Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S24: Here’s why I wouldn't upgrade

The start of a new year brings a fresh crop of flagship Android phones, and Samsung is usually among the first to debut its premium Galaxy S lineup. 2025 has been no different with the launch of the Galaxy S25 series that’s set to replace last year’s S24 family. But with the latter already setting a high bar in nearly every area of the spec sheet, does the Galaxy S25 have enough on offer to warrant an upgrade?

Of course, Samsung claims that it has made several improvements to the Galaxy S25 that make it the company’s best flagship smartphone to date. But beyond the hype and marketing, the real question is whether these changes justify the cost of upgrading if you already own a Galaxy S24 or can still find the latter with a deep discount. Based on my experience with Samsung’s devices over the years, I think the answer’s pretty straightforward, even if we’re still putting the S25 series through its paces for our full review.

The Galaxy S25: Mostly familiar with a few improvements

At first glance, the Galaxy S25 and its larger Plus sibling look a lot like their respective predecessors, with the only new addition being a border around the rear camera lenses. In fact, you might not even pick out the new phone vs the outgoing S24 model at a distance. Samsung has stuck to the same design language for four generations now, which is good for brand recognition, but I feel like it has become a bit too long in the tooth. It sure feels like the South Korean giant is resting on its laurels when even the iPhone spices things up with a new button or notch design every other generation.

Design changes (or lack thereof) aside, the Galaxy S25 does at least offer a couple of noteworthy upgrades under the hood vs the S24. It packs Qualcomm’s latest flagship silicon, namely the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. Samsung said it has worked with the chip maker to achieve an even higher performance target than other phones. Based on our Snapdragon 8 Elite benchmarks, we can surmise that the S25 will easily outperform its predecessor in nearly every aspect. And while the chip does tend to get warm, the S25 has a larger vapor chamber that should help keep thermals under control.

Samsung has also increased the base memory from 8GB to 12GB on the vanilla S25 this generation. This increase in available RAM will mostly help the S25 support future Galaxy AI features, but it should also help support multitasking. While the Galaxy S24’s 8GB RAM is not inadequate by any means, it’s certainly not as futureproof. The Plus model doesn’t get a RAM boost, sticking to 12GB.

The Galaxy S25 series was rumored to get a new set of sensors while keeping the same camera layout. However, we now know that the resolution and focal lengths on all lenses remain unchanged year-over-year. While Samsung may have improved common software pain points in the imaging department, like the infamous slow shutter speed, I’m not holding my breath for a night and day difference compared to the Galaxy S24.

Why I wouldn’t upgrade from a Galaxy S24

Even as a tech enthusiast, I simply could not justify upgrading to the Galaxy S25 if I already owned the S24. As a general rule of thumb, skipping one generation tends to deliver the best balance of meaningful improvements and value for money. And with the S25, Samsung simply hasn’t done enough to break that rule and convince me to fork over hundreds of dollars.

The core smartphone usage experience remains largely unchanged between Samsung’s two flagship generations. Setting aside the improved performance, I’m mainly disappointed that there are no battery or charging speed improvements on offer. We once saw a gradual increase in battery capacity between Galaxy S generations, so I’m a bit disappointed to see that spec stagnate. Likewise, the brand new Galaxy S25 continues to miss out on Samsung’s 45W fast charging and remains limited to 15W of wireless charging — improvements in these areas would make a material difference to how I use my phone daily.

In my opinion, Samsung has hit a glass ceiling with the smaller phone’s design and cannot seem to improve core aspects without making sacrifices elsewhere. For example, the 25W charging speed has long been cited as a sore spot by fans of the series and is likely due to thermal constraints. It’s also unclear why Samsung doesn’t spring for a larger battery and trickle-down features like Ultra-wideband (UWB) support and a Quad HD display. The latter has become a mainstay of the Plus and Ultra models for some time now.

The lack of meaningful hardware improvements would be reason enough to keep your existing Galaxy S24 for at least another year, but I can think of another compelling reason to hold off for longer. Since last year, all Samsung phones now enjoy seven full years of software updates. And unlike Google, the South Korean company doesn’t force you to buy a new device for the latest Galaxy AI features. While some on-device AI tools will remain exclusive to the Galaxy S25, you can expect many others to make their way to older devices like the S24 via future One UI updates.

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs S24: Is upgrading worth it?

The Galaxy S25 is a great smartphone on its own, but it’s an extremely underwhelming upgrade if you’re coming from any of its recent predecessors. Even beyond the Galaxy S24, older devices like the Galaxy S23 and S22 have aged quite well. That’s especially true if you purchased them towards the end of their release cycle. With that in mind, here’s a quick rundown of whether the upgrade makes sense or not, depending on your use case:

• The Galaxy S25’s biggest advantage is improved performance, which will only appeal to gamers and content creators.
• You should skip the Galaxy S25 if you already own an S24 as the hardware differences are overall quite minor.
• The Galaxy S25 Plus is an upgrade worth considering but keep in mind that it’s significantly larger and more expensive than the base flagship.
• If you come across a generous trade-in offer, upgrading to the S25 or S25 Plus may make sense given that you get a slight spec bump and brand new hardware.
• If you’re shopping for a new phone instead of upgrading, look for a deeply discounted Galaxy S24 instead of the brand-new S25.

Are you contemplating moving up to the Galaxy S25? Let us know whether you can justify the upgrade in the poll above.