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The next generation Samsung Galaxy should be near the top of anyone’s upcoming phones list. The upcoming flagship may still be months away at this point, but now that Apple has revealed its latest crop of iPhones, all attention has shifted onto what will be Samsung’s inevitable reply: the Galaxy S25 series.
With rumours and leaks starting to pick up steam, we’re starting to paint a clearer picture on what to expect from the Galaxy S25. It has a high bar to clear, as the Galaxy S24 Ultra remains one of the best all-rounder Android phones out there, and still has the edge on every rival in one or two key areas. Here’s everything expected, plus a wish list of features we’d love to see make the cut.
Expected price and release date
Samsung hasn’t officially confirmed the Galaxy S25 is on the way, but it would be a colossal shock if that wasn’t the case. The S24 trio have been some of 2024’s best-selling phones worldwide, and are far and away the most popular Androids. Given Samsung’s naming conventions reflect the year of sale, it’s also inevitable the S24’s successors will be called S25.
As for when, exactly? The smart money is on the middle of January, based on when Samsung pulled the covers off the S24 in 2024. Those phones were revealed on January 17 at an Unpacked event in San Jose, right around the corner from Google’s Mountain View campus – a sign of Samsung and Google’s closer working relationship, apparently.
This was a month earlier than Samsung’s usual February reveal. You had to go back as far as 2017, when the Galaxy S8 arrived, for the last time it picked a different month. Samsung has done its own thing for phone launches for years now, rather than piggyback off of trade shows like CES (also in January) or Mobile World Congress (which is held in early March).
A look at previous Galaxy phone launches shows this broken pattern:
- Galaxy S24: launched 17th January 2024
- Galaxy S23: launched 1st February 2023
- Galaxy S22: launched 25th February 2022
- Galaxy S21: launched 29th January 2021
Expect pre-orders to open directly after the event, with phones likely on sale a few weeks afterwards.
Pricing is a total mystery right now. As a reminder, the Galaxy S24 arrived at £799/$800, the S24 Plus at £999/$1000, and the S24 Ultra at £1249/$1299. The UK actually saw a reduction compared to the Galaxy S23 (which landed at £849/$800) and S23+ (£1049/$1000), but there was no change from the S23 Ultra (£1249/$1199).
Hardware and design rumours
There’s very little concrete info out there right now about the Galaxy S25 line-up, but several prominent leakers claim to have heard tech specs and design details. Yogesh Brar reckons a name change could even be in order: the S25 Ultra might become the S25 Note, and the S25 Plus will be known as the S25 Pro.
It’s practically a given that US-destined handsets will be powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processor. Originally it was unclear if other territories would get Exynos chipsets instead, but a new report from Korean outlet Hankyung Global Market suggests it’ll be Snapdragon across the board.
Storage and RAM amounts are unknown right now, as is battery capacity. Charging speeds are reportedly going to max out at 45W for the S25 Ultra.
Reports from a since-deleted tech leaker Twitter account indicated Samsung would move from home-grown camera sensors to Sony-supplied units for the S25 series, but other sources have said otherwise. Dutch site GalaxyClub suggests the S25 Ultra will get an improved 200MP main snapper, 50MP ultrawide, and two 50MP telephotos: one 3x and one 5x. The S25 and S25 Plus could see the same hardware as the previous generation, meaning a 50MP lead lens, 10MP telephoto and 12MP ultrawide.
The best hint we’ve had on design so far has come from Twitter tipster Onleaks, who shared a render of the Galaxy S25 Ultra complete with softer, more rounded edges and a slimmer screen. This lines up with dimensions suggested by leaker @UniverseIce, who says the S25 Ultra will be 8.2mm thick and 77.6mm wide – down from 8.6mm and 79mm respectively on the S24 Ultra. It’ll keep the 6.8in screen size, but will be that little bit easier to hold one-handed. The bezels will be slimmer than anything else on the market as a result.
Most recently, we’ve seen a video of alleged dummy units posted to YouTube. These non-functional devices seem to confirm the design rumours we’ve seen. The circle on the back of the device indicates where the wireless charging coil will be.
There’s been no word on what software improvements to expect, but it’s all but certain Samsung will take plenty of time during its reveal event to show off Galaxy AI in all its forms.
What we’d like to see
As much as Stuff loved the Galaxy S24 line-up, awarding both the regular S24 and S24 Ultra full five star scores, there’s always room for improvement. Here are a few of the areas we’d like to see Samsung improve for 2025:
New camera hardware
While Samsung’s image processing is undoubtedly very good, it has lost ground on the photography front to other brands that have been quicker to adopt new sensor tech. Even the S24 Ultra sat behind the very best cameraphones, with two zoom lenses that couldn’t stack up against single camera setups from Vivo, Oppo and Huawei, and a lead sensor that had a high pixel count, but lacked size compared to rivals that use 1in sensors. With only minor changes in 2024, I think it’s time for a total overhaul.
Faster charging
Apple has really stepped up its charging game for the iPhone 16, with every model able to suck down juice at up to 45W. That’s not as quick as the fastest Android rivals out of China, but is still almost twice as fast as the Galaxy S24 can manage. Apple’s line-up has faster wireless charging, too. Samsung really needs to get on board with Qi2 magnetic charging, and increase charging rates for all its S25 models – not just the Ultra.
One sweet spot S25
With Apple and Google mixing things up on size for their latest generations, I’m wondering whether there’s still a need for an S25 Plus. Last year’s effort did at least stand out a little more from the vanilla model, but not enough to justify its higher price. If Samsung did one Galaxy S25 – maybe with a 6.3in screen – and one Ultra, it would let the firm focus on the upgrades mentioned above rather than stretching its development team across three models.
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