It has been two days since the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S25 series launch. The devices we played with extensively on D-day are as impressive as we had thought. The S25 Ultra has more rounded corners, so it doesn’t dig into your palm while using it like its previous iterations—the S22, S23, and S24 Ultras. Perhaps its most significant cosmetic change, besides flatter sides, makes it look like the iPhones. That is not bad because I am always a champion of devices copying the most useful design features from each other.
The same flat sides have been replicated in the base S25 and the S25 Plus.
Under the hood, the phones are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, the same as the ordinary 8 Elite but with slightly faster clock speeds. This beast of a chipset will remain speedy over the next couple of years.
Galaxy AI has also been spruced up with new features for summarising content, translations, and transcriptions. We got a hint of Galaxy AI’s capabilities when the S24 series launched a year ago, and Samsung appears to have added more features this time around, on top of a freshly baked One UI 7 overlay that looks clean, modern, and wicked fast.
Even more impressive is that the device will get 7 years of OS updates, meaning it will receive up to Android 22! This is interesting and actually a very good thing for me because, let’s face it, people hold onto their phones for longer. Devices like the Galaxy Note8, released nearly a decade ago, are still being used today and have excellent hardware and good camera performance. They just don’t receive software updates anymore to stay relevant to current trends.
I also want to talk about the base S25 model. It has really become svelte, even at 6.2”. It is a tiny device by any standards, which has been achieved by shrinking the bezels further (Samsung claims by 15%). I am happy that the device exists, and while we will likely never see a successor to the S10e, the base model is filling that hole just fine. Let’s also hope that the ultra-slim Galaxy S25 Edge/Slim will consider a compact design choice because the market needs such devices. Fingers crossed for that date when Samsung will release it.
PS: The base S25 model will only have 8 GB of RAM for Kenyans, while other markets get 12 GB.
For more commentary about the devices, read our brief assessment and specifications here:
Samsung Galaxy S25 price and specifications in Kenya
Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus price and specifications in Kenya
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra price and specifications in Kenya
Pre-order the S25 series in Kenya
Just like last year, Samsung customers can pre-order new devices, and there are some perks to go along with them.
First of all, this time, the phone maker has partnered with Loop, NCBA’s neobank, to offer customers cashback. If you pay for the devices using your Loop card, you will get KES 5,000 back. The offer also includes a Jambojet local return flight ticket.
Absa took part in this arrangement in 2024, and it was KCB the year before.
Secondly, if you buy a base model, say an 8 GB + 128 GB S25, Samsung will upgrade your storage to 256 GB.
The same applies to other models as well: both the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra start at 256 GB, so you will get the 512 GB model. In other words, you pay the price for the base model, and Samsung Kenya doubles the storage (so basically, you don’t need to buy the model with the biggest storage).
The offer runs from 23rd January to 16th February.
Price
Galaxy S25 Ultra
- 12 GB + 512 GB: KES 188,400
- 12 GB + 256 GB: KES 172,800
Galaxy S25 Plus
- 12 GB + 512 GB: KES 147,800
- 12 GB + 256 GB: KES 132,000
Galaxy S25 (Base Model)
- 8 GB + 256 GB: KES 116,200
- 8 GB + 128 GB: KES 108,300