With the rumor of the Galaxy S25, of which we are hoping to see during Samsung’s Unpacked event On Wednesday, Samsung has the opportunity to delve deeper into the approach it took with the Galaxy S24.
Last year’s Galaxy S phones included a mix of functional and forward-looking changes, such as longer battery life on the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus and Galaxy AI on all models. I also hope to see advances in AI, as well as improvements to more mundane but critical things like cameras, display, and phone charging speeds.
Given Samsung’s focus on AI, there’s a good chance the Galaxy S25 will come with new Galaxy AI features. Samsung basically said this during its developers conference in October, where it showed off its new A user interface 7 software update that will debut on the S25 range. Otherwise, it will likely include Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor (at least the US variant of the phone) and routine design and camera upgrades. There are also rumors that a new, thinner version of the Galaxy S25 is coming next year, according to ETNews.
Samsung’s Galaxy AI’s current features are promising, but I wish the next iteration would have a bigger impact on the overall phone experience. Current features seem very targeted to specific use cases that don’t come up that often, such as language translation and photo editing.
Besides more useful AI tools, I’d like to see faster charging and other optimizations to essential parts of phones like the camera and screen.
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More impactful Galaxy AI features
Galaxy S24 Ultra featuring Galaxy AI Generative Edit functionality
Right now, Galaxy AI and other non-Samsung generative AI features appear to be just the beginning. Samsung started by applying generative AI to obvious and practical use cases, such as erasing objects from photos, translating text and phone conversations in real time, generating polished images from rough drawings, previewing slow motion videos and saving results.
What I really want is a more radical overhaul of how basic tasks are done on our phones, making them easier and faster to use. Among all the AI features available on Samsung phones so far, Circle to search best embodies this idea by removing the intermediate step of launching Google to search for an item. More of this, please!
I want new AI tools that help me manage the endless stream of notifications, data, and media on my phone. THE Pixel 9 The line’s new Screenshots app, which lets you search for content in your screenshots, is a good example of this, as are the notification and text message summaries in Apple Intelligence, which has just been released. launched as part of the company’s iOS 18.1 update. While far from perfect, post summaries ended up being one of my favorite new features in Apple Intelligence.
Sally Hyesoon Jeong, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics and head of the framework’s research and development team, hinted that Samsung’s next mobile software update could align with this theme. At the company’s developer conference, she said One UI 7 would be better equipped to understand your intent and “minimize complexity,” although she didn’t divulge specific details about the software.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an AI-based feature called Circle to Search. You can circle anything on the screen to find out more.
This focus also aligns with previous comments from Patrick Chomet, Samsung’s executive vice president and head of customer experience, made to CNET on the company’s approach to software.
“[You’d] you will never need to go to settings, or search for the next action,” he said in a previous interview discussing how the company wants to make Samsung phone software smarter. “You may not need to open [an] application.”
As I wrote in my review, I think Samsung missed an opportunity and should have given the Galaxy S24 Ultra Exclusive Galaxy AI features that are not available on cheaper models. This would not only help justify its high price, but also reinforce the Ultra in the phone’s name. We’ll see if he takes a different approach next year.
Changing the way we use our phones is no small feat. Given how much we rely on them for basic tasks, asking consumers to adopt a new way of doing things could be more disruptive than helpful if done poorly. I don’t expect Samsung to change the entire operating system in a few months, but I would like to see a move in a new direction, similar to Circle to Search.
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Faster loading
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus USB-C
I’m glad Samsung increased the battery life of the Galaxy S24. Now it just needs faster charging. The Galaxy S24 supports 25-watt wired charging, while the Galaxy S24 Plus and S24 Ultra support 45-watt wired charging. It’s been like this for years, at least since the Galaxy S20 generation.
With companies like OnePlus offering super-fast charging speeds, I’d like to see improvements from Samsung. THE OnePlus 12for example, offers 80 watts of charging in the US and 100 watts in the UK, which allowed my colleague Andrew Lanxon to fully recharge the battery in just 26 minutes.
Samsung, it’s time to step up.
Glare reduction across the entire range
The difference is dramatic between the screens of the S24 Ultra (left) and S23 Ultra (right).
One of the most underrated features of the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the screen’s Corning Gorilla Armor which reduces glare and reflections. As the screen is arguably the most important part of the phone, any improvement is welcome. My colleague Lexy Savvides was particularly impressed with the S24 Ultra anti-glare screen, finding that it was easier to see than the iPhone 15 Pro, Pixel 8 Pro, and Galaxy S23 Ultra on a sunny San Francisco day.
This coating is only on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Since screen quality is so essential on a phone, there’s a strong reason to think Samsung should expand it to all Galaxy S25 models. The Ultra’s giant screen, S Pen, and fancier camera are more than enough to set Samsung’s super-premium phone apart from the rest of the lineup.
Learn more: Don’t buy a new phone just for the AI. At least not yet
Camera upgrades
The cameras of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Samsung caused a sensation with the Galaxy S23 Ultra 200-megapixel main camera when it debuts in 2023. Megapixels only tell one side of the story when it comes to photography. Factors such as sensor size, pixel size and aperture, as well as the image signal processor of the chip, are just as important as the number of megapixels when determining quality from your phone’s camera.
Samsung has also made improvements in these areas over the years, but now that it faces new competition from Xiaomi, it needs to step up its efforts if it truly wants to be the king of smartphone photography.
THE Xiaomi 14 Ultra features a huge image sensor larger than those you’ll find on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, allowing it to take impressive photos with a wide dynamic range that CNET’s Andrew Lanxon called some of the best images that he’s never seen from a phone. A larger sensor allows a camera to capture more light for improved image quality, reducing the need for noise reduction.
I’d also like to see more convenient editing features. I was attracted to the iPhone 16’s Photo Styles feature, which applies an effect to a custom image based on the scene. I’m not saying Samsung should release its own version of Photographic stylesbut I would like to see new tools that enhance the aesthetics of your photos and have nothing to do with using generative AI to modify the content of the photo.
Overall, I hope Samsung improves camera, display, and charging speeds, while introducing new software features that make its phones more intuitive than before. Samsung typically launches new Galaxy S phones in the first quarter of the year, so we expect to hear more in the coming months.
