Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy S25 Ultra, S25+, and S25 at its first Unpacked event for 2025. While the devices all sport minor hardware changes, the main focus for Samsung, as with last year’s Unpacked, is around Galaxy AI.
Spearheading the AI focus this year is Samsung’s One UI 7 Android 15-based operating system which has been “rebuilt from the ground up as an AI operating system,” according to Justin Hume, Vice President of Mobile at Samsung South Africa.
Samsung doubles down on AI with Galaxy S25
Thanks to its revamped One UI 7, Samsung introduced a host of new AI-related features with the Galaxy S25 series that build on current Galaxy AI features. Samsung is leaning on its close partnership with Google to provide an ‘integrated AI platform’ on its new devices. That essentially means Google’s Gemini will come preloaded.
It also means Samsung allows the integration of ‘AI agents’ that can better understand your context to anticipate what you want and can carry out simple tasks on your behalf. It’s not going to order food for you but a morning brief of the day’s weather and your upcoming commitments shouldn’t be an issue. The company calls this new feature ‘Now brief’ and ‘Now bar’ when it appears on the lock screen.
For the devices, the biggest external change is the rounded corners and flattened side rails. The change isn’t a big departure from the design of previous devices, with the exception of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Say goodbye to sharp edges gouging your palm. The flagship has been on a diet, boasting a reduced weight down to 218g over the 232g of the S24 Ultra. It’s also slightly slimmer and thinner.
New chipset and camera upgrade for Ultra
Internally, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has been upgraded with Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite ‘for Galaxy’ mobile chipset. Samsung says this brings a 37% CPU performance increase, a 30% GPU uplift, and a 40% increase for the NPU over the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
The other notable hardware upgrade is the new 50MP ultra-wide sensor, up from the 12MP sensor in the S24 Ultra. Most of the other specs remain unchanged so if you were hoping for a bigger battery or faster charging you’ll have to keep waiting. The same is true for the Galaxy S25+ and base models.
Mostly absent from this Unpacked was the Galaxy Ring, which Samsung has already confirmed is headed to South Africa, as well as the still kinda unofficial but now hinted-at Galaxy S25 Edge. The company is reportedly aiming for a May 2025 launch to accommodate the latter.
Price and availability
Samsung hasn’t introduced sweeping hardware changes with the Galaxy S25 series and it shouldn’t be long before the new Galaxy AI smarts arrive on older devices. Luckily, the launch prices of the new devices reflect that.
Samsung Galaxy S25 – R20,000 (12GB/256GB)
Samung Galaxy S25+ – R23,500 (12GB/256GB)
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – R30,000 (12GB/256GB)
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – R32,000 (12GB/512GB)
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – R35,000 (12GB/1TB)
The Galaxy S25 series is now available to pre-order and should arrive on local shelves on 14 February.
1st UPDATE (24/01): We’ve noticed a disparity between the Galaxy S25 series prices announced at this week’s Galaxy Unpacked event and the pre-order prices that appear on its website. We’ve reached out to Samsung for comment and will provide an update in due course.
2nd UPDATE (24/01): It turns out the (lower) prices announced at Galaxy Unpacked are the confirmed official prices. So maybe hold off on pre-ordering until Samsung’s website reflects the correct prices.
