Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: should you upgrade?

The Galaxy S25 series has finally arrived and with it, Samsung has taken a similar approach to previous years. There are three phones and with just a few small tweaks from previous generations, you may be wondering how the Galaxy S25 stacks up again last year’s Galaxy S24.

Both phones form the entry point to their respective generations of smartphones, but with the Galaxy S25 now up for pre-order, the Galaxy S24 has also received a small price decrease. Should you buy the latest Galaxy S25, or is the one-year-old Galaxy S24 worth buying? If you have the Galaxy S24, should you upgrade? Let’s dig into the similarities and differences to find out!

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: specs

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: design and display

Ostensibly, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S24 look like the same phone. They follow an identical design language and feature three cameras arranged in a vertical camera array. However, look beyond and you’ll find a few small differences that make a slight difference.

The biggest of these are the weight and thickness. As part of a growing trend to go ever thinner and lighter, the Galaxy S25 is 0.4mm thinner than the Galaxy S24 at 7.2mm and weighs six grams lighter at 168 grams. These are very small differences, but they make a slight difference and mean the Galaxy S25 is a little more comfortable to hold in the hand.

Beyond this, they feature the same 6.2-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display with 120Hz refresh rate, 2600 nits peak brightness, and HDR10+ support. The Galaxy S24 has a slightly lower screen-to-body ratio at 90.9% vs 91.1%, while both feature an always-on display and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection.

Thinner and lighter is better, so the Galaxy S25 wins. But beyond this, there’s virtually no difference between the two.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S25

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: performance and battery

The biggest internal difference between the two phones lies in the performance, as well as the included internal specs. The Galaxy S24 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 8GB of RAM in the U.S. and the Exynos 2400 in international markets. Both processors use the 4nm manufacturing process, but the Galaxy S25 kicks things up a notch.

Regardless of region, every Galaxy S25 sold globally is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, which features a customized version of the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, designed specifically for Galaxy smartphones. It is manufactured using a 3nm process, and alongside benefits in performance, it also offers improvements in battery life. Crucially, the base Galaxy S25 also features a bump to 12GB of RAM which ensures smoother performance across the board.

Beyond this, both phones feature the same 4,000 mAh battery with 25W wired charging that can charge up to 50% in 30 minutes. There’s also 15W wireless charging — although the Galaxy S25 does support the Qi2 magnetic wireless charging standard if you buy the official magnetic charging case — as well as 4.5W reverse wireless charging.

For the most part, we found that the Galaxy S24 offers average battery life, but while there have been no changes on paper, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor should mean that battery life has been slightly improved overall.

There are also slight improvements in the connectivity standards, with Samsung opting for the latest Bluetooth 5.4 standard and Wi-Fi 7. The Galaxy S25 also supports satellite messaging in an emergency, but it’s not as straightforward as it may seem. Neither phone supports the UWB fast transfer protocol that the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra do.

There’s very little difference between the two phones, but the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy and an increase in the base RAM make all the difference for AI, longevity, and battery life, so the Galaxy S25 wins again.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S25

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: cameras

The Galaxy S25 Ultra has a new ultrawide camera, but the Galaxy S25 features the same camera stack as the Galaxy S24. Quite literally, there’s no difference in the hardware, with the only improvements being delivered via the Image Signalling Processor in the new chipset. There are also slight changes to the design of the camera with a new bezel look helping to set them apart from the Galaxy S24, but these are the only cosmetic differences.

This means that regardless of which phone you buy, you get the same 50-megapixel wide camera with f/1.8 aperture, dual pixel phase detection autofocus, and OIS. This is paired with a 12MP ultrawide camera that offers 120° field-of-view, a 1.4µm pixel size, and supports Super Steady Video, but does all of this without OIS. There’s also the same 10MP telephoto lens with f/2.4 aperture and OIS that offers 3x optical zoom.

If you have the Galaxy S24 and want a better camera, the Galaxy S25 won’t deliver, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra might.

There’s no difference in the hardware. This is a tie.

Winner: Tie

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: software and updates

The Galaxy S25 runs One UI 7 out of the box, which is based on Android 15, while the Galaxy S24 runs One UI 6 based on Android 14. However, the latter is expected to get the One UI 7 update in the coming weeks, so will ostensibly be running the same software as the latest Galaxy S25. Both phones are offered with a guarantee of seven years of software and security updates, but the Galaxy S25 will receive support for one year longer by launching with the latest Android OS.

One UI 7 comes equipped with a host of new AI features, including a daily morning and evening briefing summarizing the day’s activities, updates to circle to search to include searching by audio, and further improvements to editing and generative AI tools.

These features are all available on the Galaxy S25 out of the box, and while it’s expected that these will be available on the One UI 7 update for the Galaxy S24, it’s unclear whether there will be differences in the overall capabilities of each phone. One possible difference is that most of these features run on-device on the Galaxy S25, but it’s unclear whether the older processor in the Galaxy S24 will force it to rely on the cloud for some of these features (as it does right now).

Winner: Galaxy S25. One additional year of support plus most AI features running on-device means it’s a better overall software experience. In particular, the on-device AI features are much faster than on the Galaxy S24.

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: price and availability

The Galaxy S24 launched at $800, and the Galaxy S25 launched at the same price, with the same storage options: 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB. However, it’s worth noting that the Galaxy S24 with 128GB of storage features the slower UFS 3.1 storage, while the remaining two models — and all three options on the Galaxy S25 — use the much faster UFS 4.0 storage.

The Galaxy S24 comes in several color choices. The four standard colors — Marble Gray, Onyx Black, Cobalt Violet, and Amber Yellow — are widely available, while the three additional colors — Jade Green, Sapphire Blue, and Sandstone Orange — are exclusively available from Samsung online.

The Galaxy S25 follows the same pattern with four standard colors — Silver Shadow, Icyblue, Navy, and Mint — as well as three Samsung-exclusive colors: Blue-black, Pinkgold, and Coral Red.

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: which is better?

Comparing the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S25 is like comparing two siblings that are one year apart. The Galaxy S24 is slightly older, the Galaxy S25 is slightly newer but ostensibly, these are the same phone with a few different internals. As such, if you have the Galaxy S24, there’s no reason to upgrade to the Galaxy S25.

However, if you are deciding which to buy, the answer comes solely down to price. Yes, the Galaxy S25 has better AI features as it can run them all on-device, and battery life should be slightly better thanks to the newer processor, but if the Galaxy S24 is 20% cheaper, then it’s an easy answer. If both phones are the same price, however, then the Galaxy S25 is the better purchase, especially if you are likely to keep your phone for several years.

Buy the Samsung Galaxy S25:

Buy the Samsung Galaxy S24: