Samsung Galaxy S25: it could have been so nice

There aren’t many handy flagship smartphones, and I would have really liked the Galaxy S25 to take that spot. It comes so close, but one thing prevents it: the camera.

The camera: the same for three years

The S25 has the same camera as the S24, and that was already the same as in the S23. In three years, nothing has happened with the camera hardware. With the 50-megapixel main camera, the 12-megapixel wide-angle camera and the 10-megapixel telephoto camera, you can still take really beautiful shots. The new Snapdragon 8 Elite with optimized AI gets quite a bit more out of it, and the shots stay authentic. The videos, up to 8K, and the 12-megapixel front camera I find really good, as with all Samsung devices. New: even on the small S25 you can record videos in log format to edit them with color grading.

For everyday shots, the camera is probably entirely enough for most people. But there are two problems:

1. The price: With an RRP of €899 for the 128 GB version, you can no longer install the old sensors from three years ago.
2. The competition: Google and above all Xiaomi have cheaper smartphones with significantly better cameras. With their mid-range models, they make the S25 look pretty old when it comes to the camera.

That’s why the S25 narrowly misses the title “handy flagship”.

Case and screen protector from TORRAS

Ad: For the S25 or S25 Ultra, I recommend the 360° All-in-One Ostand 360 Spin Case from TORRAS. It combines three things: a case, an integrated stand for portrait and landscape, and a ring for holding on, with a magnet for MagSafe-compatible accessories. It’s complemented by the 360° Guard Screen Protector, which you can apply bubble-free in three steps with the installation box. The fingerprint scanner still works without problems. The links are in the video description.

Processor and Galaxy AI

In the device, only 6.2 inches small, sits the same processor as in the S25 Ultra, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. It is currently the best Android processor and gives the S25 more power than most laptops. With Samsung DeX, you can even use the small S25 as a laptop replacement if you connect a monitor.

Samsung puts the focus on AI, and I’m a huge fan of that. For the first time, I have the impression that AI on smartphones isn’t just a gimmick but really useful in everyday life. Galaxy AI is much more deeply integrated with One UI 7 and Android 15 and controls more apps directly. An example from my everyday life: I have Gemini create a calendar entry from an email invitation. I can also tell it to look up a restaurant by certain criteria, create a calendar entry and send my husband a message. That’s many individual work steps that I save myself. For me, that’s the reason AI exists. Photo editing or the Audio Eraser, which removes background noise from videos, are nice gimmicks. What Gemini does by voice command is the game changer I’ve been waiting for.

Battery and charging

At 4,000 mAh, the battery is the same size as on the predecessor. Because the processor works much more efficiently, I get 6 to 7 hours of screen-on time, so almost a day and a half. I plug my smartphone into the cable every night, and that’s entirely enough for me.

I no longer find the charging speed sufficient:

• Wired: 25 watts
• Wireless: 15 watts
• Reverse wireless charging: 5 watts, for example for the watch or another smartphone

I don’t want to call this fast charging anymore. Xiaomi cheerfully zooms past Samsung with 120 watts.

Verdict

With new camera sensors, real fast charging and maybe the anti-reflective display glass of the S25 Ultra, the S25 would have become a true flagship with a few tweaks. But not everyone values the same things as I do. If you need a really good everyday camera and plug your phone in at night, the S25 gets you a handy near-flagship that sits lighter and more comfortably in the hand than the competition. On top of that come the best processor, the most useful AI features, a great 6.2-inch OLED display, surprisingly good speakers and the Samsung ecosystem, which, next to Apple, is the best there currently is.