Updated April 19
• The Snapdragon chipset expected to be used in the Galaxy S25 may require a much larger battery to power it.
• Samsung will reportedly use both the Exynos 2500 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in its Galaxy S25 models.
• Samsung could update its Bixby chat assistant with generative AI.
Time is ticking away before we inevitably get the next big phone from Samsung, the Galaxy S25. The company’s next flagship phones are sure to be some of the best phones when they come out, but we’re still a good ways away from it.
Naturally, we expect the Galaxy S25 to make all the necessary iterative improvements to retain a seat amongst the best Android phones out there. And given how all the Galaxy AI features that accompany the Galaxy S24, it’s almost certain that Samsung will follow up with more compelling features powered by artificial intelligence with the Galaxy S25.
Leaks have slowly been developing to give us clues and ideas on what to expect with the Galaxy S25 — so much so that we’ve listed what we’d want to see with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Here’s everything we know so far about the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Rumored release date and price
Historically speaking, Samsung traditionally releases its flagship series early in the year — usually in January or February. The Galaxy S24 was announced during Galaxy Unpacked on January 17, 2024, and released on January 31, 2024. Knowing that, we suspect that the Galaxy S25’s announcement and release would line up close to those anniversaries in 2025.
Samsung actually pulled up the Galaxy S24’s announcement a week earlier than the previous Galaxy S23, so it’ll be interesting if Samsung would move it up again for the Galaxy S25. If that ends up happening, it could be competing with its other announcements for CES 2025.
We don’t expect much change with the Galaxy S25’s pricing. Samsung launched the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra for $799, $999, and $1,299 respectively — with the S24 Ultra being the only one to see its price increase from the prior year. While the current pricing structure should remain intact for the Galaxy S25, the only way we could see a change is if one of its rivals, namely Apple, would increase prices for its iPhone 16 later in the fall.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Design and display
One immediate way Samsung could shake things up with the design of the Galaxy S25 by increasing the size of its display. Known leaker Yeux1122 reports the Galaxy S25’s screen will go from the Galaxy S24's 6.2 inches to a slightly larger 6.36 inches, which would effectively match the rumored increased display size of the iPhone 16 Pro. We suspect that the phone itself would be a little larger than its predecessor, mainly to accommodate the larger screen because Samsung slimmed down the S24’s bezels over the S23.
Aside from the Galaxy S25 potentially getting a larger display, the rest of the design should be a familiar one. Meaning, both the S25 and S25 Plus should be rocking the same armor aluminum frame — while the titanium frame should still be exclusive to the S25 Ultra. But there’s still plenty of time for things to change as new leaks come around.
As for their displays, Samsung certainly made a point of detailing how all three versions of the Galaxy S24 offer 2,600-nit displays. Although, in our own benchmark testing, none of them came close to reaching those claims. But that won’t stop the company from improving this one particular feature with the Galaxy S25.
More importantly, however, Samsung can’t afford to have another display issue — like the Mura effect on the Galaxy S24 that causes a clouding effect when the display’s brightness is set to a low setting. We tested this out ourselves with the Galaxy S24 Plus and S24 Ultra, verifying that both phones produced the Mura effect.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Performance
One of the earliest Galaxy S25 leaks hint at a bigger speed boost, courtesy of Qualcomm’s next chipset. It’s likely that the Galaxy S25 will be powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset, which is tipped to reach a new frontier by reaching a clocked speed of 4GHz. This would be new territory and one that could give the Galaxy S25 an edge over its competitors, mainly due to Qualcomm reportedly switching to a 3-nanometer manufacturing process with its next-gen chip.
There’s certainly a lot to be excited about here because we’ve seen the incredible processing power of the Galaxy S24’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which reaches a clocked speed of 3.3GHz. Not only would we see more muscle power with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, but we suspect even better power efficiency. This is important because we didn’t just see a small step forward in battery life with the Galaxy S24 series, but a giant leap.
As a result of the increased computing power though, the Galaxy S25 may need to use much larger batteries to feed the chip enough energy. This could have other knock-on effects, like a shorter overall battery life compared to current models, or slower charging.
One rumor has suggested that the Galaxy S25 could forego Qualcomm silicon altogether and turn to the Exynos 2500 as its system-on-chip exclusively. We think that sounds a little far-fetched, especially after a subsequent report said that Samsung plans to use both the Exynos 2500 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in the Galaxy S25. That would be a repeat of what the company did with the Galaxy S24.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Cameras
Samsung has been nearly untouchable in the camera department with its phones, proven by the Galaxy S23 Ultra dominating all other phones throughout 2023 in our best camera phones list. Well, that changed with the release of the Galaxy S24 because of the controversial move of downgrading to a 5x optical zoom camera with the S24 Ultra.
We saw a noticeable difference with our zoom test between the Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S23 Ultra, so Samsung has its work cut out in redeeming itself with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. So far, the early rumors paint an enticing picture — with it reportedly getting an upgraded main camera, 50MP ultra-wide angle camera (up from the 12MP one on the S24 Ultra), and a new telephoto camera with “variable capabilities.”
The latter was rumored to happen with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but the S25 Ultra seems like the appropriate candidate. On one hand, it could mean that we could have a variable telephoto camera that could move to different zoom levels, but it could also be something different. Take for example the variable aperture of the recent Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which can dial down the aperture to different levels. Zooming has always been a specialty with the Ultra, so we’re really hoping Samsung delivers in this area to redeem itself.
Meanwhile, there are fewer rumors about the cameras for the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus. One of the few hints to Samsung switching to a Sony camera sensor, instead of the ISOCELL sensor used previously. Whatever ends up coming to fruition, Samsung can’t afford to come up short against the reigning king in our best camera phones list — the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Battery & charging
The Galaxy S25 has the potential of breaking records, especially if the power efficiency of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 turns out to be true. All three models of the Galaxy S24 easily boast substantially better battery life than their predecessor, and with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 purportedly being developed with a 3-nanometer manufacturing process, the Galaxy S25 could yield greater endurance.
At the very least, we expect the Galaxy S25 to feature the same battery capacity as the S24. There have been rumors for a while now about Samsung adopting stacked batteries in its flagship series, but there’s no strong evidence we’ll get them yet with the S25.
One area that certainly needs upgrading would be the charging capabilities of the phone. Samsung has kept the same 25W wired charging speed with the Galaxy S24, so it would be a tremendous boost if the Galaxy S25 could get an upgrade. That’s because both the S24 Plus and S24 Ultra feature 45W wired charging speeds. But there’s even more opportunity to improve charging as a whole with the entire S25 series because the OnePlus 12 is proof that you can get a fully charged phone with 30 minutes of charging.
And finally, Samsung will also need to upgrade the wireless charging speed in the Galaxy S25 line because it’s been limited to 15W wireless charging as far back as the S9. An upgrade is long overdue at this point, more so when the OnePlus 12 flaunts a ridiculous 50W wireless charging speed.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Galaxy AI features
After introducing a handful of Galaxy AI features with the S24, Samsung will have to come up with even more for the Galaxy S25. We’ve tested out many of the Galaxy AI features, like Instant Slow-mo, Generative Edit, and Voice Recorder Summaries, proving that many of them have practical applications. Others, however, still hover that fine line of being novel.
There haven’t been any leaks on what new Galaxy AI features we could see introduced with the Galaxy S25, although a Samsung executive did raise the possibility of infusing the Bixby personal assistant with generative AI capabilities. However, the question in everyone’s mind is how long they’ll remain exclusive to the Galaxy S25 — or passed down to older models. That’s because many of the once exclusive Galaxy AI features of the Galaxy S24 are coming to older Samsung phones through a software upgrade.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Outlook
Samsung has a huge challenge ahead of itself with the Galaxy S25. There’s certainly more pressure for its flagship phones because if you remove the processing performance and battery life of the Galaxy S24 out of the equation, the improvements are minor at best — more so when the same Galaxy AI features have been trickled down to the S23. There’s even greater importance to have bigger upgrades with the Galaxy S25 cameras and charging speeds.
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