Small upgrades but a great compact Android phone
The Samsung Galaxy S25 doesn't deliver significant improvements over the Galaxy S24 so there is little reason to upgrade apart from a hardware boost. But if you have an older phone, the Galaxy S25 has a lovely small form factor, a great display, consistent camera results and a smooth and slick performance that make it a solid choice.
Pros
- Slick performance
- Lovely compact design
- Some clever AI features
Cons
- Minimal improvements over the Galaxy S24
- Consistent camera, but tougher competition
Key Features
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Review Price: £799
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Great performance Powered by a custom version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, the Galaxy S25 offers a smooth and slick performance and a flagship smartphone experience.
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Lighter and slimmer form factor It might look the same as the Galaxy S24 but the Galaxy S25 has slimmed down by 0.4mm and reduced in weight by 5g compared to its predecessor.
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Lovely display The 6.2-inch display hasn't changed from the Galaxy S24 but it's still a great screen with good detail, vibrancy and plenty of punch.
Introduction
Samsung announced its latest flagship smartphones in the middle of January in the form of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Galaxy S25 Plus and the Galaxy S25. It also teased a fourth device in the Galaxy S25 Edge, but that’s a story for another day.
The Galaxy S25 is the smallest and cheapest of the Samsung S25 series, featuring a starting price of £799/$799 that places it in a strong position. It’s the same price as the Apple iPhone 16 and only slightly more expensive than the OnePlus 13R and Google Pixel 9.
It’s also the same price the Galaxy S24 launched at, but that’s not all that surprising because there aren’t any groundbreaking changes this year. This year more than any, the changes are below the surface. That’s not to say the Galaxy S25 isn’t one of the best Android phones available though, because it is and I’d go as far as to say it’s my favourite of the S25 series.
Design
- Seven colour options
- Flat edge design with flat front and rear
- IP68 water and dust resistance
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. It’s an age-old saying and it’s true. Do companies really need to reinvent the wheel every time they launch a new phone? If they are hoping to entice you to upgrade every year then a design change could help of course, but if the previous model has a decent design, is there any need to change it for the sake of it?
If you’d say no to that last statement, you and the Galaxy S25 are going to be great friends. It is virtually identical to the Galaxy S24 and when I say virtually identical, I really do mean it. A game of spot the difference would be a tough gig between the two devices. If you have an eye for detail though, you will spot the small and subtle changes, and if you don’t, well then I’ll tell you where to look.
The colour selection has changed compared to the Galaxy S24 and they have a little more punch too. There are a couple of samsung.com exclusives including Coralred, Pinkgold and Blueblack, while the standard four colours consist of Mint (pictured in this review), Icyblue, Silver Shadow and Navy. Personally, I’m a Mint kind of girl, but you do you.

Elsewhere, the camera lenses on the rear are slightly more prominent on the Galaxy S25 in that there is a small gap between the lenses and the rear of the phone. It is very subtle – a blink and you’ll miss it kind of vibe – but it’s a tweak I am all in favour of. It makes the Galaxy S25 look a little more sophisticated than its predecessor and a tad more premium overall. The other changes aren’t ones you can see necessarily, but they are there.
Put the Galaxy S25 on the scales and it will come in at 5g lighter than the Galaxy S24. The flat edges that were first introduced on the Galaxy S24 are also marginally slimmer, while the aluminium frame – there’s no titanium here like the Galaxy S25 Ultra – has an Enhanced Armor Aluminium Frame. I didn’t go about dropping the Galaxy S25 on concrete to see whether that enhanced frame made a difference in durability, but I will say that it has held up well in my couple of weeks of testing.

The other thing I’d say is that there is a lot to be said for a smaller device and that’s where the Galaxy S25 wins me over. I always loved the Apple iPhone 13 mini – its cute and compact build was perfect for one-handed use – and the same applies for the Galaxy S25. It’s lightweight, a really lovely compact size and it delivers a refreshing change to larger devices, whilst still offering a big enough display to do everything you need to.
Screen
- Lovely OLED display
- Full HD+ resolution gives enough detail
- 1-120Hz refresh rate
Speaking of displays, the Samsung Galaxy S25 has a 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen, which is the same as what you’ll find on the Galaxy S24.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra saw the bezels around its screen reduce to allow for a larger screen within the same footprint, much like Apple also did with its iPhone 16 Pro models, but those reduced bezels haven’t trickled down to the Galaxy S25 or Galaxy S25 Plus.
The bump in brightness hasn’t either, with the Galaxy S25 offering a 2,600 nits peak like its predecessor, as well as the same adaptive refresh rate of 1Hz to 120Hz, and the same resolution of 2340 x 1080. It’s the lowest resolution of the entire Galaxy S25 series but that doesn’t matter in reality as the smaller display means the pixel density is still relatively high, resulting in plenty of detail.

Back to the brightness, which isn’t as high as some other Android devices – the OnePlus 13R has a peak brightness of 4,500 nits – but the S25 is bright enough to cut through sunny days and more than adequate for streaming HDR content. The colours from the AMOLED panel are rich and vibrant too, making for an excellent viewing experience overall.
There remains a punch-hole camera in the centre at the top, a responsive fingerprint sensor under the display and the Galaxy S25’s screen protection sticks with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. I’d like to have seen the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s Corning Gorilla Glass Armor make its way onto the Galaxy S25, especially as the Galaxy S25 Ultra has now moved to Corning Gorilla Glass Armor 2, but that wasn’t to be this time around.
Cameras
- Consistent results
- Simple camera app
- Main camera is very good in all lighting
I feel like I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but just as there are minor changes in the design and the display, the camera hardware also remains the same on the Galaxy S25. The Galaxy S25 Ultra got a new ultra-wide lens for this year, and it of course has the higher resolution main camera too, but the Galaxy S25 doesn’t see any of these advancements.

What you get here then is a triple rear camera setup made up of a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor and a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor. On the front, there’s the same 12-megapixel selfie camera so if you had last year’s Galaxy S24 or even the S23, this is a familiar setup on both the front and rear.
The main camera is the best performer of the three – no surprises there. It offers good detail, good dynamic range and it performs well in all lighting conditions, delivering consistent results with very little effort from you.














The ultrawide sensor lacks autofocus, which isn’t ideal, but it’s a solid sensor for landscape shots and again, the results are pretty consistent, though you do get better detail and colour representation from the main sensor, especially at night.
The telephoto sensor does a great job at 3x, getting you closer to the subject without losing detail, though the digital 2x isn’t bad either. I think the 10x and 30x digital zooms are entirely pointless if you’re looking for a decent shot, but I did find it useful when trying to read an airport information board from a distance so I guess entirely pointless is a little unfair.





Overall, there have been some big advancements in smartphone cameras over the last couple of years so it feels like Samsung is going to have to make changes next year to avoid slipping too far behind. The Galaxy S25 just about gets away with it this year, with a couple of software features like Audio Eraser for removing background noise from videos, and a slight redesign of the camera app with One UI 7 doing some of the leg work to keep things being entirely the same.
Compared to others, like the Apple iPhone 16 or the Google Pixel 9, I don’t think the Galaxy S25 delivers the best camera performance in its field, but that’s not to say it doesn’t offer great results – it’s just that the competition has got better.
Performance
- Got a little warm under pressure, though not hot
- Snapdragon 8 Elite delivers plenty of power
- Decent RAM and storage
I’m thrilled to say we have finally got to the areas where the Samsung Galaxy S25 does differ from its predecessor. Under the hood, you’ll find the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite that Qualcomm revealed at the end of 2024, and the performance is excellent.

Everything runs smoothly, I didn’t experience any overheating (something that could have been a worry given the higher CPU speeds) and overall, it’s a very slick experience. That applies whether you’re gaming or performing casual day-to-day tasks like emails or social media. It got warm when put under pressure gaming or in stress tests – something the OnePlus 13R doesn’t at all – but I’m talking warm rather than hot.
Supporting the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy platform is 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a choice of 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage. There are a couple of things to note here, the first of which is the bump in RAM from the Galaxy S24, which is welcomed, and the second of which is the addition of the 512GB storage model.

AI is a focus of the Galaxy S25, as it was for the Galaxy S24 and it has to be said that any of the Galaxy AI features I ran on this device ran without a hitch.
We did our usual set of benchmarking tests on the Samsung Galaxy S25 too and its performance scores tally up with my experience of a smooth-running device and every bit a flagship Android handset. You can see how the Samsung Galaxy S25 compares in the graphs below.
Software and AI
- Seven years of OS updates
- Some clever AI features
- Decent software experience
The Samsung Galaxy S25 runs on Android 15 out of the box, with the company’s OneUI 7 over the top. Samsung is promising 7 years of OS updates, which is in line with what Google offers and what Apple typically delivers too. It’s also three years more than what OnePlus is offering on its OnePlus 13R.

If you’re a Samsung user, it’s a familiar experience with a few small changes and improvements. Meanwhile, if you’re new to Samsung, OneUI 7 is easy to navigate and get to grips with.
There is some bloatware with Samsung pushing its own apps for Gallery, Internet, Notes, My Files, Health, Calculator, Calendar, Wallet, and Bixby, alongside having Google’s entire suite of apps pre-installed and some Microsoft ones too, but there’s nothing stopping you selecting your preferences.

I mentioned Bixby, but it’s Google’s Gemini that’s being pushed as the AI wonder. It’s a bit of a mixed bag and there are definitely some AI for AI sake features going on here, just like there are on all other phones in my opinion. That said, a couple are executed very well.
AI Summarise will let you quickly analyse the content on your screen to give you an overview, while the AI Select function is easily accessible by swiping in from the right edge of the device. Once you choose the AI Select icon, you can draw around anything on your screen that you want to know more information about, or relevant search results on.

Circle to Search, which was first introduced on the Galaxy S24 has also been improved, and is now able to not just analyse images on your screen but it can listen to audio too in order to identify what is playing. There’s also natural language input so you can search your Gallery with a prompt like “find pictures of horses from my trip to Sweden”, though I had very mixed results from this, with it mainly not working.

Cross-App Actions is interesting, allowing you to perform multiple actions across several apps with one prompt. It only works across Samsung and Google apps at the moment, but WhatsApp and Spotify support is due to arrive shortly and it was great for adding upcoming fixtures from your favourite team, for example.
Overall, I liked the Gallery Generative Edit feature the most – or found that the most useful I should probably say. It allows you to remove people or objects and you can remove multiple at once so you don’t need to do each person or thing separately. It’s quick and the results are actually pretty impressive.




Last thing I am going to mention here is the Now Brief and Now Bar. The Now Brief appears morning, noon and night and it is designed to deliver useful information like weather conditions and health scores if you have a Samsung wearable on. It’s fine, but it’s not a reason on its own to upgrade to the Galaxy S25.
The Now Bar appears in between the camera and phone icon on the lock screen and it’s a cross between Dynamic Island on iPhone and Live Activities – again, it’s nice but it’s not the sole reason to invest here.
Battery life
- Battery will get you through the day and evening
- Average charging speeds
- Supports wireless charging
The Samsung Galaxy S25 has the same capacity battery as the Galaxy S24 – I know, I know, we’re back into the no-change territory. There is some change here though, in that there has been an upgrade in processor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy which is said to be more efficient. The One UI 7 software should improve things too.

I thought the battery life was decent overall. While it doesn’t last as long as the OnePlus 13R, this is a smaller device and that needs to be taken into consideration. I finished the day with over 30 percent most days, with some days a little more, so while it’s not a two-day device, it should get you through one without a problem.
Charging speeds aren’t the fastest, topping out at 25W wired and 15W wireless. That’s quite a bit slower than the likes of the OnePlus 13R that supports 80W charging, but it’s also similar to Apple and Google and I don’t think it makes a huge difference in reality. At least it doesn’t to me.
I change my phone overnight so I typically wouldn’t notice how long it takes to go from 1 percent to 100 percent as I would (hopefully) be asleep. Where the faster charging speeds do help is when you need a quick top-up before you rush back out the door for the evening, for example, so it’s something to keep in mind that you won’t get 50 percent in 15 mins, but not having 100W charging here isn’t what I consider to be a deal breaker.
Should you buy it?
Buy it if you want a small and compact Android phone
Most flagship Android phones are much bigger than what the Galaxy S25 offers so if you’re after a little pocket powerhouse, it’s a superb option.
Don't buy it if you want the best Samsung phone around
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has a number of extra features and advancements on the Galaxy S25 so while the software is the same, if you want the best Samsung offers, it’s the Ultra you’ll want.
Final Thoughts
The Samsung Galaxy S25 doesn’t usher in huge amounts of change compared to the Galaxy S24 so unless you’re really looking for a hardware boost, if you have last year’s model, there is little reason to upgrade.
That said, if you have an older Samsung Galaxy S model, or another phone that is a couple of years old, the Galaxy S25 is a pocket powerhouse. It has a lovely small form factor that is a delight to hold, a great display, consistent camera results and a smooth and slick performance.
There are some clever AI features on board too, and the software makes for a great user experience overall. It might not be the S25 series device that offers it all, but if you’re looking for a small and powerful Android phone, this is a brilliant option.
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Used as a main phone for a week
- Thorough camera testing in a variety of conditions
- Tested and benchmarked using respected industry tests and real-world data
FAQs
No. The Samsung Galaxy S25 comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable in the box but not a power adapter.
Yes. The Samsung Galaxy S25 is IP68-rated for water and dust resistance.
Yes, but there are no magnets built into the phone so if you want to use this standard, you’ll need to use a compatible case.
Test Data
Samsung Galaxy S25 Review | |
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Geekbench 6 single core | 3101 |
Geekbench 6 multi core | 9450 |
1 hour video playback (Netflix, HDR) | 5 % |
30 minute gaming (light) | 3 % |
Time from 0-100% charge | 90 min |
Time from 0-50% charge | 33 Min |
60-min recharge (no charger included) | 82 % |
30-min recharge (no charger included) | 46 % |
15-min recharge (no charger included) | 22 % |
3D Mark – Wild Life | 5921 |
GFXBench – Aztec Ruins | 92 fps |
GFXBench – Car Chase | 120 fps |
Full Specs
Samsung Galaxy S25 Review | |
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UK RRP | £799 |
USA RRP | $799 |
Manufacturer | Samsung |
Screen Size | 6.2 inches |
Storage Capacity | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB |
Rear Camera | 50MP + 12MP + 10MP |
Front Camera | 12MP |
Video Recording | No |
IP rating | IP68 |
Battery | 4000 mAh |
Wireless charging | No |
Fast Charging | No |
Size (Dimensions) | 70.5 x 7.2 x 146.9 MM |
Weight | 162 G |
ASIN | B0DPR51VV2 |
Operating System | OneUI 7 (Android 15) |
Release Date | 2025 |
First Reviewed Date | 07/02/2025 |
Resolution | 1080 x 2340 |
HDR | No |
Refresh Rate | 120 Hz |
Ports | USB-C |
Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite |
RAM | 12GB |
Colours | Icy Blue, Mint, Navy, Silver Shadow, Pink Gold, Coral Red, Blue Black |
Stated Power | 25 W |