The Samsung Galaxy S25 series Hands-on: If it ain’t broke

At Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event in San Jose, California, the company unveiled its new flagship S series devices: the Galaxy S25, the Galaxy S25+, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Before the event, I had the opportunity to try each smartphone hands-on.

This is crazy, and you would never expect it, but the S25’s design looks similar to its predecessors – that’s a joke, as Samsung devices have shared many of the same design elements for multiple years in a row. You can say this is similar to other brands, but Samsung’s changes are so minute each year that there’s barely been any progress in terms of design. The South Korean phone maker uses the “if it ain’t broke” philosophy, and it’s not broken, but it’s a tad boring.

There is some movement; however, the S25 Ultra now sports a flat frame and rounded corners, which allows it to match the S25 and S25+, but its body still seems pretty bulky. I’ve used the OnePlus 13 for the past month, so the Ultra feels like a chunky device in comparison. Compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the S25 Ultra, thankfully, doesn’t feel much bigger. However, there’s an awkward sharpness where the back of the device meets the frame, and you’ll notice it when you’re holding the handset. Specific devices have had this issue in the past, but I didn’t expect it on Samsung’s latest flagship.

The S25 and S25+ don’t have this problem; both feel relatively slim and great to hold.

With the flat frame and rounded corners, Samsung decreased the bezels’ width and increased screen size. I am a big fan of this, and I think the S25 Ultra looks premium as it’s practically bezel-less.

Small camera upgrades

On the back, the S25 Ultra has a familiar camera setup to its predecessors, with two telephotos, its primary shooter, and an ultra-wide camera. Spec-wise, Samsung has continued with its “it ain’t broke” philosophy and planted the same 200-megapixel primary camera, a 50-megapixel telephoto with 5x zoom, and 12-megapixel with 3x zoom as last year.

However, there is a new shooter as the ultrawide camera has been upgraded with a 50-megapixel sensor. During my hands-on period, I didn’t put these cameras through their paces, but I expect a similarly excellent experience to the S24 Ultra. I’ll try out this new ultrawide camera, as a 50-megapixel sensor should allow for more light and detail compared to last year’s 12-megapixel ultrawide. The 50-megapixel ultrawide also supports macro photography. I saw a demo of this, and it was pretty impressive; you can see the crazy amount of detail and textures in the fruit in the photo below.

Samsung’s “Hero Colour” is Titanium Silverblue, which, at first, I thought looked pretty dull and plain. However, when you hold the device to the light, there’s a glow, reminding me of the Galaxy Note 10 Ultra’s “Aura Glow” colour variant. It’s not as impactful as that colour variant, but it adds a bit of personality to this colour option. I’m now a fan of the new colour.

The S25 Plus’ new Hero Colour is Navy, which is probably my favourite of all the base colours. The S25 has Icyblue, which is also pretty nice. The Samsung-exclusive Black is pretty; it’s matte black all around the handset, compared to the other devices that break up the colour by using a silver frame. I like most of these colour options, and I wish this wasn’t a Samsung-exclusive colour, as I won’t get it to review.

One UI 7.0 brings helpful new features

One UI 7.0 debuts on the S25 series with features like the ‘Now Brief’ and the ‘Now Bar.’ The Now Bar is Samsung’s take on the iPhone’s Dynamic Island or OnePlus’s Live Alerts and works on your lock screen. It’ll show important information like how much longer you have on a timer or how long you’ve been recording your interview. Samsung says that this works with all of Samsung’s native apps and Google apps as well. Seeing Google Maps on the Now Bar seems like an ingenious idea and something I can use as it shows you the next direction, which is all I typically need when travelling. Samsung says third-party apps like Spotify and WhatsApp also work with the Now Bar; however, the company will also work with more companies to get them on it.

As part of One UI 7.0, the Now Bar gets a live section in the status bar. For instance, if you have a timer going, it’ll show the timer in the top right corner, which is similar to the OnePlus Live Alerts. Samsung couldn’t confirm whether every app that works on the Now Bar will also appear here, but the company said “most” will.

Even before reviewing the device, I could tell that this might be a feature I like. Interestingly, Samsung seems pretty hushed about this aspect of the ‘Now Bar’ feature, but having a direct competitor to the Dynamic Island on both the lock screen and when your device is unlocked seems invaluable. You can even cycle through the different Now ‘Bars’. If you had Google Maps, a timer, and Spotify all going simultaneously, you can cycle through these on either the lock screen or when they’re in the top right corner. This also works on iPhone’s Dynamic Island but can get messy if you have too many things going on at once (I tried having all three of the above features on Dynamic Island to compare, and the Spotify app stopped appearing).

There’s also the Now Brief, which takes a couple of days to understand your patterns, but after that, it’ll enter a summary of your day. You’ll get to see the weather, some news that might interest you, and any events you have for the day. The Now Brief will also appear on the Now Bar throughout the day; you’ll see it when you first wake up, in the evening, and sometime in between. Now Brief works with Samsung Routines, Digital Wellbeing, Travel, Music and Podcasts, YouTube Shorts, and even traffic updates. In the Now Brief Settings, there’s also something that says “Communication,” which I’m curious to learn more about. I’m interested in seeing how helpful this is as I use the device more. I can see how Now Brief showing me traffic updates on my way home from work is useful or showing me the latest YouTube Shorts from someone I’m subscribed to, but I also suspect that this might be a feature I rarely use.

And AI, of course

Besides the Now Bar, one of the coolest features coming to the S25 series is ‘AI Select.’ To use the feature, you have to pull on the iconic sidebar and at the top, you’ll see AI Select. After tapping, the AI Select interface will appear, and you can touch something on your screen and get options like translating or making a wallpaper; it’s contextual and reacts to your screen. The best aspect of this feature is making GIFs. For example, if you’re on a YouTube video, a GIF option will appear, and you can easily create a GIF. I’m a fan of this, as I struggle with my GIF creation.

The S25 series also has its own Gemini interactions. Samsung calls this a seamless experience, allowing Gemini to interact with other apps, like Messages and Samsung Calendar. During my demo session, the Samsung product manager showed an example of taking a picture of a soccer ticket. Then, Gemini added the information to the calendar, and you could send a text straight to your friend without getting out of the Gemini interface. The unique Samsung-exclusive feature is that it also works with Samsung apps like the Samsung Calendar or Samsung Notes apps.

Other features include Audio Eraser and Best Face, which I plan to try out during the review period. It’s worth noting that a lot of these features will trickle down to older Samsung devices when they update to One UI 7.0.

Samsung likes to take baby steps—making small updates, ensuring they work, and then launching them. This philosophy works with its design, cameras, and other features. Many of us in the tech space are getting a bit tired of this, but it makes sense and is how Samsung stays on top of the Android market—the company doesn’t want another Galaxy Note 7 incident. Plus, if you’re upgrading your device every three or four years, this will seem brand new.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series is now available for pre-order and will officially release on February 7th. In Canada, all three handsets have seen a price increase. The S25 starts at $1,198 CAD, the S25+ at $1,438.99, and the S25 Ultra at the insane price of $1,918.99; we can blame this on our dollar. Although the U.S. price for the S25 Ultra starts at $1,299, which converts to $1,862 CAD, so it looks like there’s a bit of a Canadian premium.

I expect a similar experience to last year’s phones, but I hope these AI features will surprise me and upgrade the experience. I’ll put the S25 Ultra through its paces for the next two weeks. In the comments below, let us know what you think about the S25 series.