specs, price, release date, AI features

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday launched its latest flagship smartphones — the Galaxy S25 series — touting a custom chip and advanced artificial intelligence features.

The release of the S25 comes after a year in which Samsung’s smartphone shipments came under pressure from Chinese players and an apple.

The Samsung S25 series comes in three variants — S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra — just like the previous flagships.

Starting prices are as follows:

• Galaxy S25: 799 dollars
• Galaxy S25+: 999 dollars
• Galaxy S25 Ultra: $1,299

Samsung will begin accepting pre-orders for the S25 series on Wednesday, and the devices will go on sale on February 7.

Last year, Samsung launched the Galaxy AI — a suite of artificial intelligence features — on S24.

With the S25, Samsung introduced additional AI applications with the aim of making the phone more like a digital personal assistant.

The latest Samsung devices can multitask when prompted. For example, a user can ask the phone to find the schedule of their favorite football team and add it to their calendar. Or the user can tell the AI ​​program to find nearby pet-friendly restaurants and send them to a specific contact. All these actions will be performed by the device in several programs.

Samsung said the feature supports third-party apps like Spotify and Metaowned by WhatsApp as well as its own and GoogleApplications.

The AI ​​application can also change the phone’s settings at the user’s request.

Samsung’s latest features highlight how the South Korean tech giant and some of its competitors are doing race to make artificial intelligence on devices more like personal assistants that cater to a person’s habits and preferences.

Last year, Apple started the deployment of Apple Intelligenceits AI feature set for the iPhone.

Device makers see artificial intelligence as a way to differentiate their hardware from the sea of ​​competitors. Samsung, for one, hopes the technology will help boost sales of its high-end products.

“At a time when improvements in hardware capabilities and product design are largely incremental, Samsung is doubling down on its AI story. There are some smart improvements included in the Galaxy S25 lineup, but they’re unlikely to be enough for consumers rushing to upgrade their phones early,” Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC.

“However, this is far from a unique problem for Samsung. Apple faces the same problems with the iPhone 16 and Apple Intelligence. AI is a boon for those who need an upgrade, but not enough to move the needle for consumers who already have a relatively modern phone.”

Samsung’s smartphone shipments fell 2.7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year due to a decline in market share, according to International Data Corp. data. Samsung was the No. 2 player in terms of shipments after Apple.

Meanwhile, Chinese players XiaomiTranssion and Vivo have increased market share with aggressively priced devices that have good specs.

CCS Insight’s Wood concluded that the S25 series “is a good fit for the growing number of consumers who have mobile phones that are three to four years old” but is “unlikely to get people to upgrade sooner”.

To provide the latest Samsung AI features and Qualcomm ran on a custom processor. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for the Galaxy is exclusive to Samsung, with the South Korean giant claiming it’s the fastest processor in Galaxy devices.

Fast, yet low-power processors in smartphones are vital to being able to handle heavy AI workloads without draining the battery.

Samsung also talked about other hardware changes, including an improved camera on the S25 Ultra model and a new design.

The S25 series now has rounded corners rather than the more angular design of its predecessors.