Galaxy S25 is no longer worth buying

It’s no longer worth buying the Samsung Galaxy S25. For the first time as a conscious consumer A Galaxy S25 without any major news seems like a great opportunity to buy the S24 — This is something I’ve been dreaming of for a while now that I own the S22 Ultra. With the expected additions from a generational jump and the guarantee that all of the announced functionality will be in One UI 7, I’m more inclined to save.

One of the special tools that most attracted me to this type of model was the S Pen with Bluetooth connectivity for remote camera control and other functions. this was removed from Galaxy S25 Ultra. Add in the fact that the additional telephoto camera continues with a maximum 5x optical zoom, and I realize that this is an even more unnecessary update. Buying the latest handset might guarantee an extra year of software and security updates, but I don’t think it’s worth the R$12,000 charged for the 256GB S25 Ultra. It may cost now In Brazil, up to R$ 15,000 in the most expensive variant.

The increase in recommended price leads us to believe that Samsung’s new handsets are superior to older models, but this may be one of the company’s safest (and least innovative) launches. THE Galaxy S25 offers very few new features Compared to the previous generation, the improvements are almost exclusively in the internal hardware.

Among the recently introduced models Galaxy S25 Ultra It is the only variant that offers changes The most obvious: the ultra-wide and telephoto cameras now have 50 MP resolution, and the corners of the device are rounded, offering a design that’s more in line with the rest of the series.

Speculations about the price adjustment of the Galaxy S25 began to circulate months ago. The main suspicion is that the models will be more expensive given the presence of a new high-end processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which will increase the assembly costs of the new models.

However, price increases did not occur in all markets: Galaxy S25 is sold for the same price in markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom. This doesn’t mean the cost of production remains the same, but it does at least show that Samsung has chosen to maintain its price points in these markets.

However, in Brazil the increases were significant. See the comparison between models below:

Looking at the chart, The smallest difference between initial prices is in the base model. The Galaxy S25 is up to R$ 1,000 more expensive than the standard Galaxy S24 across all storage options. It was R$ 1,500 for Tuning Plus and Up to R$ 2,000 on Galaxy S25 Ultra models.

It may be the dollar’s fault

The increase in price of the Galaxy S25 can be justified as follows: Devaluation of the Brazilian Real against the US dollar and other international currencies. On January 17, 2024, when the Galaxy S24 was launched, the exchange rate was R$ 4.95; but on January 22, 2025, the US currency was recorded at R$ 6.03 (according to data obtained by Wise).

However, the adjustment in the price list did not only occur in Brazil. Since there is a website GSM ArenaAlthough the Galaxy S25 was more expensive when it first hit the Canadian market, the increases are much less significant.

Galaxy S25 has no big news

THE Galaxy S25 launch relied heavily on artificial intelligence – and that’s it. The presentation highlighted various software features that will be natively available on new models thanks to One UI 7, a system that will also be distributed to older mobile phones.

It is not known whether all the artificial intelligence features offered at the launch of new models will be available on old devices, but there is no apparent reason why they should not. Most of the functionality is apparently handled in a hybrid way (cloud + local) and Galaxy S24 hardware was already capable of running such functions.

The only difference for Galaxy S25 Ultra is now with much higher resolution cameras than its 2024 counterpart. Photos and videos with ultrawide and telephoto lenses should be much sharper and richer in detail, but you’ll still need to see the components in action to be sure if the enhancement is actually beneficial.

Lost features of Galaxy S25 Ultra

However, Galaxy S25 Ultra lost line features: Since the S Pen built into the device no longer supports Bluetooth connection, all functions that depend on wireless connection are no longer available.

In this way Remote gestures and the ability to take photos with Samsung’s stylus are no longer available on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Wireless connectivity has been available on the line since the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

According to Samsung, very few users took advantage of the S Pen’s remote control features and so the function was removed. but this statement is controversial. The company notes that consumers often use the remote control found on the Galaxy Ring or Galaxy Watch to take photos remotely.

Is the Galaxy S25 worth buying?

While Galaxy S25 reviews haven’t been published yet, It is not possible to say that it is not a valuable version — and ultimately the choice comes down to the user’s purchasing power and desire. But even if software updates take a little longer to arrive, it’s clear that the 2024 versions remain as capable and interesting as the new models.

First of all, the prices of the Galaxy S24 will continue to drop with the launch of the new generation. Because, Last year’s flagships could get even more interesting compared to the last generation for the average consumer.

Right now, Galaxy S24 is available even below the R$ 4,000 range in the cheapest model. The Galaxy S24 Ultra model is also available at much more acceptable prices and costs around R$ 6,800 in main stores.

collect opinions

I spoke with its editor, Leonardo Rocha. TecMundo About his impressions on YouTube. Leo believes that it is too early to say for sure how much better the S25’s performance is compared to the previous generation.

He stated: “It is undeniable that the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is far superior to Qualcomm’s big brother or Exynos used in the S24 family. Similarly, moving from 8GB RAM to 12GB RAM also makes room for wide-language models to run more advanced features directly on devices; This can greatly impact what AI can do more specifically and when you don’t have any connection. reason.”

Leo is currently reviewing the new Samsung device and some perceptions may change. You will see the results here soon TecMundobut he also said: “Considering that Samsung’s previous generation of premium handsets were supposed to receive most, if not all, of the software features as part of the OneUI 7 update, this is most likely the S25, with good mobile network coverage, high-speed connections and remains the best choice for anyone living in regions who are not afraid of the risks of sending their data to AI for processing in the cloud.”

And finally, he posted the following comment with the following output: “Only when both generations are fully updated in terms of software will we be able to activate the switch that limits AI processing only to the devices themselves, and we will be able to see how to do this in practice. The S25 is much more capable than previous models.”

Another person I spoke to was Well Arruda, editor of TecMundo on YouTube, who went to Galaxy Unpacked to watch the S25 launch. He already has the device in his hand and commented that the overall feel is “more of the same”, adding that most of the time the device feels more like a Google mobile phone than a Samsung mobile phone, with the differences being more in the software.

We’ll have our review and other articles coming soon with more opinions on the smartphone from other editors.

An instant result

Let’s finish: Looking outside the Samsung ecosystem, The catalog of options gets bigger Realme GT 7 Pro, Asus ROG Phone 9 and the future Xiaomi 15 Ultra are good alternatives, all equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and with heavy technical data, they are at least as powerful (or even superior) to their predecessors. South Korean manufacturer.

Considering the exorbitant price range, even the iPhone 16 deserves attention when researching to buy a new mobile phone. On Apple’s official website, the basic model of the series costs R$ 7,799, while its more powerful version, the base iPhone 16 Pro, is sold for R$ 10,499.

The list of devices with similar specifications to the Galaxy S25 tends to grow throughout the year as other brands launch high-end models with Qualcomm’s most powerful chipset and offer more competitive prices. Because, Consumers who are more patient and careful during the launches of the year tend to save money You can benefit from a better offer than the best offers of January.