Samsung’s best phones of 2025, tested and reviewed

Other Samsung phones

Photography: Julian Chokatu

If you do not see a Samsung phone mentioned in this guide, this may be because it is not sold in the US and is a little more difficult for a test source. This includes devices such as the Galaxy A55 or the entire Galaxy M series. But here are some other Samsung phones to see.

Samsung Galaxy A25 5G for $ 300: This is Samsung’s only phone in the composition I haven’t tested. I reviewed a larger model from a few years ago, A23 5GAnd I had a pretty bad experience, but things can change dramatically throughout the year. On paper specifications look solid, though they do not expect Snappy Performance.

Samsung Galaxy A15 5G for $ 170: The Galaxy A15 was a little disappointment because it is The predecessor was exclusiveS Performance has made a hit in this more new model and I have experienced a lag and delay. It’s not fun. It do have NFC, so you can make contactless payments, not to mention longer software maintenance, but it is difficult to enjoy these bonuses when the phone is annoying to use. Samsung launches an heir, Galaxy A16And I’ll review it soon.

If you want to save some money I think it’s good to buy Samsung’s Galaxy S23 range or Galaxy S23 Fe Since 2023, as long as prices are much lower than the original MSRP. These phones will still receive support for a while and are quite great. I don’t think it’s worth buying something older.

Do you need to invest in the Samsung ecosystem?

Photography: Julian Chokatu

Samsung is one of the few smartphone manufacturers who can match Apple in their hardware ecosystem. Not only the company makes smartphones, but you can also expand your experience by adding to a Galaxy Watch7 Smartwatch. Galaxy Buds3 Pro Earbuds. Fitness ring on a galactic ring. Galaxy Tab S10+ Tabletand even powered with windows Galactic laptopS

There are also certain advantages in how some features of Galactic ring and Watch7 They are only available when they are paired with a Samsung phone and its headsets will automatically switch between Samsung devices based on what you use. There are not many in the way of exclusive features when you use a galaxy phone with a galactic laptop, but as bonuses as Spit Allow you to quickly send photos and documents between your devices.

Again, these other devices may not be appropriate for you in their respective categories, but if you are chasing hardware parity, you have this option with Samsung.

What is the Galaxy AI?

With the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung startsGalaxy AI“Choosing features of artificial intelligence, many of which are powered by Large Language Models of Google GeminiS These Enable Smart Features That May Be Helpful Day To Day, Like Real-Time Translations During Phone Calls, Real-Time Transcriptions in Samsung, Samox, The Ability or Change a Sence’s Tone With the Samsung keyboard. In the Galaxy S25 Galaxy AI series, it has expanded to include Gemini as a voice assistant by default and the ability to work at the same time with multiple applications. In addition, it debuts a drawing assist that allows you to sketch or enter a prompted and get an AI generated image.

You can find many of these features by targeting Settings> Galaxy AI To turn them on or off. The following phones include or are updated to support Galaxy AI, although not all features are available to older models:

• Galaxy S25, Galaxy S24, Galaxy S23, Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S21 Series
• Galaxy S24 Fe, Galaxy S23 Fe
• Galaxy Z Fhond6, Galaxy Fold5, Galaxy Fold4, Galaxy Fold3
• Galaxy Flip6, Galaxy Flip5, Galaxy Flip4, Galaxy Flip3

What is Samsung Dex?

With the kind assistance of David Nelad

Samsung’s Dex (short for “Experience Experience”) launches in 2017, and this is a way to turn your Samsung phone into an external monitor and activate a desktop version of Android OS, all fully powered by the phone. You can find a list of Samsung compatible phones hereand you will need a Monitor. mouseand keyboardmore cable To connect the phone to the monitor. (You can also throw DEX to select wireless screens.)

When you are in DEX mode, you can resize Android apps and everyone open them in separate windows. This is a suitable computational platform, although you probably won’t want to use this as a constant replacement of a laptop or something. It’s great if you visit another office or work from a cafe or plane (if you have a portable display). We have a whole guide To set up and use DEX hereS

How I test phones

I have been browsing smartphones for nearly a decade, but one of my most smart devices was Samsung Galaxy Captivatewhich I received for “free” from my carrier at the time. After working during college, I finally saved enough money for a Galaxy S3My first flagship. I spent years using Samsung’s phones in my personal life and began to look at them for work not long after.

With every Samsung smartphone, I always put my personal SIM card inside and spend while I can (a few weeks) using the phone like mine. I do cameras testing and compare the results with devices with similar prices, I compare productivity and play graphically demanding games to see how they handle it, try all the new features and even make calls to make sure the OL feature is still working Okay.