Samsung has just announced the Galaxy S25 range of phones and you’d be forgiven for not being able to tell the difference between them and the Galaxy S24 series. The S25 and S25 Plus look identical to the S24 and S24 Plus, and although the S25 Ultra has slightly rounded corners and edges it seems for all intents and purposes a very similar device to the S24 Ultra.
I have compared the specs sheets of many phone upgrades in the past to write up a versus-style article to give our readers an idea of the upgrades the new generation of phone brings. But when I lined up the regular entry-level Galaxy S25 next to the regular Galaxy S24, I couldn’t scrape together five meaningful improvements.
Sure, there are some differences. But I don’t think they will add up to a meaningful year over year upgrade if you already have an S24, and even if your phone is older than that, the S24 might be a better buy if you can find a good deal.
Samsung did tease the Galaxy S25 Edge, a much thinner version of the phone, but it’s not coming out yet with a release date unconfirmed.
So what is actually new on the phone you can buy today? For one, the Galaxy S25 has 12GB RAM in every storage option whereas all Galaxy S24s had 8GB. That means the newer phone should be better at multitasking and running several apps at once, as well as better cope with high-end mobile gaming and be a little more performant in general a few years from now after several years of use and seven guaranteed years of software updates.
That should also hold true when paired with another decent upgrade, which is the Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy chipset. Although international models of the S24 had the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy, UK buyers could only get hold of a version with Samsung’s own Exynos 2400. That’s changed for 2025, and the S25 comes with the 8 Elite globally, including in Britain, fixing the biggest problem with the S24.
We’ll have to test the new S25 when we get our hands on it, but we are pretty sure the new 8 Elite will be the most meaningful upgrade, bringing better performance and hopefully better battery life than on the S24.
OK, what else?
The S25 runs One UI 7 based on Android 15, but that will come to the S24 in a matter of weeks, most likely. Samsung has bigged up the new Now Brief and Now Bar feature that highlights summaries of information at the bottom of the screen to suit your interests and calendar using AI, but because this is software it’s probably going to be seen on a fair few older Samsung phones in due course, including the S24.
The S24 is already chock full of AI tools that have trickled down to older phones. Any perks of buying the S25 now if you are into the AI exclusivity won’t last too long.
Samsung is using the exact same display for the S25 as on the S24, a 6.2-inch AMOLED with 120Hz refresh rate and the same 1080 x 2340 resolution, also using Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both phones.
I kind of get this. A screen is a screen, particularly when they’re this good. But more egregious is the fact Samsung is using the exact same camera hardware on the S25 as it used on the S24 – and basically exactly the same as the Galaxy S23 from 2023 and S22 from 2022.
All four phones dating back to 2022 use a 50MP main sensor with f/1.8 aperture. The telephotos are all 10MP f/2.4 and the ultra-wides are all 12MP f/2.2 with 120 degree fields of view.
The selfie cameras on the S23, S24 and new S25 are also identical with 12MP f/2.2 lenses. I do agree with’ if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’, but maybe it could also be ‘if it ain’t broke maybe don’t release a new identical phone every year’?
Samsung is not the only phone company in a bit of a rut. Apple did well to tweak the design of its iPhone 16 but it’s incredibly similar to the iPhone 15. The firm also created an artificial feel of an upgrade by limiting Apple Intelligence to mainly the newest phones.
Google’s Pixel 9 Pro is excellent, but on reflection only truly feels like an upgrade because of the smaller size option and improved build quality. Samsung has hardly changed anything about the regular Galaxy S phone for at least three generations now.
On the one hand this is frustrating, but who for exactly? Me, perhaps, as a tech reviewer who feels like I am writing about and reviewing the same phone every year. But for consumers, it could actually be a good thing, because if you need a new smartphone you probably don’t have to splash out on the newest one.
Despite the upgrade to Snapdragon silicon on the S25, the S24 could be a better buy. The 256GB S24 is currently £599 at Currys, a full £200 less than the new S25 with only 128GB. Unless you’re a really fussy phone buyer who must have the best available, that’s a big saving on a phone with the same screen, design, camera and soon, software.
Phones have stagnated. They’re a commodity now. That’s a good thing for the savvy buyer though, as you can get a great deal on an older phone and not miss out.