Recently, ITC.ua reviewed the newest Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. It’s time to look at two more models of the flagship S25 series — Samsung Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus. Let’s take a look at the performance of Snapdragon Elite in a small body, check out Gemini AI, and evaluate the capabilities of the cameras.
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| Samsung Galaxy S25 | Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus | |
| Display | 6.2 inches 19.5:9, 2340×1080 pixels. 416 ppi, LTPO AMOLED 2X, HDR10+, 120 Hz | 6.7 inches 19.5:9, 3120×1440 pixels. 513 ppi, LTPO AMOLED 2X, HDR10+, 120 Hz |
| Processor | Qualcomm SM8750-AB Snapdragon 8 Elite, 8-core (2×6) | |
| Graphics adapter | Adreno 830 | |
| Memory | 12/128, 12/256, 12/512 GB, UFS 4.0 | 12/256, 12/512 GB, UFS 4.0 |
| Main camera | 50 megapixels, wide-angle, ƒ/1.8, OIS 10 megapixels, telephoto, ƒ/2.4, OIS 12 megapixels, ultra-wide, ƒ/2.2 | |
| Front camera | 12 megapixels, 4K/60 fps | |
| Modules and systems | 4G, 5G, WiFi 7 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.4 and NFC, aGPS, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo | |
| OS | Android 15 / One UI 7 | |
| Protection | YES, IP68 | |
| Battery | 4000 mAh, 25W fast charging, 15W wireless charging, 4.5W reverse charging | 4900 mAh, 45W fast charging, 15W wireless charging, 4.5W reverse charging |
| Body | Front and rear Corning Gorilla Victus 2 glass, aluminum sidewalls | |
| Dimensions | 146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm | 158 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm |
| Weight | 162 grams | 190 grams |
The Samsung Galaxy S25 and Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus arrived for review without a complete set and box, which is normal for test samples. But, of course, both S25s will come in a small, thin black box.
Inside will be the smartphone, documentation, a SIM card tray clip, and a USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable. The power supply, case and film/glass will have to be purchased separately.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 and Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus are visually similar to their predecessors last year. The only way to tell them apart is by two things: the color and the more massive rings around the rear camera unit.
The display takes up almost the entire front of the smartphone. The bezels are small, and at the top there is a 12-megapixel front camera (the same as in Ultra). The display is protected from scratches by the Corning Gorilla Victus 2 protective glass.
On the back are three main camera modules, a photo flash and the Samsung logo. Like the display, the main part of the back is protected from scratches by Corning Gorilla Victus 2 glass.
On the right side are the volume keys and the AI lock/call button. On the left side there is nothing. The top one has two microphones, and the bottom one has another microphone, a speaker, a SIM card slot, and a USB Type-C port.
The side frames, unlike the titanium Ultra, are made of durable Armor Aluminum alloy. It feels and looks just as good.
Samsung Galaxy S25 is quite compact by modern standards: dimensions 146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm and weight 162 grams. The smartphone is lightweight and, thanks to its size, fits well in the palm of your hand. Flat edges do not interfere with holding it with one hand.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus is slightly larger and heavier than its «counterpart: 158 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm and 190 grams. It is just as easy to hold and use the smartphone with one hand.
The glossy surface of both sides quickly collects traces of use. It’s good when these traces are not visible after wiping. Both are protected according to the IP68 standard. Short-term exposure to water should not cause any problems.
The color versions in the review are Ice Blue (Samsung Galaxy S25) and Mint (Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus). There’s also Navy and Silver Gray. On the Internet, I came across exclusive Coral, Blue-Black, and Rose Gold. In my opinion, all the colors look interesting.
Samsung Galaxy S25 features a 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with LTPO support. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus has a 6.7-inch screen with the same technologies. The screen resolution is 2340×1080 pixels for the S25 and 3120×1440 pixels for the S25 Plus. The maximum brightness for both displays is 2600 nits. The displays also have an adaptive refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz.
The display supports Always-On Display mode, which allows you to see the date and time, notification icons in locked mode. The peculiarity is that in this mode the image will be repeated with the image on the locked screen. Therefore, if you have a problem that the screen does not respond to swipes — now you have AOD. It’s good that there is a «classic black» option.
The screen stands out for its rich colors and high detail. The display does not fade at different angles. In the settings, you can change the color temperature, adjust the screen refresh rate for the entire system (automatic, 60 Hz, 120 Hz).
Smartphones have an underscreen ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, which is located closer to the bottom edge of the display. Smartphones are not huge, so the scanner is convenient to use. I had no problems with its operation. As with Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, be careful when choosing the thickness of the glass or film.
Samsung Galaxy S25 supports stereo sound, which is realized with the help of two speakers: the main and earpiece speakers. The sound is loud and clear, nothing buzzes even at 100%. There were no problems with the sound during a phone call.
Bass and volume are quite noticeable, detail and clarity are at a good level. There is support for Dolby Atmos on both speakers. I did not hear much difference between the modes (Movie, Music or Voice). The volume of the Samsung Galaxy S25 at 50% was 72 decibels, and at maximum — 85 decibels. Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus repeated these results. You will definitely hear an incoming call on both smartphones.
The vibration response performs its function properly. Unlike the Ultra, even the basic average value is well felt in the Samsung Galaxy S25 and Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus. Still, the smartphones are more compact, so the vibration response will be felt well in your pocket.
The smartphones have a triple camera setup. The main sensor is 50 megapixels (ƒ/1.8; 1/1.56″ sensor size) with optical stabilization and autofocus. The second module is a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with a 120-degree viewing angle and ƒ/2.2 aperture. The third module is a 10-megapixel (ƒ/2.4) telephoto module with 3x optical zoom and optical stabilization.
Here are examples of photos of different objects. There will be photos in 0.6x, 1x, 3x modes (all three in 12 megapixels). You can see the original photos at the link. A 50-megapixel mode is also available, but only for the main camera (digital zoom).
I have no questions about the detail of the photo during the daytime (in sunny and cloudy weather). Yes, sometimes the vegetation looks too green. Here’s an example of photos taken at night. As for me, both smartphones performed well. I will also add a few photos from the iPhone 15.
Video recording is supported at 8K/30fps and 4K/60fps. You don’t have to worry about video during the day or night.
The front camera is the same as in Ultra — 12 megapixels (ƒ/2.2). It takes high-quality photos and I didn’t notice any problems with it.
Samsung Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip with Adreno 830 graphics. The octa-core processor consists of two 4.47 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix V cores and six 3.53 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix M cores. The memory is available in 12/128 GB (S25 only), 12/256 GB, 12/512 GB. The permanent memory is in the ultra-fast UFS 4.0 format. Interfaces and modules are represented by Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO navigation services.
Snapdragon 8 Elite — is one of the most powerful chips available today. It’s good that Samsung has brought back the Qualcomm version of the processor for our market. Yes, according to benchmarks, it starts to trot after the first tests. Like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, the performance drop in 3DMark was 44%. On the one hand, it’s good that all smartphones in the line have the same performance.
Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus run on Android version 15 with the proprietary One UI 7 shell. I can’t say anything negative about the shell: everything works smoothly, I didn’t notice any major bugs. Only once did the installation of additional models for AI (voice recognition) stop and show an error. I rebooted and everything was restored. Thanks to 120 Hz and modern hardware the works very smoothly.
For those who like mobile gaming, I recorded fragments of Genshin Impact and Call of Duty: Warzone on maximum settings. I didn’t encounter any performance issues. However, the smartphones were quite hot.
In the previous review of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, we looked at the work of AI in creating, generating, and editing photos. The entire line of S25 series smartphones can do all of this. So let’s not dwell on this too much. The only thing I’d add is that it’s still difficult for AI to remove too small elements. So let’s take a look at the Gemini AI, which can be used with Samsung Galaxy S25 and Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus.
By pressing and holding the lock key on your smartphone, Google’s Gemini AI assistant is called up. It can answer questions that the user can ask in written or spoken form, scan and translate images, and more. Let’s test it with a question: «Hello. Could you tell me what my smartphone’s 3DMark score is?». We get a text with a description of the benchmark and the AI doesn’t understand what «my smartphone is».
No problem. We ask the same question, but change it from «my» to «this» smartphone. Does the AI need to know what it runs on? No, it didn’t, and suggested that I clearly specify the smartphone model in the search query. Of course, I was not satisfied with this answer.
I asked another question with the text that I had already done tests in 3DMark, they were saved in the Gallery and I needed to find them. Gemini replied that it did not have access to the files. By chance, the question was resolved: does the AI have access to the internal files of the smartphone? No, it doesn’t. This is actually a good thing.
However, I still didn’t get an answer to the main question. So I found a screenshot of the results myself, turned on Gemini, and a button appeared that allowed the AI to analyze the screen text and asked about the trotting result. Gemini answered quite clearly, even giving a conclusion about overheating. It made only one mistake: the result of the cycle did not fit into the screenshot, so the AI thought that 638 — was the minimum result in the test. And here we see another limitation — there is no understanding of the data from the graphs, otherwise the AI would not have made such an error.
I decided to do another test — search for the lyrics of a new song. The first few attempts were frankly unsuccessful. I tried to help, but in the end Gemini suggested that I search for it myself with the query «Ghost — Satanized lyrics» in Google. That’s exactly what I did after asking it to turn it on.
However, I didn’t give up and decided to try another AI option. In the Gemini app, you can choose between the following options: 2.0 Flash, 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental, and 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental with apps. I decided to use the latter, which should increase the chances of completing the task: I asked it to find and turn on a song (successfully) and say its lyrics. But again, the task was not completed. I was about to give up, but I clicked on that link myself, turned on Youtube Music, logged into my account, and saw the words I wanted. It gave me a new thirst for the search for truth.
After a few minutes of thinking, I asked Gemini again about the words. And lo and behold, the AI answered correctly! Well, almost. So without me logging in to Youtube Music, it would have continued to give a false answer. But for some reason, Gemini automatically translated the text from English to Ukrainian. Isn’t it a problem to get the text back? It turned out to be a problem so bad that I was shown the original text, then it disappeared, and Gemini answered: «I am artificial intelligence that works only with text. I do not have the necessary functions for such tasks».
As you can see, Gemini — is a far from perfect AI assistant. Many invisible limitations do not give a full understanding of what questions to ask to get the best possible answer. It will take some more time for artificial intelligence to develop.
Samsung Galaxy S25 is equipped with a 4000 mAh battery. There is 25W fast charging, 15W wireless charging and 4.5W reversible wireless charging. Connecting the 20W power supply to a smartphone allows you to charge the battery to 100% in up to 2 hours. Unlike the compact S25, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus has a 4900 mAh battery and 45W fast charging support.
The PCMark test showed 17 hours 9 minutes for the Samsung Galaxy S25 and 13 hours 35 minutes for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus. This is a good result. That is, the phones work quietly all day without needing to be charged. However, be careful when using AI, as it also requires additional CPU power and energy consumption.
Personally, I like regular-sized smartphones, not phablets. And Samsung Galaxy S25 is one of them. You don’t have to think about where to put it or how to «correctly» hold it in your hands. Of course, this convenience and compactness comes with one obvious problem: the battery. Yes, tests have shown good battery life. But for possible long trips, it’s better to have an additional power bank.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus is larger than the regular S25, but it didn’t cause any problems with holding it in your hand. Its battery is almost like the Ultra’s, although the screen is slightly smaller. If you think that Ultra is too big for your hand — Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus will suit you.
New versions of AI. While the smartphone was trying to talk to me and offering a choice of voice for answers, a window appeared with a choice of Gemini version. There are several types of assistant, but a paid option was also offered — for 909 hryvnia per month. Google realized that this was a Samsung smartphone and offered the first six months of free use. I didn’t test it, and I doubt it would have answered my tricky questions.
Youtube in the background. I like to listen to music through mixes, which Youtube makes of songs I’ve listened to before. Sometimes, it adds unknown songs that I might like. It’s cool and interesting. But to listen to music in the background, you need to pay for a Youtube Premium subscription (99 hryvnias/month). Samsung will help you save money if you use their browser.
Open Samsung Internet — More options (three dashes key) — Settings — Useful features — Play in the background — Press «Enable». If you use Youtube in this browser, you don`t have a reason to buy a subscription.
Opinions on the choice between the three variants of the S25 line Personally, I liked all three smartphones. However, I bought only two of them: Samsung Galaxy S25 and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Why? I like smartphones that can be completely held in the palm of my hand. The S25 fits the bill. And the Ultra? It just gives you a new experience.
Samsung Galaxy S25 is sold for 41999 UAH. This is the 12/128 GB version (98 GB is available to the user). For some people, this amount of storage will not be enough. If you are one of them, then you should check out the 12/256 GB version, which costs UAH 43999. The price of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus starts at UAH 51999 for the 12/256 GB version.
There are quite a few competitors in this price category. And the main ones are — iPhone 16 8/128 GB (44999 UAH) and iPhone 16 Plus 8/128 (UAH 49999). Also, do not forget about last year’s Samsung Galaxy S24 model for 35999 UAH for the 8/256 GB version An overview of it We already had one.
The competition is also made up of the Google Pixel 9 (12/128 GB from UAH 26499) and Google Pixel 9 Pro (16/128 GB from 32899 UAH). However, the Tensor G4 processor is not suitable for gaming. «Pixels» are not charged for them, but for the camera.
If you want an affordable option with the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, then it is the OnePlus 13 12/256 GB from UAH 28999 (review on the website), and for the 16/512 GB version — from 31550 UAH. And the Xiaomi brand for UAH 54999 offers its new flagship — Xiaomi 15 Ultra 16/512 GB.