I’ve picked them up, put them down, used the software, and generally fondled each of the new Samsung Galaxy S25 smartphones. It wasn’t for a long period of time, but it was for several hours over the course of two events, giving me some breathing space to collect my thoughts about each one. It was all the time I needed to make my decision about which one I’d buy.
Go small, but not too small
It may come as a surprise, but I’d go for the usually awkward middle Galaxy S25 model, the Galaxy S25 Plus, over either of the others, despite having used the Galaxy S24 Ultra over the past year. This time I am prepared to forego the best potential camera specification for improved in-hand feel. Samsung has made some changes to the S25 Ultra’s body that I’m not sure I’m entirely onboard with, especially as it has gone in a different (and to me, preferable) direction with the S25 and S25 Plus.
I noted it in my hands-on with the S25 Ultra, and I’ve thought about it a lot since. The S25 Ultra’s flat sides with barely any curve where the screen and rear panel meet the chassis just isn’t right for my hands. When I then went to the main Galaxy Unpacked launch event I immediately went to hold all three phones again, as I wanted to be certain my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me. Sure enough, the Galaxy S25 Plus’s slender frame is a pleasure to hold. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is more manageable than the S24 Ultra in terms of size, but I definitely miss its curvier sides.
Samsung’s efforts to make the Galaxy S25 Plus just a touch slimmer — a mere 0.5mm — and five grams lighter than the Galaxy S24 Plus have made it look and feel fantastic. The small Galaxy S25 is genuinely compact, but I want the Plus’s bigger screen. But the real win is the tiny, subtle curve around the otherwise flat edges. It’s what makes the phone comfortable to hold compared to the sharper S25 Ultra, and if I feel it in a matter of minutes, I know it’ll become bothersome over a longer period of time.
Be colorful
Samsung has reserved the best colors for the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus. The exclusive Coral Red looks superb, but the Mint color available through retailers and carriers is a close second. I’d find it hard to choose between them, which isn’t the case with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The standard colors for the biggest S25 model are extremely muted, even by Samsung’s standards. The one consolation is, if I was going to get the S25 Ultra, it would need to live in a case anyway, given those rather sharp edges.
Aesthetics and in-hand comfort are only part of the reason I’d choose the Galaxy S25 Plus over either of the other models. All use the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor, all have 12GB of RAM, and the same screen technology. All three phones were lightning fast while I played with One UI 7. Samsung has hobbled the Galaxy S25 with a slow 25W charging speed again, but the S25 Plus gets the top available 45W speed, plus it has the option of 512GB of storage space, even if it misses out on the Ultra’s 1TB.
Most importantly, the new and improved Galaxy AI features are also present across the range, and should work in exactly the same way regardless of which model you own. I’ve got high hopes for the Now Brief and Now Bar, and have bought into Samsung’s hype about its personalized, life-changing AI features. I’m looking forward to seeing if they actually do what’s promised, and I know I can do it on the Galaxy S25 Plus, in comfort, looking at a sensibly sized screen, and with exactly the same level of performance as I would if I bought the S25 Ultra.
Will I miss the camera?
It’ll be the camera that I miss the most if I buy the Galaxy S25 Plus over the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but because the only major hardware change between the S25 Ultra and S24 Ultra is the new wide-angle camera, I don’t feel I’m going to miss out on a groundbreaking new system. The S25 Plus still has a 3x optical zoom, which I know I’ll use more than the wide-angle camera anyway.
If a lot of this rings true to you, I highly recommend going out and holding all three phones before buying, and thinking seriously about whether you will use the now-Bluetooth-less S Pen stylus, or are regularly going to test the Ultra’s camera performance. Battery life is a consideration, but the Snapdragon 8 Elite has proven to be very efficient in phones like the OnePlus 13, so the S25 Plus’s 100mAh smaller capacity battery compared to the Ultra probably won’t dramatically affect longevity.
The Galaxy S24 Plus was last year’s dark horse, and having held and used all three Galaxy S25 phones, the S25 Plus is set to be exactly the same again this year. It’s also a lot more reasonably priced at $999, instead of the still very pricey $1,299 Galaxy S25 Ultra. We’ll know for sure which one is the best buy when we fully review all the new Galaxy S25 models, but for now it’s the Galaxy S25 Plus that I’d be more than happy to take home. You can read our Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on here, and our Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus hands-on here.
