What the Galaxy S25 Needs to Be the Android Phone to Beat in 2025

Samsung launched a mixture of helpful and forward-looking upgrades within the Galaxy S24 lineup, corresponding to longer battery life on the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus and Galaxy AI throughout all fashions. Now, with the Galaxy S25, I am hoping to see Samsung make strides in each of these areas. 

Given Samsung’s emphasis on AI, there is a sturdy probability the Galaxy S25 will include new Galaxy AI options. Samsung primarily stated as a lot throughout its developer convention in October, throughout which it teased its new One UI 7 software program replace that shall be debuting on the S25 lineup. 

Samsung’s present Galaxy AI options present promise, however I need the following iteration to have a much bigger affect on the general cellphone expertise. The present options really feel very focused at particular use instances that won’t come up all that usually, corresponding to language translation and picture enhancing. 

In any other case, I would wish to see sooner charging and different optimizations to core parts of the telephones such because the digicam and show. 

Learn extra: Why Google’s New Android VP Says ‘People Don’t Want to Hear About AI’

Extra impactful Galaxy AI options

Proper now, Galaxy AI and different non-Samsung generative AI options really feel like only the start. Samsung began by making use of generative AI to apparent and sensible use instances, corresponding to erasing objects from pictures, translating textual content conversations and real-time cellphone conversations, producing polished photos from tough drawings, and previewing movies in gradual movement and saving the outcomes. 

What I actually need is a extra dramatic rethinking of how primary duties get achieved on our telephones that makes utilizing them really feel simpler and sooner. Of all of the AI options out there on Samsung telephones to date, Circle to Search embodies this concept the perfect by slicing out the center step of launching Google to seek for an object. Extra of this, please!

I need new AI instruments that assist handle the limitless stream of notifications, knowledge and media on my cellphone. The Pixel 9 lineup’s new Screenshots app, which helps you to seek for content material inside your screenshots, is an efficient instance of this, as are the notification and textual content message summaries in Apple Intelligence, which simply launched as a part of the corporate’s iOS 18.1 replace. Though they’re removed from good, message summaries ended up being one among my favourite new options in Apple Intelligence.

Sally Hyesoon Jeong, Samsung Electronics’ government vice chairman and head of the framework analysis and improvement group, hinted that Samsung’s subsequent cell software program replace may align with this theme. In the course of the firm’s developer convention, she stated One UI 7 could be higher outfitted to grasp your intention and “reduce complexity,” though she did not expose particular particulars in regards to the software program. 

That path additionally falls consistent with earlier feedback that Patrick Chomet, Samsung’s government vice chairman and head of buyer expertise, made to CNET in regards to the firm’s strategy to software program. 

“[You’d] by no means must go to the settings, otherwise you by no means must search for the following motion,” he stated in a previous interview when discussing how the corporate needs to make the software program on Samsung telephones smarter. “Chances are you’ll not have to open [an] app.”

As I wrote in my evaluation, I feel Samsung missed an opportunity and will have given the Galaxy S24 Ultra unique Galaxy AI options that are not out there on the cheaper fashions. This might not solely assist justify its excessive value however reinforce the Extremely within the cellphone’s title. We’ll see if it takes a distinct strategy subsequent 12 months. 

Altering the way in which we use our telephones isn’t any small feat. Given how a lot we depend on them for primary duties, asking shoppers to undertake a brand new manner of doing issues may very well be extra disruptive than useful if achieved the improper manner. I do not anticipate Samsung to vary the whole working system in a couple of months, however I would wish to see a step in a brand new path, much like Circle to Search. 

Learn extra: What I Learned After Swapping My Apple Watch for Samsung’s Galaxy Ring

Quicker charging

I am glad Samsung boosted the Galaxy S24’s battery life. Now, it simply wants sooner charging. The Galaxy S24 helps 25-watt wired charging, whereas the Galaxy S24 Plus and S24 Extremely assist 45-watt wired charging. It has been that manner for years, at the least since the Galaxy S20 generation. 

With firms like OnePlus providing blazing-fast charging speeds, I would wish to see some enchancment from Samsung. The OnePlus 12, for instance, gives 80-watt charging within the U.S. and 100-watt within the UK, which enabled my colleague Andrew Lanxon to replenish the battery totally in simply 26 minutes. 

Samsung, it is time to step up. 

Glare discount on the whole lineup

One of many Galaxy S24 Extremely’s most underrated options is the display’s Corning Gorilla Armor for decreasing glare and reflections. With the display arguably being a very powerful a part of the cellphone, any enchancment is welcome. My colleague Lexy Savvides was significantly taken with the S24 Ultra’s antiglare display, discovering that it was simpler to see than the iPhone 15 Professional, Pixel 8 Professional and Galaxy S23 Extremely on a sunny San Francisco day. 

This coating is just on the Galaxy S24 Extremely. Since display high quality is so important on a cellphone, there is a sturdy case to be made that Samsung ought to increase this to all Galaxy S25 fashions. The Extremely’s large display, S Pen and extra subtle digicam are greater than sufficient to separate Samsung’s tremendous high-end cellphone from the remainder of the lineup.

Learn extra: Don’t Buy a New Phone Just for AI. At Least Not Yet

Digicam upgrades

Samsung made a splash with the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 200-megapixel fundamental digicam when it debuted in 2023. Megapixels solely inform one aspect of the story in relation to images. Elements like sensor measurement, pixel measurement and aperture, together with the chip’s picture sign processor, are simply as vital because the sheer variety of megapixels in relation to figuring out how good of a digicam your cellphone might be.

Samsung has made enhancements in these areas too through the years, however now that it is going through contemporary competitors from Xiaomi, it has to work more durable if it needs to actually be the king of smartphone images. 

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra has a large picture sensor that is bigger than those you may discover on the Galaxy S24 Extremely, enabling it to realize spectacular photographs with a large dynamic vary that CNET’s Andrew Lanxon referred to as a few of the greatest photos he is ever seen from a cellphone. A bigger sensor permits a digicam to seize extra gentle for improved picture high quality, lessening the necessity for noise discount.  

I would additionally wish to see extra sensible enhancing options. I used to be enamored with the iPhone 16’s Photographic Types characteristic, which applies an impact to a picture personalized to the scene. I am not saying Samsung ought to launch its personal model of Photographic Styles, however I would wish to see new instruments that elevate the aesthetic of your pictures that do not have something to do with utilizing generative AI to change the picture’s content material.

General, I am hoping Samsung ranges up the digicam, show and charging speeds, all whereas introducing new software program options that make its telephones really feel extra intuitive than earlier than. Samsung usually releases new Galaxy S telephones within the first quarter of the 12 months, so we’re anticipating to listen to extra within the coming months.