Samsung Galaxy S25+: what to expect

The Samsung Galaxy S+ was never the favorite child of the S-series – not Samsung’s and not the buyers’ either. A report from Counterpoint Research last year indicated that the Galaxy S24 Ultra made up 52% of total sales, the small S24 was at 27% while the Galaxy S24+ only accounted for 21% of sales.

And that was with solid upgrades compared to the S23+: a new LTPO display with QHD+ resolution, 12GB of RAM and a slightly larger battery. Okay, not stunning upgrades, but it’s more than the S24 got.

Samsung Galaxy S25+ (speculative renders)

And what of this year’s model? Here is an overview of what we expect the Samsung Galaxy S25+ to be.

Coming later this month

Samsung has set the date of the next Galaxy Unpacked event for January 22. If everything follows the familiar game plan, pre-orders will start the day after and will last for around two weeks – open sales usually start on a Friday, so January 31 is the likely date.

Samsung normally offers a free storage upgrade for people who pre-order and we expect to see the same this year. If you’re in the US, you can reserve a unit now and get $50 Samsung Credit.

Snapdragon 8 Elite for all

The story goes that the Exynos 2500 yields were poor, so Samsung had to switch to Snapdragon exclusively. Whatever the truth is, it’s almost certain that all Galaxy S25 models sold in all markets will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

Samsung has allegedly picked more efficient RAM to pair with the new chip too, though it’s still LPDDR5X, so don’t expect major upgrades. The expectation is that the base RAM capacity – perhaps the only capacity option for the Plus – will remain 12GB. Storage will start at 256GB and there should be a 512GB option.

Thinner body, same battery

Based on leaked info, the Galaxy S25+ will measure 7.3mm thick and will weigh 190g, compared to 7.7mm and 196g for the S24+. The slimmed down chassis will not negatively impact the battery capacity – you will be getting the same 4,900mAh with the same 45W wired and 15W wireless charging.

Which is nice, but the competition has moved forward – 5,500mAh and even 6,000mAh is not all that uncommon these days. Samsung is reluctant to go for faster charging, but it could have at least given the 2025 phones a few hundred milliamp hours more.

Samsung Galaxy S25+ in a Magnet Case

As you may have heard, Samsung will adopt the Qi2 standard for the S25 series. However, there’s no word on faster charging speeds, so that’s why we’re assuming 15W. Samsung will partially adopt the magnetic side of Qi2 by using Magnet Cases, though third-party retailers already offer such cases for older S-series phones.

Same display, same cameras

As we mentioned in the beginning, the Plus model already got bumped up to 1440+ resolution and an LTPO panel (the S23+ had a 1080p+ non-LTPO display). Also, while the Ultra is getting a new ultra-wide camera, this isn’t the case for the Plus and vanilla models, so we’re still looking at a 50+10+12MP configuration (and the same selfie camera too).

The competition is leaving Samsung behind – the iPhone 16 Pro has a 48MP ultra-wide camera, while the Pixel 9 Pro also has a 48MP telephoto camera. The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro may get a similar tele module.

One UI is getting a new look and more AI

Samsung is one of the strongest proponents of AI on mobile and owners of recent S-phones have been using Galaxy AI for free. The “free” part might be coming to an end this year, at least for older models. However, Galaxy S25 buyers may get a free subscription to Gemini Advanced.

Google’s top tier plan normally costs $20 a month, which includes access to the most advanced Gemini models and 2TB of Google Drive. This will be a short-lived promo, however. The S25+ will split the difference and get Advanced for 6 months, while S25 and S25 Ultra buyers will get three and twelve months, respectively.

The Galaxy S25 series will also be the first with stable One UI 7, which will incorporate a number of AI features like a new Bixby, which will be a “true AI companion”. More importantly, it is also a major overhaul of Samsung’s UI design.

The threat of the Galaxy S25 Slim

The rumored fourth member of the S25 series, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim, is expected to be even thinner (as thin as 6.5mm), to feature a 6.66” display, the same Snapdragon 8 Elite and better cameras – 200MP main, 50MP ultra-wide and telephoto. Check out our what-to-expect article for more details.

This raises the question – other than price, why would anyone buy a Galaxy S25+ over the S25 Slim? We recently heard that the Slim may be delayed a few months, only launching in May, so timing could be a consideration too. But other than that, the Slim will be hands-down the better phone, assuming the rumors are true, of course. And if they are, we don’t think that the S25+ will be able to match the 21% of sales figure that the S24+ managed.

Same price

We haven’t heard from all markets, but leaked pricing info shows that the Samsung Galaxy S25+ will cost the same as the S24+ did last year. The leak specifically said that the price in Sweden will be the same as last year, so here is how much the S24 series cost at launch (we’ve also included the euro pricing, which should also remain the same).

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