Samsung Galaxy S25 Review: A Compact Flagship For Everyone

Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 is the series’ most pocketable device. Both in its form factor and price starting at $799.99 the same as last year’s S24. It shares a similar flair to its previous iterations with under-the-hood changes and AI enhancements. Having used the phone for a week, I can confidently tell you that it’s the best Galaxy Samsung has introduced in a while but takes the title for the best compact phone of the year already, in this review of the Samsung Galaxy S25.

Samsung Galaxy S25: Specs at a Glance

If you are a nerd like me then you may want to check out the key specifications of the Galaxy S25 before going any further.

Samsung Galaxy S25: Box Contents

In typical Samsung style, the company has not only gone minimal with the box design but its contents as well. It has a black textured look with the silhouette of the device at the top. Inside you’ll find these contents:

• Samsung Galaxy S25
• USB Type-C-to-C charging cable
• SIM ejector pin
• Manual and other paperwork

A Fresh Coat of Paint and AI Magic

A good phone is known not just for its design, build, and internals but the software as well. Samsung’s One UI 7 (review) is already preached for its stability, regular updates, and customizations. But this year, the company went ahead and gave the entire interface a refreshing coat of paint. Everything from the icons, Quick settings, and Recents has received a whole new look.

So you’ll be welcomed with a new setup screen when you boot up the S25 for the first time. We have discussed all the changes in One UI 7 in a separate read and covered the interface in depth as well. But if you saw this year’s Galaxy Unpacked event, you’ll know AI was the star of the show. Samsung calls the Galaxy S25 series the True AI companion for all the features they have packed in.

There are plenty of AI additions in the S25 this time around, like AI call transcripts which can record or transcribe calls in multiple languages. Or Now briefs which show a report of all the necessary things you want to check at a glance. Though my favorite ones were Writing Assist which can help you fix errors, proofread or change the tone of the texts, and work on any app. Along with the Audio eraser that removes unnecessary noise from videos so you can clearly hear the subject.

Then there is the new Gemini agent which can perform multiple tasks from one command. I can ask it to find nearby Chinese restaurants and share it with my friend on WhatsApp at once. Without me interfering once, it does all of it in seconds. So I can say that these new Galaxy AI features seem more practical compared to what Samsung offered last year. The best aspect is that given the concern for privacy lingering around AI, these features mostly work on-device.

Familiar Design, Now Refined for Comfort

We have the Icy Blue color variant of the Galaxy S25 with us at Beebom. Before this, I was using the Galaxy S24 to test the One UI 7 Beta, and switching to this device made all the refinements apparent immediately. It’s the lightest Galaxy device in the past five years coming at 162 grams only. The width has also slimmed down to 7.2mm compared to last year’s model which was 7.6mm in width.

Not sure how Samsung lost this much weight while keeping most of the internals the same. They also chamfered the previously flat edges. It all comes together to make the phone very comfortable and easy to hold. The sides no longer make it difficult to grip the device, nor does it seem too top-heavy. It’s the ideal blend of what works for these little smartphones, and Samsung has only refined its winning formula.

The vertical triple camera setup has a ring around it, similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 6. It rests on S25’s Armor Aluminum 2 frame and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 rear glass. So it can take a fall, and don’t tell my editor, but it did slide out of my grasp once. Fortunately, there was no scratch to speak of. The phone is also IP68 certified for dust and water protection, which safeguards from such accidents.

Apart from this, it’s the usual affair of volume and power buttons on the right. USB-C port, speaker, and SIM tray at the bottom, a plain left, and two mics at the top.

The front houses a beautiful 6.2-inch Full HD+ 2x AMOLED display. As always, Samsung has gone with its best panel which outputs slightly saturated colors, and inky but detailed blacks. Watching the recent Mission Impossible was such a thrilling experience on this display. The bezels are so slim, that at one point, they completely disappear making it seem like you’re just holding the screen itself.

This panel also houses the fast ultrasonic fingerprint scanner and is covered by the same Gorilla Glass Victus 2 as the back. Samsung has also done a charming job with the speakers this time. The stereo setup sounds fuller and has a good depth for lower frequencies. It isn’t immediately noticeable until you put it side-by-side with the Galaxy S24. Then it becomes evident.

Performance that Pushes the Limits

Samsung has outfitted the Galaxy S25 with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite (benchmarks) in all regions. To be more precise, it is 8 Elite designed for Galaxy or a more optimized version of the chipset. This is coupled with 8GB LPDDR5X RAM and 128 or 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage.

Those of you who watch performance comparisons must be really happy reading the spec sheet. For those who don’t know what I am on about should check out the benchmark numbers in the images above. I couldn’t believe the numbers when I saw them for the first time. The Galaxy S25 outputs almost a 33% jump in results across the board compared to the S24 running Exynos 2400.

I also conducted several gameplay tests. In games like Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG Mobile, the graphics default to maximum. I played them both at 120FPS with medium graphics, and they performed smoothly. With Genshin Impact, I enabled performance mode and even it couldn’t make a dent. The S25 remained cool as I fought multiple foes during my 30-minute gaming session at high visuals and 60FPS.

It even handled the problematic Warzone Mobile. With the visuals set to High and the FPS to Unlocked, I jumped into a match of battle royale. There were few performance hiccups, particularly during intensive gunfights, but it never slowed to a crawl. These issues were rectified when switching to low graphics. The best part was that it didn’t heat up much. We can thank the 8 Elite for this which somehow outputs such good performance without heating up like a steam engine.

Another charming effect of using the Snapdragon 8 Elite is its effect on battery life. Despite delivering such levels of performance, it somehow manages to be battery-efficient. I had assumed that the tiny 4,000mAh cell of the S25 won’t be able to last very long. However, I got around 4.5 to 5 hours of screen time which was on par with the S24. When kept idle, the device only lost 2-4% battery in overnight drain.

These results were consistent in my week’s worth of usage. The only big difference was the initial day of testing when I ran all the benchmarks. While I am content with the battery, I wish Samsung had bumped up the charging speed from 25 watts. The smartphone takes just a little over an hour to charge to full from an empty tank. This speed slows to a crawl if you go the wireless route.

Preserving Cameras That are Still Impressive

The Galaxy S25 comes with a combo of three sweet snappers. This includes a a 50MP main sensor, a 10MP 3x telephoto lens, a 12MP ultra-wide snapper, with another 12MP selfie shooter on the front. This is a tried and tested setup that Samsung has used in the Galaxy S24 series as well, and it keeps flexing it’s muscles in this device too.

The 50MP f/1.7 shooter is the highlight for me. This 24mm lens captures some great photos with all the elements carrying rich details. The smartphone keeps a tight focus on the subject while preserving highlights. The colors are vibrant, though slightly toned down to give a natural appeal. I like this balance as they photos don’t look devoid of colors as with some other flagships devices.

The 10MP 3x telephoto helps you get close and personal with your subjects. You can use it to take some scenic shots, whether it is a bright sunny day or neon filled lights of Connaught place in Delhi. The real show of talent is using this lens for capturing human subjects. It creates a light bokeh which makes your subject stand out. The Samsung’s post processing further hightens the image quality.

The 12MP ultrawide also serves well and takes neat looking wide shots. There’s not a lot of fish eye effect to speak of here, and the 120 degrees of view is enough that you don’t need to back up much to capture the whole view. I like the results it produces which appear clear and on par with some other flagship phones. Though at night, things can get slightly grainy at times.

On the selfie front, the S25’s 12MP shooter clicks natural-looking photos. They looks pretty nice, and the shots are on par with what we had with the Galaxy S24. The portrait mode here does its job well and properly blurs the background for some social media-ready snaps.

As for the video front, the phone can do up to 8K video in 30FPS, and shoot 4K 60FPS video from all its cameras. Including the front one which makes it a compelling option for those who like to capture vlogs. The good news here is that you can record Super Steady footage at 4K 60 FPS too.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Verdict: Making a Strong Case

In my S25 Ultra vs iPhone 15 Pro Max comparison, I mentioned that Samsung has found a safe design language that they want to stick with. There is nothing wrong with that as long as they keeping refining further which they have done here. I also have to give the company kudos for going with the 8 Elite chipset across all regions. I have nothing against Samsung’s Exynos processors but in all honesty, Qualcomm simply does it better.

As discussed at the start, the Galaxy S25 starts at $799.99 which is the same price as the S24. Without any price increase, you get an improved design, better battery efficiency, a 33% increase in performance, and new AI stuff to play with.

If you want a compact phone with the latest and greatest of everything that there is, then your options are pretty slim. And the chipset alone is a compelling enough reason to pick this phone at the moment. It is promised to get 7 years of updates, and I put my belief in the processor that 7 years down the line, the Galaxy S25 will be chugging smoothly as ever.