People tend to keep phones longer than they used to, though, and anyone upgrading to the S25 from an Android phone released more than a couple of years ago won't mind that, visually, it looks like Samsung's released the same phone three years in a row. Next to a modern Google or OnePlus phone, though, the Galaxy S25 looks awfully basic.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra does all of the right things you want from a high-end smartphone, but its redesign annoys me.

At its Unpacked event last week, Samsung took the wraps off the Galaxy S25 lineup and spent a majority of the time talking about AI -- a trend in phone announcements these days. Echoing both Google and Apple, Samsung said it " built an AI OS from the ground up " when referring to its latest phone software, One UI 7 .