Specs, Price, Release Date, AI Features | Real Time Headlines

Samsung Electronics launched its latest series of flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S25, on Wednesday, touting customized chips and enhanced artificial intelligence capabilities.

The S25 launch comes a year after Samsung’s smartphone shipments came under pressure from Chinese and other manufacturers. apple.

Like previously released flagships, the Samsung S25 series is divided into three versions: S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra.

Starting prices are as follows:

• Galaxy S25: $799
• Galaxy S25+: $999
• Galaxy S25 Ultra: $1,299

Samsung will start taking pre-orders for the S25 series on Wednesday and the devices will go on sale on February 7.

Last year, Samsung launched Galaxy AI—its suite of artificial intelligence capabilities— on S24.

In the S25, Samsung introduced more artificial intelligence applications aimed at making the phone more like a digital personal assistant.

Samsung’s latest device can perform tasks across multiple apps when prompted. For example, users can ask the phone to find their favorite football team’s schedule and add it to their calendar. Alternatively, users can prompt an AI application to find nearby pet-friendly restaurants and send them to a specific contact. All these operations will be performed by the device across multiple applications.

Samsung said this feature supports third-party applications such as Spotify Yuan-Owns WhatsApp, as well as itself and Googleapplication.

The AI ​​app can also change settings on the phone when prompted by the user.

Samsung’s latest features highlight how the South Korean tech giant and some of its rivals are evolving The race to build artificial intelligence on devices It’s more like a personal assistant that caters to a person’s usage habits and preferences.

Last year, Apple Start rolling out Apple Intelligenceits suite of artificial intelligence features for the iPhone.

Device makers see artificial intelligence as a way to differentiate their hardware from competitors. Samsung, for example, hopes the technology can help revive sales of its high-end products.

“At a time when improvements in hardware features and product design are largely incremental, Samsung is doubling down on its AI story. There are some neat enhancements in the Galaxy S25 series, but they’re unlikely to be enough to attract consumers. Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC they rushed out to upgrade their phones too soon.

“However, this is not a unique problem for Samsung. Apple is facing the same challenge with the iPhone 16 and Apple Intelligence. Artificial intelligence is a boon for those who need an upgrade, but not enough for those who already have one.” consumers to bring about change.

According to data from the International Data Corporation, Samsung’s smartphone shipments fell by 2.7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year due to shrinking market share. In terms of shipments, Samsung is the second largest manufacturer after Apple.

At the same time, Chinese players MilletTranssion and Vivo increased market share with aggressively priced devices and solid specs.

CCS Insight’s Wood concluded that the S25 series is “well suited to the growing number of consumers who have phones that are three or four years old” but is “unlikely to get people upgrading faster”.

To support its latest artificial intelligence capabilities, Samsung and Qualcomm Committed to customized processors. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy is exclusive to Samsung, and the Korean giant claims it is the fastest processor in a Galaxy device.

Fast but low-power processors inside smartphones are critical to ensuring heavy AI workloads can be managed without draining the battery.

Samsung also talked about other changes to the hardware, including improved cameras and new designs on the S25 Ultra models.

The S25 series now features rounded corners instead of the angular design of its predecessor.