The Galaxy S25 Ultra has given me hope about AI, but only for now

There’s a lot riding on the latest Galaxy AI features headlining the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, but after spending a short time with the phone I’m far more positive about it than I have been about mobile AI at all so far. It’s a good thing, as the rest of the Galaxy S25 Ultra isn’t exactly groundbreaking. However, it’s going to take a while before we truly understand if Galaxy AI on the S25 series is as transformational as Samsung claims.

The more you use it

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There’s something to explain about the Galaxy AI features before we go any further. I’m basing my positive interest on what I’ve been told it’ll do, rather than seeing it actually doing it in person. Normally this would be a cardinal sin, but as this is a hands-on and not a review, I feel it’s acceptable. The reason is, Galaxy AI’s personalized insights — the most intriguing aspect — needs time to get to know you, and unless you’ve used the phone for a period of time, it doesn’t work.

Samsung’s Personalized AI powers the Now Brief, a proactive “AI agent” delivering informative summaries multiple times a day, containing details on the weather, your activities for the day, photos taken, your upcoming schedule, the amount of steps taken, and a host of other things based on your interests. This can include new content from your favorite artists, podcasts, or sports scores and fixtures. The more you use the phone, the more it’ll inform you.

The Daily Brief appears on a dedicated page, or on the Now Bar at the bottom of the lock screen. The Now Bar operates like the iPhone’s Dynamic Island, showing timers, music playing, and other live information. It’s a really neat implementation, and as it’s software driven and not partially obscuring a camera cutout, it’s entirely hidden if it’s not in use. The Now Brief, when explained to me, sounds genuinely helpful. As it’s entirely customizable, I won’t be bothered by things I don’t care about, cutting down on information overload or unnecessary noise, plus all my data is end-to-end encrypted.

I don’t think Galaxy AI’s “personalized” approach is all that new, but Samsung is really pushing its intelligence and convenience, plus the overall design and implementation is top notch. Mobile AI needs to provide value, appear seamless and well-crafted, and needs to regularly save me time and effort. The Daily Brief system sounds like it should do most of this, but unfortunately only time will tell if it does. However, Samsung did a really good job at selling the promise to me, and I feel more positive about Samsung’s personalized AI features than I have about any other mobile AI feature yet.

Using the hardware

Will you want to use the Galaxy S25 Ultra for the length of time required so Galaxy AI gets to know you? There are some big hardware changes compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and I’m not completely sure how I feel about them yet. Samsung has rounded the frame which it says improves grip, but throughout my time holding and trying the phone out, it didn’t feel especially comfortable. The flat sides have a sharper taper than the S25 or S25 Plus, and it’s less comfortable to hold than the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Samsung has reduced the weight down to 215 grams and the larger 6.9-inch screen has 15% smaller bezels, so the phone is pleasingly light and all screen on the front. The body is also a couple of millimeters less wide, which you really do notice, especially as the S Pen stylus’ holder is right at the edge of the phone’s base now. Just like the tiny differences in dimensions between the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 6, Samsung has worked to make its non-folding flagship less of a handful, even after increasing the screen size. It works, but the phone leaves less of an impression than before, as it doesn’t look or feel quite such a behemoth anymore.

On the back it’s business as usual as it has not changed the camera layout, but the overall shape of the phone is “new” enough that I don’t think you’ll mistake the S25 Ultra for the S24 Ultra. However, after holding all three S25 phones, I came away thinking the S25 and S25 Plus had the more pleasing in-hand feel. The titanium frame continues on from the S24 Ultra with a few improvements, while the Gorilla Armor 2 glass’s anti-reflection surface treatment is even more effective, and more resistant to fractures and damage than before.

New specification

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An overclocked, better optimized Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor powers the S25 Ultra (and all other S25 models), and there’s a larger vapor chamber for cooling, plus 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage space. The camera retains the 200-megapixel main unit and 50MP telephoto from the S24 Ultra, but there’s a new 50MP wide-angle camera. I was impressed by the new smooth zoom feature, and seeing the instant color correction mode in action when shooting video in Log mode. A demo of the Audio Eraser feature — where unwanted noise can be removed from a video — showed how effective it can be in noisy environments.

I got the impression there are a lot of tiny changes in the camera’s software and feature list, such as 10-bit HDR, a virtual aperture mode when using the Expert RAW app, new generative edit features, and updated noise reduction algorithms. It was the same story with the rest of Galaxy AI, such as Circle to Search now working with sound from video to identify songs, and being able to verbally request alterations in the Settings menu. Some of these you’ll notice and use, others work in the background, and others you may never use at all.

As with previous years, the reason to choose the S25 Ultra over the other two models lies mostly in the massive screen, the top-spec camera, and the S Pen stylus. All three new S25 phones use the same processor. The screen is huge, but when I briefly used the Galaxy S25 Plus, it didn’t feel small or cramped, and if you’re not a real camera geek and don’t ever plan to use the S Pen, then it’s probably a better buy. The S25 and S25 Plus are more shapely too, and when compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s squared-off corners are emphasized even more.

An exciting future

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If the Daily Brief and more personalized aspects of Galaxy AI work as Samsung described, it may become the first major mobile AI feature set to mean something to a lot of people. The S25 Ultra’s hardware is more palatable too, with its rounded corners, lighter weight, and slimmer case. Combined, it makes the Galaxy S24 Ultra less for the hardcore user, and more interesting to demanding buyers who want the best Samsung offers.

However, there are two very big “ifs” in all this. If Galaxy AI’s personalized features don’t deliver value, and if the S25 Ultra’s new design proves to be uncomfortable or fatiguing to hold for longer periods of time, then your attention should turn towards the Galaxy S25 or S25 Plus, or outside towards the Google Pixel 9 series. We’ll know for sure when we review the S25 Ultra, but for now, I’m very excited about its potential as the first smartphone with true, mass appeal AI inside it.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will be released on February 7 and start vat $1,299 or 1,249 British pounds.