Samsung Galaxy S25 is funnily familiar
28 Jan 2025
It’s wild how history repeats itself. The year was 2017 and Samsung just came off the $17bn loss in the Galaxy Note7 crisis. While the business was still doing well for investors, the company needed a win to get consumers back. Enter the “unboxed” Galaxy S8 with the Bixby smart assistant on board. We’re now in 2025 and Samsung is facing a stock market decline. Enter the Galaxy S25 that doesn’t change the design from the previous model but plays the same smart assistant notes that Bixby did.
Samsung South Africa’s VP of mobile Justin Hume repeated this data point at the Johannesburg launch of the Galaxy S25 series.
“Now last year when we sat here and we launched the Galaxy S24, it was effectively launched into a vacuum and consumers were unsure,” he said of the market’s maturing sentiment.
“What is this? What is it doing? Do I really need AI in my device? Well with Galaxy S24, we answered those questions… when we now bring in the brand new Galaxy S25, we launch it into a market that is no longer filled with questions, with anxiety – those questions have now been proven, they've been answered, and the anxiety has given way to excitement”
To be honest, the Galaxy S25 family do not look any different to the previous models and are being marketed on the strength of the enhanced AI capabilities – now more nakedly with Google’s blessing and closer Gemini integration.
“Following a sustained period of stalled hardware innovation, AI will be the next differentiator for Smartphone manufacturers,” said Jack Hamlin, global consumer insights director at Kantar’s Worldpanel ComTech.
The technology (AI) presents two distinct growth opportunities. Firstly, driving greater volume and value of Smartphone sales. Secondly, through monetising the installed base via subscriptions to access unique capabilities. Apple’s services revenue increased 11% year-over-year. In its Q1-24 results, highlight the opportunity that services revenue represents.
Selling a dream
The Korean electronics giant is limping in the cooler global smartphone sales climate and needs a big win to fend off the Chinese brands Honor and Xiaomi who are scavenging market share.
In the South African context that translates to a lot of pressure on the local office to convert the hype and media budget into sales – but how do you sell AI?
“The biggest part about communicating now is showing and telling,” Kgomotso Mosiane, head of marketing mobile experience at Samsung South Africa tells Bizcommunity.
“There's no way that you can see what AI does without seeing what it does. Think about the action between different apps. The only way for us to do that is to show it.”
The plan to show Mzansi the power of this upgraded Galaxy AI takes the familiar shape of the Galaxy Studio activations in the country’s top 20 malls.
“We really believe that you're not going to buy it unless you've actually seen the AI work in action.”
Small changes, big difference
The story of the Galaxy S25 is best told in the enhancements brought to the Ultra variant.
You pick it up and it feels smaller than its predecessor and is notably lighter – but with an ever-so-slightly larger display and the promise of better battery endurance.
Battery life gains come from the improved efficiency of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor; which is clocked higher than the standard version of the chip.
This is also the only flavour you can get the Samsung Galaxy S25 in, with no reference or even whisper of Exynos (Samsung’s home baked processor usually sent to markets outside the US).
“With this new platform, the Samsung Galaxy S25 series is set to provide a premium experience that truly distinguishes itself among other mobile AI experiences, changing the way people interact with their device and the world,” said Samsung Mobile VP and head of technology strategy team Inkang Song of the Qualcomm partnership.
Important updates
What is significant is that Samsung is building on its exclusive relationship with Google by adding Gemini AI integration deep into its operating system.
Last year it was Circle-to-Search which first launched on the Galaxy S24, but this year’s S25 series gains AI features which were thought to be Google Pixel exclusives.
Samsung is now the leading vendor of Google Gemini Advanced – S25 customers get six months of access included in their purchase – and that will put Google at a significant advantage in the AI race.
In 2017 the radical hardware redesign of the Galaxy S8 overshadowed the incredible agentic powers of Bixby, but in 2025 the software is the main selling point.
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