The Galaxy S25's launch will commemorate 15 years since Samsung started making flagship Android phones. For that anniversary, it the company looks to be making sweeping changes in its designs for the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the software all Samsung phones share: One UI.
The launch of the Galaxy S25 is expected to bring the final version of One UI 7, Samsung's version of Android 15. This new UI design is sure to cause controversy for long-time Samsung fans, as we detail down the page.
Plus, Samsung looks to be sprucing up the design of the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus, as well as a fresh redesign for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Here's everything you need to know about Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S25 family!
Samsung Galaxy S25: Price and availability
One of the earliest rumors popped up in October 2023 and directly addressed the question of price. According to the leak, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite likely to power the Galaxy S25 series features "astonishing levels of performance" that may require Samsung to hike the price up a bit. Multiple independent leaks have since corroborated the expected price hike, with the latest one coming in December 2024, so get your wallets ready.
Samsung has already increased the price of the Galaxy S24 Ultra by $100, making the cheapest model $1,299. The Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus didn't get a base price increase, but this rumor certainly suggests that 2024 may be the last year we see a mainline Galaxy S phone as low as $799.
We fully expect Samsung to unveil the Galaxy S25 in January 2025, as the company has been sticking to an early annual announcement cycle for the last few years.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Design and displays
The Galaxy S23 simplified the Galaxy S series' design language with free-floating camera lenses, flat backs, flat displays, and rounded corners. The exception throughout that time was the Galaxy S Ultra model which, in any given year, featured more rounded side rails, square corners, and a much bigger profile than the other two models.
With the Galaxy S25, Samsung looks to be fully unifying the design language across all three models, including the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra, according to leaked renders.
As you can see from the images above, all three models look nearly identical in shape. All of them have flat sides all around, completely flat front and back glass, and rounded corners.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra's corners are a bit less rounded than the other two models and look similar to the Galaxy S21 Ultra's corners. We're personally excited about this as many weren't fans of the 90-degree-angle corners used on the last three models of Galaxy S Ultra phones, as some felt they dug into their palms too much when holding the phones with one hand.
All three models look to sport the same style of camera modules as the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which takes on a more traditional DSLR camera lens look with ribbed edges and thicker borders. Not everyone likes this style, though, and one leaker says the Galaxy S25 series could see changes from the Fold 6's camera lens design despite what the renders above show.
We've already obtained Galaxy S25 Ultra cases from Fiberborne — a new company from the folks that brought us our favorite Galaxy S24 Ultra cases — that back up the leaked renders of the new Galaxy S25 Ultra design.
The comparison photos in the gallery above showcase how the new design should have more comfortable corners while featuring flatter side rails.
These cases are still early, so there could be a few tweaks before the final product release. However, cases like these are historically based on physical phone prototypes, not CAD renders, meaning what you're seeing here is almost certainly the final look.
According to another rumor, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will see a size shift this year, coming in at 0.5mm shorter, 1.4mm narrower, and 0.4mm thinner than the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It will also retain the S Pen on the left side.
The Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus are rumored to launch in Midnight Black, Sparkling Green, Sparkling Blue, Silver Shadow, and Moon Night Blue colorways, per leaks of replacement SIM card trays. The Galaxy S25 Ultra, meanwhile, is expected to launch in seven different colors: Titanium Black, Titanium SilverBlue, Titanium Gray, Titanium WhiteSilver, Titanium JetBlack, Titanium JadeGreen, and Titanium PinkGold.
As usual, Samsung.com will likely offer more unique colors that can't be bought at other retailers.
- Galaxy S24 Ultra dimensions: 162.3 x 79.0 x 8.6 mm
- Leaked Galaxy S25 Ultra dimensions: 162.8mm x 77.6mm x 8.2mm
There are also rumors that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will be lighter than "all ultra flagship phones" like the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. That would put it under 221 grams, which means it'll at least be 12 grams lighter than the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim
This year, Samsung is rumored to launch one additional Galaxy S25 phone model compared to prior years. The past few years have delivered a smaller Galaxy S, a plus-sized Galaxy S Plus with a bigger screen and battery, a budget Galaxy S FE product, as well as a Galaxy S Ultra model that features the best camera, display, and S Pen available.
Now, several rumors point to Samsung developing a Galaxy S25 Slim model that's allegedly scheduled to launch later in the year, possibly in June. That's about five months after we expect the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup to launch, which means it could possibly make a debut alongside the Galaxy S25 FE. Surprisingly, some rumors say this slim model actually replaces the FE model.
Either way, the Galaxy S25 Slim looks to channel the best of the Galaxy S25 Ultra in a slimmer frame, including the triple camera array on the back with a 200MP main camera, 50MP ultrawide camera, and 50MP 3.5x telephoto camera. Samsung is said to be using a new ALoP (All Lenses on Prism) technology that slims down the camera modules without sacrificing image quality or functionality.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Cameras
Originally, the Samsung Galaxy S25 series was rumored to be making a huge change with its camera sensors. Per a December 2023 rumor, Samsung was going to stop using its own ISOCELL GN3 sensors on the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus in favor of using all-Sony sensors. However, more recent rumors suggest that isn't the case, and Samsung will be sticking with the same cameras, at least on the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus, for yet another generation.
Traditionally, Samsung seems to swap out at least one camera module (sensor and lens) per year. Samsung just updated one of the telephoto camera modules with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, so it's plausible that we could see an upgraded ultrawide or upgraded secondary telephoto lens on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
We do have some concrete details on the Galaxy S25 Ultra's camera tech thanks to a leaked Camera FV-5 listing (via GSMArena). According to the leak, the phone's main sensor will have an f/1.7 aperture and a 23.2mm equivalent focal length. The sensor's maximum resolution will be 4080×3060, photos will be binned to 12.5MP, and the sensor area will be 71.9mm2. Per separate rumors, it'll still be a 200MP shooter.
Additionally, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is expected to feature a 50MP Sony IMX854 telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom, a 10MP Sony IMX754 telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, and a 50MP Samsung JN3 ultrawide lens.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Software
Samsung's Android 15 update took a little longer than expected, it's currently available in beta. Samsung confirmed it will launch alongside the Galaxy S25 early next year and is called One UI 7.
One of the biggest reasons for the longer than usual development time is that One UI 7 is a complete overhaul of Samsung's UI, including new icons, a new visual style, more OS customization, and big changes to the notification panel and quick settings. Samsung is even working on significantly better animations, which showcased a similar enhancement that OnePlus recently debuted called parallel processing.
Additionally, Samsung is baking more AI and new parental control features into the OS, further strengthening the platform it launched earlier this year when the Galaxy S24 family introduced Galaxy AI.
Since the beta is available now, Samsung Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, and Galaxy S24 Ultra users can try it. In our One UI 7 beta hands-on, we described One UI 7 as making Samsung phones "feel fresh and new." So, one of the best things about the Galaxy S25 series may be One UI 7.
One additional upgrade in One UI 7 revolves around future updates. Samsung is said to finally be adopting Google's seamless update technology, meaning that system updates happen in the background while you're using your phone instead of taking forever to update after a reboot. It's a small but very welcome change.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Specs and performance
Rumors originally conflicted regarding what chipsets Samsung will use for the Galaxy S25 line. Now, we're quite positive that all Galaxy S25 models will use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, the latest chipset from Qualcomm that sports laptop-grade processing cores. Multiple rumors of late suggest that Samsung's yield rate for Exynos chips isn't up to par, and that the Snapdragon 8 Elite will power Galaxy S25 phones everywhere.
This new processor utilizes the same custom Oryon cores that Qualcomm built for its very successful line of Snapdragon X Elite laptop processors, meaning it is one wicked-fast SoC.
Early benchmarks from the OnePlus 13 — which is using the Snapdragon 8 Elite — show 40% performance gains over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the Galaxy S24 series. That, plus the chipset is supposed to run notably cooler than recent Snapdragon chips, so gamers will find better performance across the board.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Single-core | Multicore |
|---|---|---|
| Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | 2144 | 6698 |
| Snapdragon 8 Elite | 3236 | 10049 |
| Apple A18 (iPhone 16) | 3429 | 8790 |
The numbers above say just about everything there is to be said. Single-core scores are nearly identical to Apple's A18 chip in the new iPhone 16, but it's still a bit behind. For reference, the powerful Apple M3 processor in the latest MacBooks scores 11959 on the Geekbench multicore test, putting it only 10% faster than Qualcomm's new phone chipset.
That's some crazy speed!
Samsung is also said to be increasing the amount of RAM in the 512GB and 1TB storage options for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, making it easier to upsell its highest-end models with additional spec bumps.
A new laptop-grade chipset and thinner bodies are painting a picture of an impressive spec upgrade.
Aside from the upgraded chipset, it doesn't look like Samsung is making too many changes in key areas for the Galaxy S25 family. Many rumors so far point to Samsung slimming up all three models despite not changing the battery size or charging speed for any of the three models.
Samsung is said to be making the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra 0.4mm thinner, but we have no leaked specs on the smaller Galaxy S25's dimensions yet.
And battery size might not be changing but the Snapdragon 8 Elite inside the Galaxy S25 is rumored to power a new AI battery feature that should help save 10% battery life over a day.
Samsung is rumored to be keeping 45W wired charging around for the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S25 Plus. The smaller Galaxy S25 is rumored to retain the 25W wired charging speeds and actually see slower 9W wireless charging.
