Samsung unveils Galaxy S25 phones with powerful AI features [VIDEOS]

Samsung has unveiled its new Galaxy S25 series of flagship phones packed with artificial intelligence (AI) features and minimal aesthetic differences.

The South African launch took place at the Wits Anglo-American Digital Dome in Johannesburg this week.

Samsung’s unveiling comes ahead of mobile phone launches by Honor, Xiaomi, and Huawei next week. These devices are also likely to focus on AI features.

AI packed

The Samsung lineup includes three models: the base Galaxy S25, the Galaxy S25 Plus, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

The new Galaxy S25 devices run One UI 7 on top of Android 15, which Samsung says can turn the phones into a true AI companion.

It enables the new phones to understand text, speech, images, and videos, allowing users to interact with their phones using natural language.

You can ask your phone to find a photo or a video by describing certain elements you can remember, for instance, or tell it to change specific settings without manually navigating the device.

There’s also an AI feature called the Now Brief that sends you alerts throughout the day based on your schedule and pattern of activity. Those notifications will be visible on the Now Bar, the devices’ new notification system.

Here’s the camera… #GalaxyUnpacked #GalaxyAI @SamsungMobileSA @SamsungSA pic.twitter.com/X37W2tGZs1

— 𝙵𝚊𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚕 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕 ⚡️ (@FaizelPatel143) January 22, 2025

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Audio eraser and Cooking Master

One AI feature that piqued the interest of all tech journalists at the launch was the audio erase feature when recording in noisy environments.

“Galaxy S25 audio eraser analyses and separates the sound specific to the video so that you can reduce the levels of unwanted noise,” the company explained.

The Galaxy S25 has an audio eraser… This is amazing 😀 especially when recording in noisy environments… #GalaxyUnpacked #GalaxyAI @SamsungMobileSA @SamsungSA pic.twitter.com/D6FejhHzGl

— 𝙵𝚊𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚕 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕 ⚡️ (@FaizelPatel143) January 22, 2025

Another feature that will no doubt come in handy is Cooking Master.

“I can literally take a picture of my refrigerator when open, and it will be able to suggest to me based on the ingredients its tracks in the refrigerator, what can I make, how long it’s going to take, and so forth,” Samsung South Africa’s Zaheer Cajee explained.

‘Human-like’

Samsung Vice President for Mobile Justin Hume said they are making AI more “human-like.”

“So, you can literally talk to the Galaxy S25 as if it is your friend and initiate multiple actions. It not only understands you, but it also anticipates your intentions in the first truly human-like AI companion.”

The S25 series will be the first to boast Google’s Gemini AI on-device.

While AI is all the rage, TM Roh, President and Head of Samsung Electronics Mobile eXperience Business, emphasised that AI is becoming more personal.

Want to know about privacy and security and whether an image is AI generated? Check this out. #GalaxyUnpacked #GalaxyAI @SamsungMobileSA @SamsungSA pic.twitter.com/ap8pXkNwIm

— 𝙵𝚊𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚕 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕 ⚡️ (@FaizelPatel143) January 22, 2025

Google Gemini

At the launch, Google showed how it’s continuing to reimagine the Android smartphone experience with AI at the core, creating a seamless and intuitive experience

“Gemini Live already lets you have natural conversations with AI to brainstorm ideas, simplify complex topics, or even practice for important moments. And now it’s getting even better! You can now add images, files, and YouTube videos to your conversations, making Gemini Live more multimodal, personal and contextual to you.

“We will also introduce Project Astra capabilities like screen sharing and live video streaming to the Gemini app in the coming months,” Google said.

The LE audio features update enables hands-free calling, easy-to-use personalized audio adjustments, and a low-latency connection to GN ReSound and Oticon hearing aids.

For people who are blind or have low vision, TalkBack 15 on Galaxy S25 devices will now be compatible with braille displays that use HID, a popular way to connect to Bluetooth devices, Google said.

Samsung S25 with Google Gemini… #GalaxyUnpacked #GalaxyAI @SamsungMobileSA @SamsungSA pic.twitter.com/I6Cb4Uz7Z9

— 𝙵𝚊𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚕 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕 ⚡️ (@FaizelPatel143) January 22, 2025

Hardware

The Galaxy S25 series received the usual gamut of hardware upgrades, including a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor customized for the S25 series.

However, the Galaxy S25 Ultra received the bulk of the upgrades, with a refreshed design, the biggest display on a non-foldable Samsung phone, and an upgrade to the ultrawide camera.

Interestingly, the S Pen stylus that comes with Samsung’s top-of-the-line model has not received any upgrades.

In a nutshell… #GalaxyUnpacked #GalaxyAI @SamsungMobileSA @SamsungSA pic.twitter.com/H5pQdiQcD5

— 𝙵𝚊𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚕 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕 ⚡️ (@FaizelPatel143) January 22, 2025

Availability and pricing

With several mobile launches still to come this year, it will be interesting to see what AI features they have up their sleeves and how much they will charge.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series is available to pre-order now, with general availability by 7 February 2025.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series price starts at R19,999 for the base S25, R24,499 for the S25+, and R31,999 for the S25 Ultra.

The Ultra is available in Titanium Black, Titanium Blue, Titanium Grey, and Titanium Silver, while the S25 and S25+ have Icy Blue, Mint, Navy, and Silver Shadow colour options.

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