Samsung Galaxy S25 review: The top Android phone for most people, with a stark performance upgrade and useful AI

New AI features and a new processor comprise the bulk of the upgrades on both phones.

The Galaxy S25 runs as fast and smooth as you'd expect from a new high-end phone.

The biggest upgrades are new or improved AI features exclusive to the latest Galaxy S series (for now).

Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus have identical 50MP main cameras, 12MP ultrawide cameras, and 10MP 3x zoom cameras on the new models.

Samsung has upgraded its AI-powered object removal in the Gallery app so that it removes shadows cast by the objects you're removing.

Music recognition has been added to Circle to Search to recognize audio that's coming from your phone, like from a video.

The Galaxy S25 can record up to 8K resolution at 30 frames-per-second, but 4 K ( UHD ) should suffice for most people.

Video quality is excellent, with balanced brightness, contrast, and natural colors.

While Samsung 's facial recognition works well when there's enough light for the front camera to see your face, it's uncomfortable to the eyes in dark conditions.