At first glance, Samsung's flagship Galaxy S25 smartphone series, which consists of three main variants – S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra – doesn't seem to have any significant differences from last year's Galaxy S24 series. Besides the cameras having thicker "rings" around them like the Galaxy Z Fold6 camera, the Galaxy S25 series has a very similar design to its predecessor.
However, Samsung prioritised the Galaxy AI feature updates for the Galaxy S25 series, making it difficult to judge its "upgrade value" from the outside. Since most Android flagship phone brands already offer their own AI features, Samsung needed to offer unique AI features to set itself apart from the competition.
The RM3999 Samsung Galaxy S25 has one unique feature that other flagship phones don't have, namely a smaller 6.2-inch screen. At this size, it's 'small' compared to the 6.5 to 6.7-inch screens of most flagship phones in 2025. So, is this the best compact flagship phone for this year? Let's read this review to find out:
Design - Same old, same old
There's not much to describe about the design of the Samsung Galaxy S25, as it's almost identical to the Galaxy S24. The only noticeable difference is the lens, where you can see a thicker ring than before, making it similar to the lens on the Galaxy Z Fold6. It doesn't have a large camera bump, but each lens protrudes from the phone. So it might be more appropriate to call it a "lens bump," not a "camera bump."
Samsung Galaxy S25 rear design
A thicker ring surrounds each lens
It still has flat sides and rounded corners, while the screen on the front is completely flat. One thing we like is the Coral Red-coloured version we received, which makes the phone look more distinctive. The colour even has a nice matte finish, so it doesn't leave any fingerprint marks.
Please note that the Coral Red colour is only available from Samsung's website, just like the Blue Black and Pink Gold colours. If you buy from any third-party reseller or physical store, this phone is only available in Navy, Icy Blue, Silver Shadow and Mint.
Flat sides
The bottom houses the USB-C port, microphone, SIM card slot and speaker
Completely flat screen on the front
Contents received in the box
In terms of protection, the phone has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back, while the frame is made of Aluminum Armor 2. In theory, this makes the Galaxy S25 very durable and scratch-resistant. It also has an IP68 water resistance rating, allowing it to survive rain and accidental pool dunks (but really, don't bring it to a pool).
Generally, the Galaxy S25's appearance doesn't stick out enough to differentiate it from the Galaxy S24. Unless Samsung can shrink the components in the phone or optimise the design further, this core design will likely be retained for next year's Galaxy S26.
Tech specs and features – Complete with Snapdragon 8 Elite
Here are the full specifications for the Samsung Galaxy S25:
- 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, Full HD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
- 12GB RAM
- 256GB or 512GB storage
- 50MP main camera + 10MP telephoto camera + 12MP ultra-wide camera
- 12MP front camera
- Battery: 4000mAh
- Charging rate: 25W wired (30 minutes can charge 50%), Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless Powershare
- Android 15 operating system with One UI 7
- Supports 5G network, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
- IP68 waterproof rating (up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes)
- Measures 146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm
- Weighs 162g
The phone has all the specs you would expect from a flagship phone launching in 2025, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy chipset, which offers up to 40% faster performance. Otherwise, there are no significant changes from the Galaxy S24.
As expected from a Samsung flagship, the Galaxy S25's screen quality is among the best. The colours are beautiful, the 120Hz refresh rate makes animations look incredibly smooth, and the 2600 nits max brightness makes it easy to see the screen in bright sunlight. There's also a responsive ultrasonic fingerprint scanner at the bottom of the screen.
Bright and beautiful screen, and thin bezels
One interesting thing is that the Galaxy S25 now comes with a minimum RAM of 12GB. That's a significant upgrade over the base 8GB of the Galaxy S24.
The most notable update to the Galaxy S25 can be seen in its software, which is One UI 7 based on Android 15. We commend Samsung's commitment to offering software updates for seven years, meaning this phone will continue to receive updates until Android 22 in 2032.
Furthermore, you can now long-press the power button to access Gemini, which can understand more complex tasks. Additionally, Circle to Search with Google can now not only find information about an image but can also find information on any audio being played.
Using Gemini to set alarms
Search for "beautiful buildings" in the Gallery
Two example searches in Settings
In Settings and Gallery, you can search for what you want without typing specific words. For example, you can type "beautiful buildings" in the Gallery and it will show all the pictures that show interesting buildings. For Settings, you can quickly locate the setting you want to change with prompts like "make the battery last longer" or "screen is too bright".
Speaking of Gallery, like the Galaxy S24 before it, you can use Generative Edit to edit photos in various ways. You could draw additional elements, remove unwanted objects, create artwork from existing photos, and more. Here are some examples of what you can do:
Portrait Studio to produce caricatures
Generative Edit to remove unwanted people from the photo
Sketch to Image to insert the plane into the sky
Sketch to Image allows scribbles to be converted into more beautiful art
Another feature we use regularly is AI Summary in the web browser to summarise any long article. The phone also has several AI-based translation functions such as Interpreter, Call Assist and Writing Assist in various popular languages such as English, Mandarin, French and Korean. Unfortunately, it does not offer translation in Bahasa Melayu. The closest supported language is Indonesian.
A new AI feature for the Galaxy S25 is Now Brief, which shows you the current weather, things to do on a given day, and YouTube video recommendations. This customised "daily report" feature isn't one we'd regularly use. However, some users out there may find it convenient.
Another feature to highlight is the Now Bar. It displays several brief notifications for active applications, such as a music app playing a song, the stopwatch tracking time or Google Maps providing directions to a destination. Fun fact: Now Bar is a simpler Now Brief displayed only on the lock screen. In my experience, Now Bar is a more useful and easy-to-use feature than Now Brief. In fact, Now Bar looks like the popular Dynamic Island on the iPhone, except it's customised for a Samsung device.
An example of a Now Brief report
The Now Bar on the lock screen displaying the music currently playing
Left: Drag from the top left corner to access notifications; Right: Drag from the top right corner to access Quick Settings
In terms of regular use, One UI has a user-friendly interface that's easy to understand and very responsive. One innovation is that if you swipe from the top right corner, you will access the Quick Settings icon. But if you swipe from the top left corner, you will access the notifications instead. Yes, it's just like iOS on the iPhone.
Performance – Very fast, but the battery may not last very long
Here are some benchmarks we ran for the Samsung Galaxy S25:
Geekbench - Comparison with other phones
3DMark - Stress tests show high performance, but inconsistent stability
As a flagship device equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the Samsung Galaxy S25 can deliver very high performance in every way, from everyday apps to graphically-intensive games. We played Genshin Impact on the highest graphics level at 60fps and didn't feel any performance drop while playing.
The phone's temperature was also kept under control and never exceeded 50°C even when we played for more than half an hour. Some may find playing games on a screen as small as 6.2 inches a tad awkward, but it didn't take long for us to get used to it.
No problems playing Genshin Impact
However, the Galaxy S25's battery life may not be as stellar as its larger brothers. The standard Galaxy S25 only has a 4000mAh battery capacity, which is quite small for a flagship phone in 2025. For normal usage like social media, watching videos and texting, this battery can last a day, but if you play games and record videos a lot, you'll find the battery draining quickly.
For example, a 30-minute session of playing Genshin Impact only uses around 12% of the battery capacity and this is quite a high battery usage. Usually, other flagship phones with batteries around 5000mAh can play the same game for an hour using around 10% capacity. If you are serious about using this phone as a gaming device, consider carrying a power bank too.
For charging, the phone supports 25W wired charging. Samsung didn't include a charger in the box. But when we charged it using a third-party 65W charger, it took around 1 hour and 10 minutes to fully charge from empty.
Charging from 4% to 97% took 1 hour 12 minutes
For wireless charging, it supports 15W like the Galaxy S24. But it's worth noting that the Galaxy S25 now supports Qi 2.1, which supports magnetic wireless charging. However, you'll need a magnetic case to take advantage of that, as the Galaxy S25 doesn't have an internal magnet.
Next, we'll touch on the photography performance of this phone. Well, the Galaxy S25 actually has the exact camera specifications as the Galaxy S24. This 50MP+10MP+12MP setup has been around since the Galaxy S22, so the hardware hasn't changed much. However, the cameras can produce satisfactory photos in every situation. You can judge the performance by checking the quality of the photos below:
Main camera image
The main camera can produce beautiful photos if the subject is in sufficient light, with balanced colour tones. For zoom photos, this camera offers optical zoom up to 3x and digital zoom up to 30x. Zoom photos of up to 5x were generally still acceptable. However, unwanted artefacts such as noise start appearing when zooming beyond 10x. Unlike other Android flagship phones, the Galaxy S25 has only modest AI processing for long-zoom photos.
The ultra-wide camera can produce beautiful images, with low distortion at the corners of the image.
3x zoom
Ultra-wide
Photos taken with Night Mode also look neat, with low noise and controlled lighting. However, Night Mode photos taken with the ultra-wide camera still look a bit blurry compared to the main camera.
For those who love taking selfies, the Galaxy S25 can take neat selfies in bright light, with natural-looking skin tones. Portrait selfies also look stunning, with a neat separation between the subject and the background.
Night Mode
Ultra-wide Night Mode
Selfie
Portrait selfie
For video recording, this phone can record at resolutions up to 8K 30fps and the quality looks good. It has optical image stabilisation to keep your videos steady, even when recording videos while walking.
One interesting feature is Audio Eraser, where if you speak in a video recording, Galaxy AI will try to reduce the noise around you so that your voice can be heard more clearly. This function works quite well, but sometimes the recorded voice would sound muffled.
Conclusion – An attractive phone for compact device enthusiasts
If you prefer a small Android phone but don't want to compromise on high performance, the Samsung Galaxy S25 is a great phone to have and there aren't many other products that offer what it has. You can enjoy a small and lightweight design, while at the same time enjoying the fast performance and various functions of Galaxy AI.
However, its small battery capacity needs to be taken into account. This is important if you use apps that drain a lot of battery, such as an intensive gaming session. If you travel a lot and love taking photos, you'll definitely use the camera and GPS more often, which makes the battery drain faster.
A suitable alternative to the Galaxy S25 is the Google Pixel 9 (RM3999), as it has a slightly larger 6.3-inch screen. However, its Google Tensor G4 doesn't deliver the same level of performance. If you want a phone customised for gaming, the ROG Phone 9 (RM3999) is a solid option with a larger 6.78-inch display and 5800mAh battery. For something more camera-centric and in the same budget range, consider the vivo X200 (RM3599) instead.
So, was this review helpful for you? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned to TechNave for more reviews like this.
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