Galaxy S25 Series launched: 5 key takeaways from Samsung Unpacked 2025

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series has arrived—here are the top 5 highlights from the Galaxy Unpacked event.

Samsung wrapped up its annual Galaxy Unpacked event yesterday, where the South Korean tech giant unveiled four new smartphones in the Galaxy S25 series: the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, Galaxy S25 Ultra, and the Galaxy S25 Edge. While details about the S25 Edge remain limited, particularly regarding its design and release date, the rest of the lineup brings a host of exciting new features. Here, we break down the top five highlights from the event.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S25 series yesterday at its Unpacked event. (Bloomberg)

Galaxy S25 Edge: The return of ‘Edge’ branding

If you don’t recall, Samsung first introduced the ‘Edge’ branding with the Galaxy Note Edge, followed by the Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy S7 Edge. However, the branding was eventually retired in favour of the Plus and Ultra labels.

Now, in 2025, Samsung has revived the Edge branding, but this time, it signifies something entirely different. Instead of referring to curved edges, the name now highlights the S25 Edge’s ultra-thin form factor, a key aspect of its design. While Samsung has not disclosed the exact thickness of the device, the S25 Edge’s sleek build is expected to make a bold statement. Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on its official release date.

All Galaxy S25 series phones are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy

Unlike last year's S24 series, where some models featured the Exynos 2400 chipset, all S25 models now use the latest Snapdragon processor. The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy is a custom, slightly overclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite, providing enhanced performance compared to the standard chipset found in other smartphones.

This is welcome news for buyers of the base Galaxy S25 model who don’t want to compromise on performance. Last year, Samsung’s decision to reserve the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy exclusively for the S24 Ultra created a significant performance gap between the Ultra and the standard models.

A More complete Galaxy AI experience

The Galaxy S25 series offers an even more feature-rich experience when it comes to AI . Samsung has boosted its AI capabilities with the integration of Google Gemini, which now includes: Upgraded Circle to Search feature that recognises URLs, email addresses, and more. The ability to activate Gemini using the side button on S25 devices is now also available, and now, you can command Gemini to find specific photos from your gallery, requesting sports team schedules, and adding them to your calendar.

Samsung has also introduced features like call transcription, writing assist, and drawing assist. You also get an on-device personal data engine. This facilitates AI analysis directly on the device, ensuring a more personalised and privacy-focused experience.

Galaxy S25 Ultra: Camera upgrades

Over recent years, Samsung’s mainline flagships have struggled to match the video capabilities of the latest iPhones. For instance, the Galaxy S24 Ultra lacked the ability to shoot Log video. However, the S25 series addresses this with the introduction of Galaxy Log.

Galaxy Log is a flat video codec that retains more data in the footage, allowing users to colour grade their videos during post-production for greater creative flexibility.

Additionally, the S25 series introduces the Virtual Aperture feature, which provides granular control over the background blur (bokeh) in portrait mode videos, enabling users to fine-tune their footage.

Galaxy S25 Series pricing

The Galaxy S25 series pricing in India is as follows:

• Galaxy S25: ₹80,999 for the base model (12GB RAM + 128GB storage).
• Galaxy S25+: ₹99,999 for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant.
• Galaxy S25 Ultra: ₹1,29,999 for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant, ₹1,41,999 for the 12GB RAM + 512GB storage variant and ₹1,65,999 for the 12GB RAM + 1TB storage variant.