Samsung’s latest Galaxy S25 flagship phones have their interesting points – as long as you’re quite interested in AI-first smartphones.
As was widely tipped and leaked, overnight at its latest Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung lifted the veil on its 2025 iteration of its Galaxy S lines in the form of the Galaxy S25.
This wasn’t unexpected; Samsung typically announces its Galaxy S line of premium flagship phones early in any given calendar year.
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Let’s dive into the details before I give my early thoughts. Very early thoughts in this case, with the reason why becoming clear a little later on.
When can I buy the Galaxy S25 in Australia?
All of Samsung’s new flagship phones go on pre-order from the 23rd of January 2025 (hey, that’s today!) with actual availability from the 14th of February.
So it’s a Valentine’s Day phone, if for some reason you viewed smartphones as deeply romantic. It takes all types, I won’t judge.
This is Alex Reviews Tech, not Alex Reviews Your Romantic Entanglements With Technology.
Also read:
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review
How much will the Galaxy S25 cost in Australia?
As is usually the case, the price you’ll pay will depend on which model you’re after as well as its storage configuration. Here’s the rundown of official RRP pricing at launch in Australia:
In Australia, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ will sell in Silver Shadow, Mint, Icyblue and Navy finishes through all retailers, but if you want them in Blueblack, Coralred or Pinkgold finishes you’ll only be able to do so via Samsung itself.
As for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, it comes in Titanium Black, Titanium Grey, Titanium Silverblue and Titanium Whitesilver through all retailers, or Titanium Blueblack, Titanium Jetblack, Titanium Jadegreen or Titanium Pinkgold through Samsung Australia only.
Also no, my space bar isn’t on the blink, those colour names are as per Samsung Australia’s own specifications. Blame them, not me.
Any tasty pre-order offers for the Galaxy S25 line?
Depends on who you order through, though there’s no sign of tasty bonuses such as headphones or smart wearables to be had, as has been the case for some prior Samsung premium phone launches:
Basically everyone gets the same upgrade offer deal, which (if I’m reading this correctly prior to launch) more or less equates to getting the higher tier storage model for the price of the lower tier model, which is quite a standard play for pre-order offers for many of Samsung’s phones – but certainly not to be sneezed at if you’re already keen on an upgrade.
What’s the difference between the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+ and Galaxy S25 Ultra?
Let’s have a look at the specifications, shall we?
Of note there, while there’s officially a 128GB variant of the Galaxy S25, Samsung Australia either isn’t selling it locally or hasn’t provided pricing for it upfront – I’ll double check this once pre-orders are live because I’m writing ahead of time and update if it is to be had here.
At a very basic level – and this is nothing new, it’s been this way for years – the Galaxy S25 Ultra has the biggest screen and highest storage capacities plus the inclusion of the S-Pen if that’s important to you. The Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ are smaller devices that drop more than a little down in terms of battery capacity and camera capabilities, but you do pay less for them as a result.
That’s all very much within the standard Samsung playbook, really.
Samsung Galaxy S25: Alex’s (Very) Early Thoughts
So, with full disclosure in mind, at the time of writing the only access I’ve had to the new Samsung phones has been via an an online briefing; while Samsung Australia did invite me to an early hands-on session, the fact that I was overseas until the morning of the session did rather put the kybosh on that.
Which, amongst other things, is why I don’t have my own photos of the new phones in my own hands as yet; I’ve had to rely on Samsung’s supplied photos as a result. Also, I’ve not had hands-on time with the new phones as yet, though I’ll be chasing to see when I can get a review phone or two in.
If past years are any indication that’s more likely to be just the Galaxy S25 Ultra, as it’s been downright hard to get the entry or mid-level Galaxy S models in for review in previous years. If anyone at Samsung Australia is listening, firstly, hello, and secondly, I’d be more than happy to give all three a review spin if feasible. Just saying, and all that…
The hardware note that interests me the most are the camera capabilities of the S25 Ultra, and especially what it can do with its souped up ultra-wide sensor. Not so much because I yearn to shoot lots of landscape photos, but much more because Samsung’s also pitching it as a superior macro photo lens. I do like me a close-up photo or two.
The big story that Samsung’s going to try to sell the entire line on is the evolution of its Galaxy AI service, adding in features like context-aware AI, natural language understanding and, honestly, a bunch of features that seem to have hopped across from Google’s Pixel 9 lines such as recording transcripts processed by AI.
All of which is… fine, I guess, but I’m personally yet to be bowled over by AI in a Jarvis-like way if I’m totally honest. Maybe this year will be the year – we’ll have to wait and see.
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