The Samsung Galaxy S25 will get ‘top-of-the-line’ camera and display upgrades

The Galaxy S25 could represent a significant leap over its predecessors — or so suggests Samsung Mobile Experience VP Daniel Araujo. “For camera and display specs in particular, where we’ve been leading, the S25 at launch will have top-of-the-line upgrades,” Araujo said in a recent earnings call, according to SamMobile. “And we’re also preparing industry-best APs [application processors] and memory to boost AI performance and offer an overall premium experience.”

Recent rumors cited by SamMobile claim that the S25 Ultra could ship with a 200-megapixel primary rear camera, a 50-megapixel 3x telephoto, a 50MP 5x telephoto, and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide. While camera quality is also dependent on factors like lens and software quality, on paper those specs would trounce the S24 Ultra, which uses a 12-megapixel ultra-wide and a 10-megapixel 3x telephoto. In fact there are few other phones with comparable specs — even this fall’s iPhone 16 Pro Max is expected to keep a 48-megapixel main camera, the key upgrade being the switch from a 12-megapixel ultra-wide to 48.

It’s not clear what display upgrades Samsung might be planning. The S24 Ultra already uses a 6.8-inch, 3088×1440 AMOLED display with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, and even the base S24 has a 6.2-inch, 2340 × 1080 pixel resolution panel. Conceivably, Samsung could improve brightness or slightly increase screen size.

The earnings call also revealed that at least some versions of the S25 will use an unreleased Exynos 2500 processor, and that Samsung is working to make its AI feel more conversational. “So, looking forward, we expect to be able to understand the context of conversations and provide a natural conversation and experience across our devices,” Araujo added. “To achieve this, we’ll strengthen partnerships and collaborations while developing our AI technologies further.” That seems to imply deeper collaboration with Google, from which some S24 AI features have carried over.

What else do we know about the Galaxy S25?

Some configurations of the S25 Ultra, at least, are likely to be equipped with Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processor. That chip should be announced at an October Qualcomm event. It could be used in other tiers of the phone as well, but possibly only in select markets like the US. In most countries, Samsung tends to prefer its own Exynos chips for Galaxy S phones.

We’re not sure when the S25 will be released. The S24 was announced at a January 2024 “Unpacked” event however, so there’s a strong chance we’ll see an S25 launch in January 2025.