there are solely a number of that I can see myself willingly utilizing. Others like Portrait Studio and Drawing Help could also be enjoyable for keynote demos, however do not appear to serve an actual function past that. (However it would not be a Galaxy cellphone with no flashy feature nobody makes use of, proper??)

Fortunately, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus proceed to ship on what, to me, makes the Galaxy S collection notable: good cameras, stable battery life and a seamless interface. 

As a result of there are such a lot of similarities between the S25 and S25 Plus, and the upper battery capability on the Plus did not end in any startling variations (though superfast charging is nice), I might personally avoid wasting cash and simply go along with the baseline S25. If you’d like an even bigger cellphone, it is perhaps value going a full step up with the S25 Ultra, so you would benefit from added perks like that 50-megapixel ultrawide lens, however that prices $500 greater than the common S25. Nonetheless, the S25 and S25 Plus share many similarities with the Extremely, together with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB RAM and AI options, so you will be getting a comparatively good worth from that baseline mannequin.

If in case you have a Galaxy S22 or older, switching to the S25 or S25 Plus may very well be a big improve. If in case you have an S23, you may profit from improved battery life and dip your toes into Samsung’s newer AI waters. However in the event you’re rocking an S24, there isn’t any cause to pay for comparatively modest upgrades.

Finally, the S25 and S25 are a lot of the identical as what we have seen earlier than. However that is not such a nasty factor, when “the identical” largely nonetheless does the trick.

How we take a look at telephones

Every phone tested by CNET’s reviews team was really utilized in the true world. We take a look at a cellphone’s options, play video games and take images. We look at the show to see if it is brilliant, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and construct to see how it’s to carry and whether or not it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s efficiency to the extremes utilizing standardized benchmark instruments like GeekBench and 3DMark, together with our personal anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution movies and taking part in graphically intense video games at excessive refresh charges.

All of the cameras are examined in quite a lot of circumstances from brilliant daylight to darkish indoor scenes. We check out particular options like evening mode and portrait mode and evaluate our findings in opposition to equally priced competing telephones. We additionally take a look at the battery life through the use of it day by day in addition to operating a collection of battery drain exams.

We consider further options like help for 5G, satellite tv for pc connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus help, quick charging speeds and foldable shows, amongst others that may be helpful. We steadiness all of this in opposition to the value to provide the verdict on whether or not that cellphone, no matter value it’s, really represents good worth. Whereas these exams might not at all times be mirrored in CNET’s preliminary overview, we conduct follow-up and long-term testing in most circumstances.