Samsung's S25 Series Is Lacking Major Updates

Four sleek, brand-new Samsung phones in vibrant colors are displayed on a light blue table.

Samsung recently announced their flagship S25 series, which includes the S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra. This update was largely disappointing for two reasons. First of all, last year's S24 model was really well made; it had new features, great battery, performed smoothly, and was just a really good pick overall (for phones that year). In particular, the S24 Ultra received strong acclaim over its usability and detail. However, Samsung held their event for the S25 lineup, and it seems like they basically haven't changed anything. Of course, it wasn't the same phone, but this new series just wasn't as great of an improvement from Samsung. To exemplify, Samsung even said the battery capacity would stay the same with the S25. People expected a lot of good things coming from the S25s. That's not to say that it wasn't good, it just means that it wasn't as impressive as people (especially Samsung fans) expected. Instead, the S25 series was a bit of a letdown.

So what did Samsung change?

It's not as if a renowned company like Samsung could just slap the old S24s onto a table and call it a day. They HAD to bring something new to the table. A lot of the new changes were mostly 'filler' features. Filler features are basically just features a company puts on a product that doesn't really change anything, and it's just there for the sake of making changes. In other words, excessive filler features are how you can tell that a company doesn't want to make changes for their new product. The S25 series' only real big change was the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. The full list of upgrades for the S25 Ultra is included below:

1. Snapdragon 8 Elite chip

   This was listed as one of the only big improvements in the Samsung S25, because, well, it is. The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is quoted as "An AI Generative AI Powerhouse" by Samsung themselves. This also means an increase in battery life. It has a 6-core vector and 8-core scalar accelerators (whatever that means), a 45% faster NPU (allowing for AI features like removing backgrounds, Magic Eraser-like features, etc), a 40% gaming performance improvement, a new Hexagon Direct Link for the camera, supports AI relighting, and much more.

2. (Slightly) Bigger Camera Bumps

   This change is one of the smallest updates with this phone because it doesn't really make a huge difference. Samsung just made the camera bumps/lenses slightly protrude outwards on the back of the phone. This is probably just for visuals, and even then, I don't see how this helps.

3. Larger Vapor Chamber Cooler

   This might seem small, but it's actually a pretty useful change. This new vapor chamber cooler is going to help reduce overheating when the phone is in use. In the S24, they had a smaller vapor chamber, so Samsung is increasing the size of the Vapor Chamber in their latest phone.

4. Corning Gorilla Armor 2

   The original S24 had the Corning Gorilla Armor, and it basically just helped reduce glare and made everything on the screen look better (in terms of color contrast). That feature was a well-loved addition to Samsung's phones. This time, they're stepping it up by introducing the Corning Gorilla Armor 2, which is supposed to be even better than the original. Also, Gorilla Armor 2 gives 29% more crack/damage resistance.

5. Display and Bezels

   This one is nothing special, it feels just like a typical filler feature to me. However, if you're a nerd and really want to know, Samsung made the bezels 15% thinner on the S25. That's it.

6. New Gemini Panel

   New phone, new AI features. We all saw this coming. Apparently, every 'good' product has to have those two letters in it to be successful nowadays. Anyways, Samsung has partnered with Google's OneUI to add a Gemini AI chatbot panel, kind of as a rival to Apple Intelligence. Well, is it any good? From my experience, Gemini has always been one of the dumbest AIs out there, especially compared to ones like ChatGPT and Copilot. Nonetheless, people are saying Gemini is getting better quickly, so I suppose we'll see if it's true.

7. Better Sensors

   Another great example of a filler feature. Nothing revolutionary. The S25 has a 50-megapixel sensor. For reference, the S24 had a 12-megapixel sensor. This just means your video and photo quality is a little better.

8. Different Phone Corners

   Samsung changed the phone corners so it doesn't hurt as bad when you hold the phone.

9. Weight Difference

   The S25 Ultra is about 15 grams lighter than the S24 Ultra.

10. Better Night Recording

    Samsung emphasized this feature a lot when introducing the S25 Ultra. This feature allows for better nightography (filming at night), using AI algorithms to enhance the visuals of videos taken at night. These algorithms identify noise and glare from your videos, and remove those fluctuations, improving the quality of your lower-light photos.

11. Samsung Log Video

    This matters for professional videography, and it basically allows higher dynamic ranges when taking photos or videos.

12. Aperture Adjustment (Slider)

    This has been in iPhones for a while, and Samsung seems like they're trying to catch up in terms of video quality. To access this mode, you must turn on Expert Raw, and then a slider will allow you to control the focus or depth of field of an object.