Samsung Galaxy S25 Review – The Better Bet

Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy S25

Kicking off our Samsung Galaxy S25 review with the unboxing, it comes in a similar packaging as its predecessor last year. If anything, the difference is only in the picture of the device, this time with a 45° angled side profile just like its Ultra brethren. It’s minimalistic in design as usual and there seems to be no changes in its dimensions. Inside the box, we found the following items:

• USB-C to USB-C cable
• SIM ejector pin
• Documentations
• The Samsung Galaxy S25 itself

Specifications

SoC	Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, 3nm
RAM	12GB
Storage	128GB / 256GB / 512GB
Display	6.2″ FHD+ (2340 x 1080) Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Vision Booster HDR10+ 2,600 nits peak brightness Adaptive color tone 1Hz to 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate
Rear Camera	50MP f/1.8 wide angle camera, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS 10MP f/2.4 telephoto camera, 3x optical zoom, PDAF, OIS 12MP f/2.2 120˚ ultra-wide LED flash, auto-HDR, panorama 8K@24/30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+, stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS
Selfie Camera	12MP f/2.2 80° wide-angle selfie cam, Dual Pixel PDAF
Connectivity	Tri-band Wi-Fi 7 with Wi-Fi Direct 5G, LTE Bluetooth 5.4 with A2DP and LE GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS NFC USB-C 3.2 with DisplayPort 1.2 and OTG
Battery	4000mAh 25W wired fast charging USB-PD 3.0 fast charging 25W wireless Qi2 charging 4.5W reverse wireless charging
Dimensions	146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm, 162g
Ingress Protection	IP68
Software	One UI 7 based on Android 15
Colors	Navy, Icyblue, Mint, Silver Shadow (Blueblack, Coralred, and Pinkgold are online-exclusive)

Performance

Starting off our benchmark suite with Antutu v10, the Samsung Galaxy S25 performed where we expected it to given the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip that powers it. I’m surprised that the score is noticeably lower than its Ultra brethren since both devices are powered by the same chip. Could it be because of thermal throttling or did it get clocked down to be able to run more efficiently over a long period of use? We’ll find out in just a bit.

Moving on to Geekbench 6, a similar pattern can be seen here, and this one is pretty much within my expectations completely. After all, the Snapdragon 8 Elite devices are quite close together in terms of performance in both areas, and I’m surprised it came quite close to an ROG Phone 9 with an overclocked profile. The CPU performance is definitely admirable.

In 3DMark, the Samsung Galaxy S25 performed on par with the other Snapdragon 8 Elite devices in Wild Life Extreme and Solar Bay. In Steel Nomad Light however, it performed significantly weaker in comparison as the score is less than half of the other devices. On the subject of thermal efficiency, it has a stability rating of 48.6%, which means that thermal throttling occurs rather frequently, more so than the Ultra.

Lastly in PCMark’s Work 3.0 benchmark, the Samsung Galaxy S25 showed admirable performance as it’s virtually identical to the first and second runner up, and it might be a bit unfair when you consider that the top spot is running in overclocked mode. Unfortunately, it didn’t break the 20,000 mark but it’s closed enough. This should be a clear indicator that it’s a very strong device for a daily driver.

For those of you who are wondering about its battery life, the Samsung Galaxy S25 had a good showing in PCMark’s Work 3.0 endurance test as it lasted 12 hours and 16 minutes (736 minutes). In case you’re wondering, the Galaxy S24 lasted 10 hours and 39 minutes (639 minutes), which is impressive considering that the battery capacity is unchanged. It appears that the new chip is indeed more efficiently, noticeably so even. You can easily get a full day’s worth of use here, a day and a half if you’re a light user.

As for charging speed, this is what we got using a 100W GaN charger starting from 2% battery life:

• 15 minutes = 31%
• 30 minutes = 62%
• 45 minutes = 76%
• 60 minutes = 92%
• 71 minutes = 100%

Do note that it only supports up to 25W charging speed at most.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S25’s camera hardware remains the same as its predecessor.. On the back, it features a 50MP primary sensor (defaulting to 12MP shots), a 12MP ultrawide lens, and a 10MP 3x telephoto shooter, while the front houses a 12MP selfie camera with autofocus. As expected, it can capture sharp details, vibrant colors, and lifelike contrast in good lighting, resulting in it being a reliable shooter for a whole lot of occasions. However, in dim environments, sharpness suffers, and capturing moving subjects becomes a challenge, often resulting in blurry shots.

While no smartphone camera excels in low light scenarios, competitors have made significant strides in this area. It’s not to say that you can never get good photos when it’s dark but if it’s anything in motion, it will be very challenging to do so. Selfies are typically pleasing with some light softening effects but once again, a good lighting is your best friend.

Like the Ultra, the Samsung Galaxy S25 camera evolution remains slow, with incremental improvements rather than groundbreaking upgrades. While it is still capable of delivering great results, it doesn’t feel like a major leap forward from its predecessor.

The Good

There are a number of good reasons to consider getting the Samsung Galaxy S25. For starters, it’s easy to love how compact this flagship is. It’s actually smaller and lighter than the S24, though it can be hard to notice at first glance. To be precise, it’s 0.1mm shorter, 0.4mm thinner, and 0.1mm narrower along with being 5 grams lighter. The weight difference is something you’d definitely notice. While it was never difficult to handle its predecessor, it did get even easier to wield this iteration.

While the display is pretty much unchanged, it still gives you a great experience. It’s still the same AMOLED panel, even with a matching 2600 nits peak brightness along with adaptive refresh rate going from 1Hz to 120Hz. It’s also a flat 6.2-inch Full HD+ display with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 (both front and rear). Basically, you get a superbly bright display with punchy colors that will be more than adequate even under bright sunlight.

The new One UI 7 seems to have been simplified to some degree, and I personally enjoy it as it looks cleaner and with superb fluidity. We’ve seen some good improvements in Galaxy AI here as well, especially for picture editing as it has a better understanding of the subject and elements in every picture now. It’s not perfect by any means, like the daily recap that Galaxy AI offers (Now Brief) can be a hit or miss affair, but there’s no denying how much it has improved since its launch. It will continue to get better and it’s something other Galaxy devices will be able to enjoy as well.

If you want to read more about the AI features, check out the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review by clicking right here as it’s pretty much shared with the entire series.

Next up, the stereo speakers on the Samsung Galaxy S25 sounds great. As usual, it consists of a bottom-firing speaker along with the earpiece acting as the front-facing one but what isn’t the usual is that the volume is seemingly slightly softer than its predecessor. However, the audio that comes out of it seems to be geared towards the lows, resulting in a fuller, deeper sound than before. It doesn’t come close to overpowering the mids and highs, resulting in richer audio, and it’s still more than adequately loud.

Lastly, the Samsung Galaxy S25 is priced really well, especially given the overall package. Retail price starts from RM3,999 and this is for the 256GB variant, which is plenty of storage space for a lot of consumers today. No matter how you spin it, it’s still a proper flagship with the latest and greatest chip that Qualcomm has to offer this year. The only reason why you wouldn’t go for this is if you prefer a larger screen, an S Pen, or possibly both but as it is, this specific variant is more than capable on its own for years to come.

The Bad

Of course, it has its share of drawbacks. For starters, while I did praise its display, what I would have loved is to see Gorilla Armor make its way outside of the Ultra variant and into this one. It’s not about having any added protection but the fact that Gorilla Armor brings anti-reflective properties. It would make it much easier to see the screen regardless of your surrounding environments, and it can potentially lead to higher battery life as you don’t need the brightness to be set at high levels in bright environments. Maybe we’ll get to see it next year.

While the battery life is great, it’s unfortunate that Samsung isn’t implementing any new technology for its battery. It’s still the same 5,000mAh lithium ion battery that you’ve seen for several years while the competition has started to embrace new battery technologies like Silicon Carbon battery with larger capacities. Again, it seems like Samsung is playing it safe here, which is understandable as they might risk a familiar disaster if they’re too gung ho in this department.

Lastly, on an overall level, the Samsung Galaxy S25 doesn’t bring any significant upgrades and changes over its predecessor. It’s lighter, slightly smaller, lasts longer per full charge, the speakers sound a bit better, and it uses the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. Other than that, everything is pretty much the same, including camera hardware, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is already powerful enough that most people won’t find much of a difference in performance for day to day use.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S25 doesn’t bring much changes from its predecessor but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a great flagship smartphone in a compact body. In fact, it feels like this and its Plus brethren stand out more than the Ultra variant given how well it performs overall, and within reasonable prices for a flagship. There’s really nothing major to complain about, and I’m very certain that this can serve virtually any consumer well for several years with ease. However, if you’re already using a Galaxy S24, it’s best to wait another year before upgrading unless you absolutely have to.

At the end of our Samsung Galaxy S25 review, I award this flagship smartphone with our coveted Gold Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Samsung Malaysia for sending us this smartphone for the purpose of this review.