Samsung Galaxy S25 series debuts — with AI button

Samsung launched the Galaxy S25 series emphasizing AI features while keeping prices the same.

Samsung Electronics President Roh Tae-moon holds up the newest Galaxy S25 series at Galaxy Unpacked in San Jose, California, on Jan. 22. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung Electronics’ latest Galaxy S25 series prioritizes finding more practical uses for Galaxy AI over introducing groundbreaking innovations.

It also chose to keep the prices of the three versions unchanged in Korea.

The Korean tech giant held its Galaxy Unpacked event in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, unveiling the much-anticipated Galaxy S25 Ultra, Galaxy S25+ and Galaxy S25.

“The greatest innovations are a reflection of their users. That’s why we’ve evolved Galaxy AI to enable more natural, effortless interactions while ensuring user privacy remains secure,” said Samsung Electronics President Roh Tae-moon.

“The Galaxy S25 series introduces an AI-integrated OS that redefines how technology integrates into and transforms our daily lives.”

A key upgrade to the series is the addition of a third function to the power button on the side, allowing users to summon Google's Gemini AI assistant with a long press.

Previously, the button only offered two options: powering off the device or activating Samsung’s Bixby.

Gemini, on the Galaxy S25 series, is designed to handle more complex tasks requiring the use of multiple apps.

For instance, users can instruct the assistant to add a specific sports team’s upcoming game to their calendar, and the AI will independently search the internet and update the calendar accordingly.

Galaxy S25 Ultra [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Currently compatible with Samsung’s preinstalled apps and Google’s ecosystem, the Gemini-powered AI assistant is set to expand its integration to additional apps in the future.

The series also introduced the “Now Brief” feature, which offers personalized briefings based on user preferences, including weather, schedules, sleep patterns and news from frequently visited websites.

The upgraded Circle to Search now incorporates sound recognition in addition to image- and text-based searches. For example, users can identify songs playing on YouTube using this enhanced multimodal capability.

The Live Translate feature, which enables real-time translation during phone calls, now supports 20 languages, up from 13. It also includes new Call Transcript and Call Summary options.

These AI enhancements will run on One UI 7, which features redesigned app icons and the smoother activation of AI.

Design-wise, no significant updates have been made except for the S25 Ultra's new curved edges compared to its predecessor's more rectangular shape.

The camera system has a single, but a significant upgrade as well. The Ultra model’s ultrawide lens now boasts a 50MP resolution, an increase from the 12MP available in the S24 Ultra. Other camera specifications for the S25+ and S25 remain largely the same.

Despite maintaining the same price range, Samsung has decided to power all three models with pricier Qualcomm processors. Unlike the S24 series, where only the Ultra variant utilized Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip, the S25 Ultra, S25+, and S25 are all powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy.

Galaxy S25 [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

The S24+ and S24 had relied on Samsung's in-house Exynos processors, except for few select countries.

Prices for the Galaxy S25 Ultra start at 1.7 million won ($1,185.62) for the 12GB/256GB option, while the S25+ and S25 begin at 1.4 million won and 1.2 million won, respectively, for the same SKU.

The series will launch globally from Feb. 7.

Backside of Galaxy S25 Ultra series [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]