Since their release in late January, I have spent a fair bit of time with all three of the latest Galaxy S25 offerings from Samsung. While the Galaxy S Series is certainly not new on the scene, it’s always intriguing to try and find the differences between the three tiers of phones when they release each year. If you haven’t already heard, this year, the three S Series phones offered by Samsung are the Galaxy S25, the Galaxy S25 Plus, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Each model is designed to cater to distinct preferences and needs, but naturally, one’s budget is also a big factor when deciding which one to opt for.
In this buying guide, I will break down the key differences between the three latest Samsung Galaxy S25 Series phones and do my best to help you decide which phone is the best for you.
Design and Build Quality
Design and appearance are the first things that anyone would notice when presented with all three models to choose from. After all, each of the phones offers a different size and form factor from the other.
Galaxy S25: The standard Galaxy S25 sports a compact 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, making it ideal for users who prefer a more pocket-friendly device. Pair that with a 7.2mm in the thickness department and you get a phone that comes in at 162g.
Galaxy S25+: Stepping it up a little, the Galaxy S25+ features a larger 6.7-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. Though in the thickness department, I don’t know if we can call it much of a step up, with just a 1mm thicker body on the Galaxy S25+, helping it up a bit to 190g on the scales.
Galaxy S25 Ultra: The pinnacle of the series, the Galaxy S25 Ultra, boasts a 6.9-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a slight curve, enhancing the immersive viewing experience. This is easily the chunkiest of the three, as expected, and does jump up a bit from the Galaxy S25+ before it with an 8.2mm thickness. In the weight department, the biggest of the flagship range weighs in at 218g.
The Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 + both share an aluminium frame, while the Galaxy S25 Ultra gets an arguably more premium titanium, which also enhances durability, of course. Speaking of durability, the Galaxy S25 Series all come with an IP68 rating for added peace of mind.
The larger phones, as expected, will offer a lot more real estate for media content and other productivity tasks. The drawback is that the largest of the three, the Galaxy S25 Ultra, is not easy to use one-handed. If that happens to be important to you, then I’d definitely opt for the Galaxy S25 Plus or the Galaxy S25. The latter is a breeze to use one-handed, while the Galaxy S25 Plus is also manageable.
All three phones have rounded corners, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra stands out as the ‘squarest’ looking of the lineup, even though it also has rounded corners. I found this does help to give the phone a more premium look than the others and stand out.
Display Quality
The entire Galaxy S25 lineup gets 120Hz refresh rate screens as well to ensure smooth scrolling and gaming experiences. The use of Samsung’s renowned Dynamic AMOLED 2X displays ensures the most vibrant colours and really deep blacks. Samsung phones are almost synonymous with great displays these days, so the best way to describe the display capabilities is to say that they certainly won’t disappoint.
Gorilla Glass is also standard across the range, as always, with the Galaxy S25 Ultra getting the top-of-the-range Corning Gorilla Armour 2. The Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus, on the other hand, get the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which is slightly less capable in drop tests and also doesn’t put as much of a focus on anti-reflective properties. Either way, with most people opting for a screen protector once they’ve purchased a phone of this calibre and quality, the differences in screen durability really aren’t that major.
One thing you will notice with all three phones is how well they handle brightness. Not just how high the brightness gets but also how low. All three phones peak at 2,600 nits, which is more than enough to handle any sunlight you throw at them. On the low end, it’s impressive to see how low the brightness can get when using the phone in situations where light is scarce.
Performance
Under the hood, the phones are all equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which is plenty of punch for the most intensive tasks. The Snapdragon 8 Elite comes in with increases of up to 40% in NPU performance, CPU performance and GPU performance. Those performance gains are accompanied by increases to vapor chamber size for all three phones, to ensure cooling isn't missed, with the Galaxy S25 Ultra getting a 40% bigger vapour chamber, while the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ get a 15% increase. If you’re the average lay person, who isn’t pushing the phone to its limits, you’ll find that many of the top phones on the market nowadays are so fast that noticing the differences in day-to-day use is not easy. They are there though, and that is why we have benchmarks, which show that the Galaxy S25 Series remains a top phone in the market, with the Galaxy S25 Ultra being arguably one of the best phones around, period.
All three models are equipped with 12GB of RAM, which is more than enough for multitasking throughout the day, but there are areas in which the phones differ.
Storage
In terms of storage options, the following is up for offer:
Galaxy S25 (128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB)
Galaxy S25 + (256 GB and 512 GB)
Galaxy S25 Ultra (256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB)
Battery and Charging
Likewise, in the battery department, we see the same tier breakdown as last year with the Galaxy S24 Series. The Galaxy S25 has a 4,000mAh capacity, while the Galaxy S25 + and the Galaxy S25 Ultra get 4,900mAh and 5,000mAh, respectively. Although the phones have varying capacity levels, I found they worked well throughout the day. I didn’t do any thorough battery testing, but as an indication, all three phones easily lasted throughout the day with several hours of screen time and usually around a third, sometimes more, of their battery life left. Long story short, any of these phones will last a full day, but charging them again for the next day of use is definitely necessary.
It should also be noted that although capacities are the same, Samsung have suggested improvements to battery life, with the Snapdragon Elite 8 and One UI 7 working together across the Galaxy S25 range to improve efficiency.
Charging-wise, the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Galaxy S25+ both support faster 45W wired charging, while the Galaxy S25 supports 25W when plugged in. The difference in capabilities is also seen in the wireless department, with the Galaxy S25 supporting 5W wireless charging while the other two can do up to 15W wireless charging.
Software
The Galaxy S25 Series employs Samsung’s One UI 7, layered over Android 15. The key focus this year has certainly been AI, with Samsung heavily favouring Google’s Gemini this year.
One of the cool things for those torn between the range is the fact that all three phones have received the same AI features. While we do often see the top flagship phones getting a little extra in the features department, I think in the case of this year’s Galaxy range, being able to choose a phone that fits your needs best in terms of size and form factor, without having to worry about giving up premium AI features, is definitely a bonus. While I tend to go for the biggest phones whenever I’m in the market for a new daily driver, I have always felt like those who like smaller form factors can get hard done by, as smaller phones often come with fewer features as well. So, I think this is a nice touch for those who are sitting on the fence. Anyway, onto the AI itself…
There are so many AI features on offer here, but some of the notable ones include cross-app functionality, Now Bar and Now Brief, AI Select, and so much more. Cross-app functionality allows AI to follow commands across more than one app. For example, you can ask it to text your friend the details for an event. AI can then search for the event, gather details about it, and then share those with your friend. Now Brief, on the other hand, is a personalised overview of your day, with relevant information like news and weather, which it curates after getting to know you over time. Now Bar is another feature to simplify things for you, allowing access to key features and controls from your lock screen. Lastly, you get features like AI Select, which lets you save moments from videos by creating GIFs and incorporates circle to search, which allows you to search for information by circling things on screen.
Camera Capabilities
The camera department is another area where the Galaxy S25 Ultra is considerably set apart from its siblings. Not that more megapixels necessarily mean a better camera, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra still has a 200MP primary camera compared to the 50MP on both the Galaxy S25 and the Galaxy S25+. It also has a dual telephoto camera, and its ultrawide camera is 50MP compared to 12MP on the other two.
All three models can record video well, with support for up to 8K at 30fps. There’s also the new Samsung ProVisual Engine this year, which has premium features like Log video capture and HDR portraits.
Galaxy S25 and S25+
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Galaxy S25 Ultra
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S Pen Integration – Galaxy S25 Ultra
A distinguishing feature of the Galaxy S25 Ultra is the integrated S Pen. The stylus is great for enhancing productivity with a really precise input that allows for note-taking and other creative tasks with a great degree of precision. It’s a great tool to have, for work or for play.
Check out the Galaxy S25 Series now!
Choosing the right device from Samsung's Galaxy S25 Series ultimately depends on your individual preferences and requirements. The great thing about the S25 Series is that the phones share many of the same features. Performance-wise, they all use the same processor, and AI features are consistent across the range.
This means you can choose the phone that suits your preferences best, and not have to worry about sacrificing too many other perks. The Galaxy S25 is perfect for those who desire a compact yet powerful smartphone. The Galaxy S25+ offers a harmonious blend of size, performance, and battery life. For users seeking the pinnacle of smartphone technology, the Galaxy S25 Ultra delivers top-of-the-range features that ensure it remains one of the best, if not the best, on the market.
This article was created in a paid partnership with Samsung New Zealand.
