The Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus is an odd center baby. It’s not only a greater Galaxy S25, as a result of it shares some expertise with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Sadly, not the perfect Ultra tech, just like the 200MP digital camera sensor, the 5x zoom digital camera lens, or the titanium body, not to mention the S Pen. Still, the Galaxy S25 Plus is not too laborious to suggest.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset is similar in each Samsung Galaxy S25 cellphone, and that is a major improve it doesn’t matter what older cellphone you are utilizing proper now. It’s sooner than final 12 months’s Snapdragon, and in case your cellphone is a few years previous or extra, you are going to be in for an actual deal with.
The Galaxy S25 Plus additionally makes use of a higher-resolution show than the smaller Galaxy S25. With a nearly-4K decision, Samsung has endowed the Galaxy S25 Plus and S25 Ultra with its new ProScaler expertise. It says this tech is borrowed from the Samsung TV group, and it makes use of AI to upscale lower-resolution content material to look higher on a 4K display.
I’ll have to match movies aspect by aspect to see if this makes an enormous distinction, however Samsung appears to suppose will probably be well worth the improve from the usual S25 to the bigger Plus mannequin.
Because it is greater, you additionally get a bigger battery contained in the Galaxy S25 Plus than within the Galaxy S25: 4,900mAh versus 4,000mAh. I do know from my time testing different Snapdragon 8 Elite telephones that this chipset can do an amazing job managing energy and sipping battery juice, so hopeful the Galaxy S25 Plus can have profitable battery life.
Otherwise, the brand new options on the Galaxy telephones this 12 months are all about Galaxy AI. All of the prevailing AI options are getting slightly bit higher. The picture modifying is improved, and there are new AI assistant instruments that can assist you with movies, whether or not you wish to summarize them or reduce them into GIFs.
The most attention-grabbing AI is but to come back. The Galaxy S25 Plus will embrace Samsung’s Personal Data Engine, a safe {hardware} partition that can collect details about you for the AI to digest. It will learn your messages, hearken to your calls, see your images, and thoughts your calendar.
The Galaxy S25 Plus can even use AI to speak to your Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch, and possibly even your Samsung TV and different SmartIssues sensible dwelling gadgets. It will maintain observe of your habits, and search for patterns. Samsung urged a couple of issues the Galaxy AI may supply, like a greater mattress time schedule, however I’ve a sense that it is ready to see what kind of data and patterns its AI can put collectively.
That means the Galaxy S25 Plus, just like the Galaxy S25, feels a bit unfinished. It seems like final 12 months’s cellphone with a brand new engine inside, which is okay, however not very thrilling. The thrilling Galaxy AI stuff will take some time to construct, because the cellphone gathers extra details about you. What will it do with all that information? It will retailer it securely, for one factor.
If you are nervous about your cellphone studying a lot about you, Samsung assures us that this private information might be held securely on a hardware-locked partition protected by Samsung Knox. That’s nearly as good as Android safety will get, and it is so good that when you lose your Galaxy S25 Plus, you have misplaced the information saved within the Personal Data Engine. It does not exist within the cloud, and it will possibly’t be pulled off the gadget besides throughout a Smart Switch to a brand new cellphone.
Great, I get a promise about what Samsung will not do with my private information, however not numerous element about what it will do with all the information it harvests. Once my Galaxy S25 Plus actually is aware of me, after a 12 months or so of use, how will or not it’s completely different? We do not precisely know, and the reply will most likely change over time.
Thankfully, Samsung is giving the Galaxy S25 Plus a full seven years of Android and safety updates, which implies it would have loads of room to develop. Whether it is value shopping for now could be a query of how a lot you wish to spend money on your personal AI future.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on evaluation: Price and availability
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus was unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked on January 22. It’s accessible to pre-order now in two storage configurations: 256GB and 512GB. Every variant comes with 12GB RAM.
The cellphone will start delivery on February 7 for the next costs:
| Storage | US worth | UK worth | AU worth |
| 256GB | $999 | £999 | AU$1,699 |
| 512GB | $1,199.99 | £1,099 | AU$1,899 |
Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on evaluation: Specs
Here’s a have a look at the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus’s key specs:
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 158.4 x 75.8 x 7.3mm |
| Weight | 190g |
| OS | One UI 7, primarily based on Android 15 |
| Display | 6.7-inch AMOLED, 120Hz |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Storage | 256GB / 512GB |
| Battery | 4,900mAh |
| Rear cameras | 50MP foremost, 12MP ultra-wide, 10MP telephoto |
| Front digital camera | 12MP |
| Charging | 45W wired, 15W wi-fi |
The Galaxy S25 Plus is a good cellphone for the value, although the Galaxy S25 Ultra hangs above its head with really superlative specs. Every Galaxy S25 mannequin will get the identical Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset for Galaxy, which Samsung tells us Qualcomm has overclocked. Past ‘for Galaxy’ chips have been overclocked 5% within the largest prime core, however we do not know what this 12 months’s enchancment presents.
One massive {hardware} shock within the Galaxy S25 Plus is a Samsung ProScaler. Samsung says it’s borrowing expertise from its famend TV group to upscale video content material in your Galaxy S25 Plus utilizing AI. This isn’t movement smoothing; it received’t artificially enhance the body price, simply the decision.
It does not seem to be the smaller Galaxy S25 will get this characteristic – it might solely come to the bigger Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra with QHD+ shows – and late rumors urged that Samsung would make this a key promoting level. I’ll have to check out video on the telephones aspect by aspect to find out if the ProScaler makes an actual distinction.
Besides ProScaler, the Galaxy S25 Plus has a few different key benefits over the usual S25. If you wish to use Samsung’s SmartTags, you will want the ultra-wideband (UWB) radio contained in the Galaxy S25 Plus and Ultra.
The Galaxy S25 Plus must also cost sooner than the Galaxy S25 when linked to a appropriate Samsung Fast Charger 2.0 wall plug. We’ll take a look at the quickest charging capabilities of every Galaxy S25 mannequin as soon as we get them into our testing labs.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on evaluation: design and show
The Galaxy S25 Plus does not simply provide you with a much bigger show; it offers you a greater viewing expertise, and this 12 months there seems to be to be a bigger hole between the Galaxy S25 and the Plus mannequin than ever earlier than, display-wise.
The Galaxy S25 Plus has the identical decision because the Galaxy S25 Ultra, at almost 4K QHD+. At the best decision you can even use the brand new ProScaler {hardware}.
I can not discover any ProScaler tech on Samsung’s TVs, however I do know Samsung’s newest units use AI to upscale lower-resolution content material to 4K. Samsung says that each one video that is performed by the Galaxy S25 Plus (and the S25 Ultra) will get upscaled, however don’t be concerned – this is not movement smoothing. The body price is not affected, simply the decision, so movies ought to look sharp however not unnatural.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on evaluation: cameras
If you have been hoping for higher cameras on this 12 months’s Galaxy S25 Plus, your hopes will relaxation on the Galaxy AI and the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, as a result of the digital camera specs have gone unchanged once more. We have not seen an enormous enhance in cameras on the Galaxy S lineup, in addition to the Ultra, because the Galaxy S23.
Since then we have been caught with the identical 50MP foremost digital camera, 10MP zoom digital camera with 3x attain, and 12MP ultra-wide digital camera. The sensors have not grown, and neither has the decision, regardless that the Galaxy S25 Ultra received a 50MP ultra-wide sensor this 12 months.
Samsung’s Ultra cellphone has been at (or close to) the highest of our greatest digital camera telephones checklist for 2 years, so Samsung clearly is aware of the right way to make an amazing digital camera, and it is confounding that solely the Ultra will get the good things. It makes the opposite S25 telephones really feel like mid-range fashions in comparison with the Ultra, which is simply foolish. All of those telephones are top-performers – it is solely the cameras which are holding the 2 smaller telephones again.
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Maybe Samsung wasn’t paying consideration, however different cellphone makers have began to respect smaller telephones by giving them higher digital camera specs. The iPhone 16 Pro and Google Pixel 9 Pro supply a smaller, inexpensive choice than the Pro Max and Pro XL fashions, with out sacrificing megapixels or zoom.
I received to strive Samsung’s new AI Assist instruments, which work nice for reducing up movies along with modifying images. You can principally faucet on any video on-screen and create a GIF, or get an AI abstract, or create a wallpaper from a nonetheless body. That’s along with all the enhancements in Samsung’s AI picture modifying within the Gallery app.
Still, software program looks as if a poor substitute for higher glass and extra superior sensors. With the cameras and in too many different methods, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus really feel like afterthoughts for Samsung this 12 months.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on evaluation: efficiency and battery
The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset is the real article, and the Galaxy S25 Plus continues Samsung’s threepeat acquiring a barely enhanced model of Qualcomm’s top-tier chipset. The earlier two Snapdragon for Galaxy chipsets boosted the principle core’s clock pace by 5%, however this 12 months’s advantages are nonetheless unclear. It’s a negligible achieve that primarily impacts benchmark outcomes, however somebody has to say the highest spot, proper?
Beyond the improved Snapdragon, this Galaxy contains extra intriguing {hardware} than I anticipated. The Personal Data Engine is a devoted {hardware} partition, managed by on-chip Samsung Knox safety, a system highly effective sufficient for a lot of US federal businesses.
The data you let Galaxy AI collect stays on the gadget, and it will possibly’t be eliminated except you turn to a brand new Galaxy cellphone. Transferring this private information to a brand new cellphone is feasible utilizing Samsung Smart Switch. However, dropping your cellphone means dropping all that saved information. This is unlucky, as a few of Galaxy AI’s future lies in its potential to adapt to your wants because it learns about you. It’s fascinating to think about how the Galaxy S25 Plus may evolve with two, three, and even seven years’ value of non-public information saved in its engine.
As for charging, Samsung hasn’t embraced sooner wired or wi-fi charging speeds. The Galaxy S25 Plus is proscribed to 45W, which continues to be a bit sooner than the Galaxy S25, however the OnePlus 13 helps 80W, with a 100W adapter coming quickly. Samsung must hurry up the charging instances.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on evaluation: software program
The Galaxy S25 Plus might want to find out about you over time, with its most superior Galaxy AI options awaiting your private information. Again, this raises the query of what is going to the S25 do with this information. The specifics stay unclear, however the purpose is to maneuver past AI celebration tips and create an ‘agent’, like a consumer interface, that learns your habits and preferences, and even makes new ideas.
Galaxy AI will collect information not simply out of your cellphone, but additionally out of your Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Ring, and SmartIssues gadgets. Samsung suggests this might result in personalised ideas, equivalent to optimizing your sleep atmosphere or automating actions like turning off your TV once you go to sleep. This strategy to AI feels doubtlessly helpful, a step past easy gimmicks; however like I mentioned, it might want to collect numerous information about you from various sources.
The Galaxy S25 Plus makes use of each Samsung Bixby and Google Gemini for numerous duties, however Samsung properly avoids emphasizing these names. The focus is on seamless performance, although it is value noting that many AI options weren’t but engaged on the pre-production demo items I noticed. I’m unsure precisely what might be working at launch, so I’ll must get hands-on with a last gadget to make certain.
