Samsung Galaxy S25 Series: Incremental Upgrades or Missed Opportunities?

The Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra are the newest phones in Samsung's Galaxy S25 line, which released on February 7th 2025. 

Samsung claims the new version has better AI alongside its minor design changes, but many users and influencers aren't sure if these are big enough changes to deserve an upgrade. 

But let's be honest, there's nothing new here - this has been the case for the last few years. 

So let's take a look at the specifics to see if Samsung's newest smartphones really stand out in the crowded market.

Real improvements to AI or more marketing hype?

Samsung has added advanced AI features to the S25 series in order to make it easier for people to use such as:

Technology for ProScaler: taken from Samsung's TV business, ProScaler uses AI to boost the quality of the information being viewed on the screen by up to 40%, while reducing artefacts. 

The Audio Eraser: a great tool for users in noisy surroundings since it can analyse and isolate sounds in video footage. This way, users may adjust volumes and reduce background noise. 

Now Bar and Now Brief: simplify your day-to-day tasks with contextually relevant briefs and recommendations. These tools integrate with many apps and functionalities. 

These AI-powered features are meant to make the user experience better, but some users are unhappy with them and say they are useless and not useful. Some people think that Samsung may be overestimating how interested people are in AI, and others see these changes as just marketing tricks. 

Design and hardware: small changes

The design language of the Galaxy S25 series is close to that of its predecessors, with a few small changes:

Cleansed Looking good: the S25 Ultra now has rounded ends and flat edges, making it look more like the other S series products. 

The S25 is 7% thinner and 5g lighter than its predecessor the Samsung S24, with a new camera ring.  

Visuals: the S25 Ultra has a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X  which is the same display as the Samsung S24 Ultra. The S25 Ultra does have an speed rate that can be adjusted from 1 to 120Hz and a maximum brightness of 2,600 nits, so pictures look great. 

Durability: Gorilla Glass Armour 2 is built into the devices, which means that the screens will be better and have less glare.

Even with these improvements, the overall design hasn't changed much, which has made some people wonder why there hasn't been more major innovation.

Small steps forward for the camera system

There are minor revisions to the camera setup:

The S25 Ultra's ultra-wide sensor: upgraded to 50 megapixels from 12 megapixels in earlier generations, allowing for better macro shooting. 

Primary Camera: the 200MP sensor, which has been there all along, keeps on delivering high-resolution photos. 

Although these enhancements are commendable, they could not entice customers to upgrade from more recent models.

The battery life and performance

Since Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU powers the S25 series, it should come with better speed however the battery sizes are still pretty low.

The Galaxy S25 still has a 4,000mAh battery - the same as the Samsung S24 offering no real improvement

This also applies to both the the Galaxy S25 Plus (4,900mAh battery) and S25 Ultra (5,000mAh battery) which both have the same battery sizes as last year’s Samsung S24 Plus and Samsung S24 Ultra.

There are some small changes to the design and AI in the new version, but many users and reviewers aren't sure if these are big enough changes to warrant an upgrade. Which is still pretty normal these days. 

People who want their batteries to last longer might be let down that there haven't been any big changes.

Missed opportunities

DeX: Samsung has neglected to significantly improve DeX, its desktop-like experience feature. Potential enhancements could have included:

• Expanded S Pen functionality within DeX.

• Preset options for app arrangements.

• Improved multitasking capabilities.

RAM: while the base model now has 12GB of RAM, Samsung missed the opportunity to upgrade the Ultra to 16GB.

Innovation Cycle: critics argue that smartphone innovation feels stuck in an annual refresh cycle, with companies like Samsung potentially needing to rethink yearly releases.

So is it worth it to upgrade?

Despite a few AI-powered functions and some small design improvements, the lack of major new features and small tech improvements makes it clear that upgrading isn't worth it. 

Much Like the jump from the iPhone 15s to the iPhone 16s, it's hard to see any reason for this. At this point, it feels like mindless consumption.

As the market for smartphones gets more and more crowded, companies like Samsung need to come up with really cool new features to get people interested.

In the meantime it's worth checking out our best deals where you can get up to 40% off on premium refurbished Samsung's. What makes it even better is we also offer flexible financing options.