Samsung’s first Unpacked event of the year is done and over with, and the Galaxy S25 series is finally official. Ahead of tonight’s launch, we were given the opportunity by the company to try out all three models from the new line-up, albeit just briefly. Here’s what we can share with you at this time.
To start, the design for the Galaxy S25 trio is finally consistent again, thanks to the Ultra variant adopting rounded corners like its siblings. Ever since the Galaxy S22, each iteration of the Ultra has indirectly served as a tribute to the brand’s dearly missed Galaxy Note series by featuring its iconic blocky design and the integrated S-Pen feature.
This design shift suggests Samsung may be moving past its homage to the Note series at last. Whatever the reason may be, at least all three models now make for a nicer family photo together.
Samsung says the trio are lighter than their predecessors, but this is something that’s barely noticeable when having each model in hand. Things do feel different ergonomically when it comes to the Galaxy S25 Ultra due to the change, which does make for a more comfortable one-handed experience.
Improved performance is a given, thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip powering all three variants, and Samsung said the cooling systems have been improved as well. However, we were unable to evaluate these due to the limited time given.
For better or worse, those mentioned are pretty much the significant specification changes for the series. As revealed by last night’s launch, the trio comes with the same RAM and storage options as before, though it should be noted that the vanilla model now starts with 256GB storage rather than 128GB.
Even though their respective battery capacities and charging rates are also unchanged, Samsung noted that there are improvements in power efficiency, assuring longer battery life for all three models. Needless to say, you can expect us to put that claim to the test once the review units arrive.
As for imaging, only the Galaxy S25 Ultra gets an upgrade: a new 50MP ultra-wide sensor over its predecessor’s 12MP. Everything else, including the configurations for the vanilla and Plus models, are unchanged. As far as quality is concerned, all three models perform closely similar to previous models, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are also some new AI-enhanced features to play around with, namely the new Virtual Aperture mode and the Audio Eraser tool for video recordings.
Speaking of AI, expect to find newly added One UI and Galaxy AI features on the Galaxy S25 series, along with sprinkles of Google Gemini spread across. These include the Now Brief organiser tool, the Now Bar feature that displays real-time updates at the bottom of the lock screen, upgraded Circle to Search, and many more. As before, Samsung says most of these are free until the end of the year, but whether or not users will actually be charged by then remains to be seen.
And that’s all about the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S25 series for now. As much as we want to share more about them, we’ll be saving our opinions once we’ve conducted the necessary evaluations for each model, so stay tuned.
To quickly recap, all three Galaxy S25 variants are available now for pre-order in Malaysia starting today until 13 February 2025. Pricing-wise, the vanilla model starts from RM3,999 while the Plus and Ultra starts from RM4,999 and RM5,999 respectively. Note that the entry configurations for all three phones are actually cheaper than their predecessors at launch, though not by much.
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