Samsung’s first Unpacked occasion of 2025 delivered the Galaxy S25 sequence — as anticipated. Though the telephones don’t have dramatically upgraded specs, the corporate stuffed — you guessed it! — extra AI into the units. This newest batch is extra context-sensitive and predictive, and a few of it even squeezes extra out of the telephones’ mildly upgraded {hardware}.
Galaxy S25 Extremely
The Galaxy S25 Extremely remains to be the most important, greatest and costliest of the bunch. It has a 6.9-inch show and a extra rounded edge for a “comfortable grip.” Samsung says it’s the “slimmest, lightest, and most durable Galaxy Ultra device ever,” rocking a titanium physique with Corning’s Gorilla Armor 2 for “advanced drop protection” and scratch resistance.
Not like the 2 smaller fashions, one of many Extremely’s digicam sensors received a spec improve: Its ultrawide lens is now 50MP, up from the mere 12MP one in final 12 months’s mannequin.
Like its siblings, the S25 Extremely is powered by a personalized model of the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which lets the trio of telephones course of a lot of their AI experiences on-device. After all, that’s higher for privateness.
Though the cellphone continues the custom of together with an S Pen (it’s now basically the long-retired Galaxy Word), Air Instructions — which bridged the hole between the 2 — have bit the mud. Samsung advised Engadget in a briefing that fewer than one p.c of S Pen-toting prospects used the function. And those that did principally used it as a digicam shutter, which is definitely replicated in different methods. Samsung says the removing let it shed some weight and increase the S Pen’s sturdiness.
Engadget’s Sam Rutherford received an early hands-on with the Galaxy S25 Extremely and stated it “looks like a good phone” and described Samsung’s AI suite as “much more cohesive and easier to get into,” but also felt the company “could be doing more for its most expensive non-folding phone.”
The Galaxy S25 Extremely has 12GB of RAM, and it ships in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage tiers. It’s nonetheless fairly the funding, although — beginning at $1,300.
Galaxy S25 and S25+
The Galaxy S25 and S25+ noticed their RAM upgraded to 12GB (identical because the Extremely), up from 8GB of their 2024 predecessors. It combines with the Snapdragon 8 Elite to raised deal with the telephones’ many AI options. (Extra in a minute.)
The remainder of their {hardware} is remarkably just like the S24 and S24+. They nonetheless have 6.2-inch and 6.7-inch shows, respectively. However Samsung’s new ProScaler AI instrument can upscale photos in actual time to maybe make up for the unchanged specs. Samsung says it might increase the standard of what you see by 40 p.c.
Engadget’s Mat Smith tried the Galaxy S25 and S25+ and praised the telephones’ “premium and solidly built” slim designs and “vivid, bright and gorgeous” shows. Nevertheless, he was skeptical of the telephones’ AI-centric focus. “In just a few years, Samsung has built up a substantial collection of artificial intelligence tricks, features and apps,” he wrote. “While some of them have been impressive, like live translation and annotation, others (often involving generative AI) aren’t actually helpful — or notable — enough to warrant regular use.”
Storage is also unchanged from the S24 series: 128GB or 256GB in the Galaxy S25 and 256GB or 512GB in the Galaxy S25+. Fortunately, pricing is also unchanged. You’ll pay $800 or more for the S25 and $1,000 and up for the S25+.
Galaxy AI
With most hardware upgrades (apart from the Snapdragon chip) coming in soft this generation, Samsung is leaning hard on AI features to make you want to throw down hard-earned cash 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-integrated OS.” It goals for a extra customized and context-sensitive AI, moderately than only a sequence of one-off instruments.
AI performs a central function within the telephones’ digicam options, with the Qualcomm chip making the telephones higher at analyzing noise — resulting in what Samsung says is healthier low-light efficiency. Audio Eraser is a instrument that Samsung claims will use AI to take away undesirable noises from movies like wind or a random stranger speaking.
Samsung gathers its new assortment of on-device AI instruments into what it calls the Private Information Engine. The sequence of multimodal (textual content, photos, video, audio) machine studying brokers results in options like AI Choose, which builds on Samsung’s legacy Sensible Choose instrument. The brand new AI-powered model can scan your display screen and counsel context-aware duties — like making a GIF from a YouTube video you’re watching.
You could say the AI-powered Now Bar is Samsung’s answer to the iPhone’s Dynamic Island. The pill-shaped bar sits at the bottom of the lock screen and below the digital clock when the phone is unlocked. It generates a series of reminders based on context. Within the Now Bar is another AI feature, the Now Brief, which generates morning, midday and evening summaries of info 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 accurate. It also adds an option to import existing images for your prompt. The S25 series also adds an upgraded version of Google’s Circle to Search (activated by long-pressing the home button). It can now recognize phone numbers, emails and URLs, letting you trigger their corresponding actions with a single tap.
Galaxy S25 Edge
Nicely, I hope you want being teased as a result of, nicely, there isn’t a lot to go on right here. Very like it did a 12 months in the past with its grand reveal of a… render of the Galaxy Ring, Samsung gave Unpacked viewers a teeny-weeny glimpse of its rumored “Galaxy Slim” cellphone, which can as a substitute be known as the Galaxy S25 Edge.
The teaser reveals a fast glimpse of a cellphone that’s certainly slimmer, however the firm showcased its vapor chamber, cameras and metallic body greater than the full-on handset. (And the engineers go wild.) We additionally don’t know its value or launch date. Nevertheless, Bloomberg reviews that it’ll use lots of the identical elements because the S25 Extremely however value much less.
Samsung Pockets updates
The company added two new payment features: Instant Installment and Tap to Transfer.
As its name suggests, Instant Installment is a “buy now, pay later” service that lets you turn purchases into an offline payment plan experience. It’s managed entirely on-device and available for Visa and Mastercard purchases.
Engadget’s Cherlynn Low was briefed by Samsung on the service. “It’s not that Samsung is pivoting to becoming a credit provider and taking on loans,” she wrote. “Instead, it facilitates your purchases and turns your payments into what the company’s rep said is ‘the first offline payment plan experience.’’
Meanwhile, Tap to Transfer is a peer-to-peer payment service, rivaling the likes of Apple’s Tap to Cash. Like the iPhone equivalent, you only need to bump phones with someone you want to pay (or be paid by). But it isn’t limited to Samsung Pay; you can use it with third-party apps, too, since it’s instead tied to the associated card or account. Like Instant Installment, it works with Visa and Mastercard.
Galaxy Watch for Kids
The Galaxy Look ahead to Children might sound like a brand new piece of substances, however it’s as a substitute a brand new setup choice for the mobile Galaxy Watch 7 (and certain future wearables). You understand, kinda like Apple Look ahead to Children.
Samsung, which partnered with Google on the expertise, says mother and father can arrange a toddler’s watch from their cellphone and activate its eSim. From there, the child can use the smartwatch and not using a paired cellphone. As you’d anticipate, mother and father can arrange guardrails — like which apps are put in or a don’t disturb standing throughout college hours. Location sharing is optionally available, and Samsung and Google are providing new kid-focused apps and watch faces to maintain issues enjoyable.
