Samsung really wants you to consider its Galaxy S25 for your next Android phone before considering the do-it-all Ultra variant. The Galaxy S25 and S25+ stand well on their own as two smartphones you’d consider over Apple’s or Google’s respective offerings. I’m partially influenced by the fact that there is 12GB of RAM across the board for both models, which means there is now a powerful little Samsung phone, which didn’t really exist before. You used to have to compromise if you wanted something smaller.
It remains to be seen whether the camera on the Galaxy S25 models will truly impress, especially since the sensors have not been significantly upgraded. I’m especially curious because this is the first time in a few generations that it doesn’t feel like you’re missing out on something going for the non-Ultra Galaxy variants.
See Galaxy S25+ on Samsung.com
See Galaxy S25 Ultra on Samsung.com
What’s inside the Samsung Galaxy S25?
© Adriano Contreras / GizmodoA look at the Galaxy S25+, Galaxy S25 Ultra, and Galaxy S25 and their relative size differences.
First things first, the phones. There is the 6.2-inch Galaxy S25 and the 6.7-inch Galaxy S25+. They come in the same colors as the Ultra, and the blue variant featured here in photos is quite dashing in person. Its backside offers an almost ombre effect from light blue to blue, depending on the angle you’re holding it at. They feel light, like a thin piece of perfectly buttery crust from a freshly baked croissant. They are fingerprint magnets, so much so that scrubbing them out of all the photos was challenging.
There is a difference between the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ displays. The Dynamic AMOLED display on the Galaxy S25 is only Full HD, while the Galaxy S25+ is QuadHD. But both have a 120HZ adaptive refresh rate. The Galaxy S25 is saddled with a smaller 4,000 mAh battery, and the Galaxy S25+ is almost as big as the Ultra’s at 4,900 mAh.
This year’s phones are on the same Wi-Fi 7 track, so feel free to upgrade those routers! Both are powered by the 3nm-sized Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, which is explicitly made for this line of phones. Rather than skimp on RAM, Samsung lets our smaller phone users have as much power in their hands as the rest of us, so even the Galaxy S25 comes with 12GB of RAM, like the Galaxy S25+—logistically, it had to do this if it was going to sell you on using all the new AI features that are part of the package.
Like the Galaxy S25 UItra, the Galaxy S25/S25+ cameras haven’t been significantly updated. The ultra-wide camera has only a 12-MP sensor, unlike the Ultra’s 50-MP upgrade.
This has AI, too
© Adriano Contreras / GizmodoThe Galaxy S25 and S25+ have the same AI features as their Galaxy S25 Ultra counterpart. This includes Galaxy AI and the “cross-app action” that lets you, for example, grab a set of dates from a screen and put them into your calendar app of choice. The Galaxy S25/S25+ also has access to Google’s new Circle to Search features and the conversational search experience in places like the Settings app.
One AI-driven feature I got to try out on the Galaxy S25+, in particular, was the Morning Brief. This is a feature that makes use of all those AI agents that pull in from your usage. I wasn’t expecting to see much for this demonstration because the phones laid out were all brand new and void of much data, so they didn’t have much to work with. But I picked a Galaxy S25+, went into the Morning Brief curious what it would say, and it immediately served me a news story about Melania Trump.
I asked a Samsung representative if there was a way to “mute” specific suggestions from the news feed or adjust the types of content it serves me. I can’t imagine wanting to see that first thing in the morning when I’m just trying to figure out the weather and where I’ll be needed for the day. It took quite a bit of scrolling and tapping to get to the menu that lets you customize what is pushed through from Samsung News and other sources.
I didn’t get my answer about whether or not I could scrub out political content exclusively from the Morning Brief, only that it’s a possibility. This is all to say that this is a feature I will be paying close attention to and whether it’s customizable to my liking. Samsung thinks it can guess what I want based on my everyday phone use. I would have liked to see an easier way to long-press the content and select “don’t show me these kinds of headlines,” the way that Google’s Discover feed lets you do.
Where to buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+?
Like its Galaxy S25 Ultra compatriot, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ are available for pre-order today. The Galaxy S25 starts at $800 for 128GB of storage, and the Galaxy S25+ begins at $1,000 for 256 GB. These devices come in the same four color options: Navy, Icy Blue, Mint, and Silver Shadow. You can choose exclusive colors if you order online at Samsung’s website. We’ll have more to say about both phones in our full review of the hardware coming soon.
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