5 AI features on the Samsung Galaxy S25 that make me forgive the minor hardware changes

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, and during its Unpacked event, Samsung proved that the company is all over AI. In addition to upgrading its new flagship Galaxy S25 series smartphones with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, Samsung also added new Galaxy AI improvements and integrations with Google Gemini.

1. Personalized AI

AI isn’t great for most users if it can’t be personalized, especially on smartphones. Thankfully, the level of personalization is one of the best things about the new AI features of the Galaxy S25 Series.  

One UI 7 makes the S25 models AI companions rather than simple smartphones, helping provide more personalized AI experiences in daily life. The new smartphones can give context-aware suggestions and responses as you navigate your device, like recommending that you create a GIF from a video you’ve selected with AI Select.

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It’s only natural that personalization will become more helpful with more advanced natural language processing (NLP). Samsung claims the new Galaxy S25 series lets users intuitively ask to adjust the size of display fonts or find a specific photo in their device’s Gallery. 

2. Google Gemini at your fingertips

Now that Samsung is integrating Google Gemini into many applications, Galaxy S25 users can press and hold the power button on their phones to activate the AI. This approach is just like iPhone and iPad users can do with Siri, and it makes for easy access to the AI assistant.

“The greatest innovations are a reflection of their users, which is why we evolved Galaxy AI to help everyone interact with their devices more naturally and effortlessly while trusting that their privacy is secured,” said TM Roh, president and head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. “Galaxy S25 series opens the door to an AI-integrated OS that fundamentally shifts how we use technology and how we live our lives.”

This AI upgrade allows quicker, more intuitive interactions with Gemini. Users can use Gemini Live across the Galaxy S24, S25, and Google Pixel 9 lineups. You can add files, photos, and even YouTube videos to your conversations with Gemini Live. 

3. Boosting productivity with Now Brief

Samsung announced a new ‘Now Brief’ feature that uses user insights and past interactions to offer suggestions on the lock screen. These proactive suggestions are featured in the Now Bar, a new feature on the Galaxy S25 lineup. 

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In the morning, for example, Now Brief could show you a summary of last night’s sleep quality, weather forecast, calendar events, and suggestions for routines based on your data. In the evening, it could summarize what you did during the day, including photos you took, and provide reminders for upcoming events. 

4. Samsung, but with Gemini integrations

The new Samsung Galaxy S25 models feature more seamless Google and Samsung integrations than before. Gemini can perform quick actions across Samsung and Google apps, like asking the assistant to create reminders in the Samsung Reminder app, create events in the Samsung Calendar, or edit Samsung Notes. 

Gemini on the Samsung Galaxy S25 will work across Google apps, native Samsung Galaxy apps, and third-party apps, like WhatsApp and Spotify.

5. The awaited arrival of Project Astra is imminent

Google initially demoed Project Astra during its I/O event last May, but, as its name indicates, this was merely a ‘project’ or prototype. Now, Google plans to bring some Project Astra features, like screen sharing and live video streaming, to the Gemini app for Samsung Galaxy S25 and Pixel smartphones.

“Project Astra is the brainchild of Google DeepMind; the company’s vision of a multimodal, super-charged AI assistant that can process visual information, show reasoning, and remember what it’s been told or shown,” Kerry Wan, ZDNET’s senior reviews editor said of the AI project after I/O last year. 

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“Ultimately, Google DeepMind gave me a strong vision of what the future of AI interactions could look like. They just have some wrinkles that need to be smoothed out before I’m ready to introduce another voice assistant into my life.”

The plan to add Project Astra features to the Gemini app on select phones is expected over the coming months.