Samsung Galaxy S25 review: The portable powerhouse

Rating: 8.5/10

If you look at the surface, the conservative nature of Samsung’s design language is pretty evident in the Galaxy S25 – the smallest phone in the Galaxy S25 series. The Galaxy S24 – by design – was more or less similar to the Galaxy S25 – minus the new bigger camera ring. But when you look beneath the surface, you’ll find the development and changes – some basic and some important.

For instance, the Galaxy S25 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor and not the Exynos counterpart. The phone comes with an updated display that’s brighter. The phone is lighter and even slimmer.

It comes with the all-new ProVisual engine that claims to improve the overall visual experience, especially with the camera.

Galaxy S25

So, there are changes that make a difference here and I have used the phone long enough just to find out whether the Galaxy S25 makes sense at the starting price of Rs 79,990 or the users should choose the Galaxy S24 at the discounted price or a competitive smartphone. Read on to know.

Samsung Galaxy S25 review: Design and display

Creating an identity is crucial, and Samsung is maintaining its design language year after year. The company’s individually placed lenses have become a distinctive feature of Samsung phones, making it easy to identify them.

However, the Galaxy S24 doesn’t offer significant design changes. In essence, both the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S24 will look the same. The only notable differences are the new colour options and a larger camera ring.

Beyond these cosmetic changes, there are some practical improvements. The phone is lighter by 6 grams, which is a notable difference for a phone of this size. Additionally, it’s slimmer by 0.4 millimetres, although this may not seem like much, it does make a difference when holding the phone. I felt the size and weight difference while using the phone. Furthermore, the phone’s flat side rails and slightly softer edges make it more comfortable to hold and provide better grip. There’s no issue using the phone with just one hand.

S25 display

The Galaxy S25 retains its sturdy aluminium frame with a matte-finished glass back, exuding a premium feel and boasting an IP68 rating for enhanced durability.

While it may not feel entirely new and fresh, the hand feel is commendable. However, its appearance is somewhat similar to the Galaxy S23 and S24, which isn’t necessarily a negative aspect.

The display boasts a 6.2-inch screen with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, ranging from 1Hz to 120Hz. The resolution is FHD+, and this year’s addition is the ProScaler, which utilizes AI to enhance the clarity of videos and texts. The new display engine also improves the appearance of low-resolution content on the screen, making a noticeable difference in real-world usage.

It’s the Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel and as expected, the colour and details are on point. Deep blacks and contrasts are just perfect here. One thing that I noticed is that the display gets bright – really really bright to make it easier to view things even under direct sunlight. On the contrary, it gets dim enough for comfortable bedtime binge-watching.

Galaxy S25 review: Performance

Let’s begin with the purported performance improvements – a 37% faster CPU, a 30% faster GPU, and a 40% enhanced AI performance compared to the Galaxy S24. While exact measurements are lacking, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the most powerful processor in the Android ecosystem, powers the S25.

The direct correlation between new chipset and performance gains is undeniable. However, in compact phones, thermal management becomes paramount, ensuring sustained peak performance for extended periods.

S25 front

Samsung has also increased the RAM from 8GB to 12GB, significantly improving performance.

During my daily usage, the phone effortlessly handled various tasks, including regular browsing, watching shows, social media, and even gaming, without any lag or issues. The temperature remained within the optimal range even under heavy load, demonstrating its smooth and reliable performance.

Gaming performance is not an issue here. I tried playing titles like CoD Mobile, Genshin Impact and BGMI and not once, I faced issues. Also, the updated Game Control Center offers a smooth experience with the new side panel that lets users access features and manage phone settings on the fly.
Overall, the Galaxy S25 is a smooth phone with power and performance nothing short of the ‘Ultra’ model.

Galaxy S25 review: One UI 7 and Galaxy AI

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S25, powered by One UI 7, based on Android 15. This significant software update brings substantial changes in design language, aesthetics, and overall user experience. It surpasses every Samsung custom user interface, marking the best One UI experience since its inception.

At the heart of this update lies AI integration, integrating more Galaxy AI and Google-based AI features across the operating system, regardless of the app or tool used. Samsung has even integrated the Galaxy AI icon within the copy-paste menu.

Before delving into AI features and new offerings, let’s discuss the fundamental improvements. Beyond its AI capabilities, the update focuses on a redesigned user experience with enhanced visuals and smarter functionality. Key changes include separate notification and quick settings windows, revamped layouts for default apps, and larger home screen folders that provide direct access to apps. Quality-of-life enhancements, such as grouped alarms with a single toggle, further improve usability.

Galaxy AI

Now Bar – a new tel-tel pill-shaped setup on the lock screen bottom. The main job of this bar is to provide quick access to ongoing activities like navigation, sports scores, or media playback. Certainly, the idea looks inspired by the fruit phone, but Samsung has its take here. First and most importantly, it is interactive – far more than the Dynamic Island. Not only you can tap on the bar to expand it to see more information, but you swipe between different notifications to get information from different ongoing activities.

Unlike Apple’s implementation, Samsung’s Now Bar allows users to swipe through multiple full-sized widgets in one place, offering convenience and functionality. In fact, I like the added convenience and it is more practical too.

However, third-party service integration is yet to arrive and we expect that more apps and services will make use of the Now Bar feature on Samsung devices.

Software support and long-term commitment. This is one place where Samsung hands down beats almost all other Android devices and competes well with Apple. The Galaxy S25 series comes with seven years of software support which means, the phone will receive Android updates till Android 22 – good for future-proofing.

Of course, the Galaxy S25 comes with Galaxy AI and the list of features is so long can take days to write about each one of them. I will mostly address the new ones that Samsung has added to the mix and the ones that have received big updates.

Let’s start with Gemini integration into the Samsung apps

The biggest update and this is something we’ve been asking since the inception of Galaxy AI. Samsung has finally done and in a way, it works seamlessly. Gemini and Samsung apps can now interact with each other and accomplish a task that requires both apps. For instance, if you want to fo to a movie and you can ask Gemini to suggest the shows and then tell it to send notification to your friends and also add it as a reminder in Samsung Calendar.

The integration works with Calendar, Notes and Remineders app. We expect that Samsung will increase the app support in future. The phone also supports multi-step voice commands, enabling users to set calendar events, get recipe recommendations from photos, or find restaurants based on dietary preferences before sharing them with friends.

Another big AI feature is Now Brief. It appears on the lock screen at specific times or as a widget for the Now bar. It compiles information from multiple apps to present a personalised overview, including weather updates, calendar events, fitness progress from Samsung Health, and recommendations for relaxation activities. Depending on the user’s data input and connected devices, Now Brief can also display commuting times, news headlines, coupons, and sleep scores.

That’s not it. The entire suite of Galaxy AI features has received refinements. The Gallery app supports natural language search and even you can search a setting by typing things like “my eyes are tired. And, the phone will take you to the display settings to reduce the brightness and enable features like Eye Comfort mode.

Additionally, AI Select enables users to extract parts of images or videos and edit them before sharing. Audio Eraser, another new tool, helps remove unwanted background noise from videos, although excessive use may impact sound quality.

Other improvements include updates to Samsung’s generative image editing tools, object removal, Portrait Studio, and Sketch-to-Image features. Users can also have web articles read aloud via the Samsung Internet browser.

Samsung has enhanced its Circle to Search feature, making it more intuitive and efficient. This allows users to highlight and search for any content on the screen instantly. The AI-backed search within settings also helps users locate specific options more easily. These refinements aim to streamline navigation and accessibility.

Samsung Galaxy S25 review: Camera

Galaxy S25 has an identical sensor setup to the Galaxy S24. This includes a 50MP primary shooter with OIS, a 12MP ultrawide sensor and a 10MP 3x telephoto sensor. There’s a 12MP front camera. Despite the camera setup being the same as before, the addition of the ProVisual engine appears to make a big difference when it comes to the camera quality and overall output – in both daylight and low light conditions.

Galaxy S25 camera sample

I started with capturing some lowlight photos as Samsung claims major improvements in that department. And, to my surprise, the noise levels have gone down significantly. The colours and overall details in low-light photos have improved as well.

Galaxy S25 camera sample

What I liked the most is that the photos retain the details, that are required to qualify as a good low-light photo. Is it perfect though? No, it isn’t, for instance, the grains in extremely low light conditions are still there. Also, at times shots come out a little inconsistent in terms of colours. But these are a few things that can easily be solved with a software update.

Galaxy S25 camera sample

Daylight condition shots are impressive. The colours are natural and Samsung has toned down the aggressive colour processing of the photos to make them appear more natural. Dynamic range, and contrast are on point too.

Portraits and selfies are perhaps the most improved. The new colour science is simply ‘wow” You’ll see more depth in the photos with accurate skin tones and so much of details. The overall image appears to be closer to the real world.

When it comes to portrait photos, the edge detection is perfect and it has been so for several years now. The colours and gradual background blur make photos more pleasing.

Galaxy S25 camera sample

There’s an ultra-wide sensor too. And, it does a good job at capturing photos in both daylight and lowlight conditions.

The distortion is well-contained and the details are on point. Samsung has also tried to match the colour tone of the ultra-wide sensor with the two other lenses.

Overall, the Galaxy S25 comes with the same camera as its predecessor. But, the image quality with the new ProVisual Engine makes all the difference. The shots are far more versatile than before. The overall quality of the photos, especially in low light conditions have gone up multiple folds.

Samsung Galaxy S25 review: Battery and charging

Samsung has packed the 4000mAh battery with the Galaxy S25 and it supports 25W fast charging. The new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip’s power-efficient nature offers slightly improved battery life over the Galaxy S24. In my testing, the phone managed to last the entire day with mid-level usage that included calls, messages, social media, some gaming, music and consuming content.  With all this, the phone managed to return home with around 22% battery life and that’s impressive for a phone of this size.

The charging speed is something that I am not a fan of. However, it gets the job done and takes around an hour or so to charge the phone from 0 to 100%

Samsung Galaxy S25 review: Verdict

Samsung has been whipping out the vanilla Galaxy S phones every year with changes that are more practical and aesthetic. The Galaxy S25 follows the same path  – Don’t fix it, if it isn’t broken. Galaxy S25 is one of the most balanced compact phones you can buy in the market. It has got powerful processor, all the AI features that Galaxy AI has to offer, a camera setup that delivers on all fronts. Software that’s polished and smooth and long-terms support.

Not only this, Samsung also puts massive effort in making the phone secure using the Knox security and that’s something others missout on.

So, if your type of a smartphone is small, powerful, AI-fied and camera, the Galaxy S25 is a no-brainer.