Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus Reviews: Just enough AI to not make me go crazy

Samsungโ€™s mantra for launching the Galaxy S25, and S25 Plus, appears to be “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” because this yearโ€™s phones are strikingly similar to last yearโ€™s S24 and S24 Plus. What the new phones lacks in innovation, they make it up for with consistency and practicality.

AI improvements are the main differences between the S25 and S25 Plus. After using the phones for about a week, I was able to warm up to most of these features, but there were other attributes that remained important to me, namely cameras and battery life.

There’s a tool called AI Select which looks at the screen of your phone and suggests actions such as summarizing or converting text. The Gallery app can also find a picture with more conversational search words and Audio Eraser will remove distracting background noises from your videos.

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The S25 and S25 Plus have matte glass backs that add a premium touch.

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”2250″},{“id”:”c27bc5e6-5d2f-48ae-8159-501961aee140″,”filename”:”samsung-galaxy-s25-plus-9318.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/01/29″},”alt”:”Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus”,”credits”:”James Martin/CNET”,”caption”:”

The camera bumps don’t jut out too much on the S25 and S25 Plus, which is nice.ย 

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”2250″},{“id”:”0E2716e2-ba85-4170 -ab32-23f2ad8c4fb2″,”filename”:”samsung-galaxy-s25-9014.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/01/29″},”alt”:”Samsung Galaxy S25″,”credits”:”James Martin/CNET”,”caption”:”

Gemini and I, surprisingly, became friends.

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Here are two Portrait Studio images of me entirely created by AI.

“,”width”:”3000″,”height”:”2000″},{“id”:”5B523fd4-7766-49D5-A642-5C1CB31ed5c3″,”filename”:”samsung-galaxy-s25-plus-9310.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/01/29″},”alt”:”Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus”,”credits”:”James Martin/CNET”,”caption”:”

The S25 and S25 Plus have a trio of lenses on the back: wide, ultrawide and 3x telephoto.

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Bright colors shine on the S25 and S25 Plus.ย 

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”bb6720f9-a140-4175-a8aa-e40050bb0173″,”filename”:”20250129-163754.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/03″},”alt”:”Pink tulips sit in a floral vase on a marble coffee table”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

These wilting flowers may not look very pristine, but at least the overall shot does.

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”d2d535f3-60a0-4d79-b1ab-19623604564a”,”filename”:”20250129-155955-1.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/03″},”alt”:”Several flower arrangements sit on a table in the lobby of The Palace Hotel”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

I love how commanding the subject is in Portrait shots.

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”e8e28148-7970-4054-81ee-4f0e4e974e21″,”filename”:”20250129-152909-1.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/03″},”alt”:”A pot filled with succulents sits in front of a wall with graffiti, with a white railing to the right”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

There’s a rail on the right…

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”44a92ca2-2dd1-4dc1-b942-da82a9ce0b66″,”filename”:”20250129-1529091-1.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/03″},”alt”:”A pot filled with succulents sits in front of a wall with graffiti, and a white railing to the right has been erased with AI”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

And now there’s not!

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Before and after. Notice the AI disclaimer at the bottom of the image to the right.

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The S25 beautifully handled the combination of vibrant greens, dark shadows and bright holiday lights (which are still up for some reason).

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This night time shot almost looks as if it were taken in the daytime.ย 

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”234f8018-b747-4943-901f-27c3Ceae0974″,”filename”:”20250129-153834-1.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/04″},”alt”:”A woman in a purple headscarf and floral dress stands in front of a series of palm trees”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

And let’s flip that camera around real quick for a selfie.ย 

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Remarkably, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus have a great battery life, which is important since both feature power-hungry AI features.

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The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus have lots of AI but aren’t entirely defined by it.

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”2250″}]” ” id=””115dfb09-36a1-421d-b018-5048f56d3df5″ ” imagecaption=””

“” imagecredit=”” innovationdate=””2025-02-02T01:58:05.987Z” ” innovationday=””1″ ” innovationmonth=””02″ ” innovationyear=””2025″ ” position=””Into” ” primarytopicslug=””phones” ” techobjectinfo=””{}” ” usepricing=””true” “>

9.1

Samsung Galaxy S25

Similar to

  • Camera consistently produces good images
  • Battery life of 19659009 is impressive More AI functions feel practical

Do not like

  • Some stray AI features
  • S24 has not changed much
“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”2250″},{“id”:”2″,”filename”:”samsung-galaxy-s25-s25-plus-9463.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/01/29″},”alt”:”samsung-galaxy-s25-s25-plus-9463″,”caption”:”

The S25 and S25 Plus have matte glass backs that add a premium touch.

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The camera bumps don’t jut out too much on the S25 and S25 Plus, which is nice.ย 

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”2250″},{“id”:”0E2716e2-ba85-4170 -ab32-23f2ad8c4fb2″,”filename”:”samsung-galaxy-s25-9014.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/01/29″},”alt”:”Samsung Galaxy S25″,”credits”:”James Martin/CNET”,”caption”:”

Gemini and I, surprisingly, became friends.

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Here are two Portrait Studio images of me entirely created by AI.

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The S25 and S25 Plus have a trio of lenses on the back: wide, ultrawide and 3x telephoto.

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Bright colors shine on the S25 and S25 Plus.ย 

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”bb6720f9-a140-4175-a8aa-e40050bb0173″,”filename”:”20250129-163754.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/03″},”alt”:”Pink tulips sit in a floral vase on a marble coffee table”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

These wilting flowers may not look very pristine, but at least the overall shot does.

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”d2d535f3-60a0-4d79-b1ab-19623604564a”,”filename”:”20250129-155955-1.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/03″},”alt”:”Several flower arrangements sit on a table in the lobby of The Palace Hotel”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

I love how commanding the subject is in Portrait shots.

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”e8e28148-7970-4054-81ee-4f0e4e974e21″,”filename”:”20250129-152909-1.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/03″},”alt”:”A pot filled with succulents sits in front of a wall with graffiti, with a white railing to the right”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

There’s a rail on the right…

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”44a92ca2-2dd1-4dc1-b942-da82a9ce0b66″,”filename”:”20250129-1529091-1.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/03″},”alt”:”A pot filled with succulents sits in front of a wall with graffiti, and a white railing to the right has been erased with AI”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

And now there’s not!

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”7a24e83d-cc5b-419b-af10-025102c3d080″,”filename”:”20250203-154634.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/04″},”alt”:”In one photo, there’s a light behind a woman in a purple scarf and floral dress. In another image, the light has been erased.”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

Before and after. Notice the AI disclaimer at the bottom of the image to the right.

“,”width”:”2880″,”height”:”2880″},{“id”:”36605D3-026C-4034-AE92-4A2C3C406D3″,”filename”:”20250128-183444-1.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/04″},”alt”:”Balls of light sit on the floor of a garden”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

The S25 beautifully handled the combination of vibrant greens, dark shadows and bright holiday lights (which are still up for some reason).

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”12cc2546-114a-424a-89f5-c8cfd2ae967b”,”filename”:”20250128-183816-1.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/04″},”alt”:”A tree photographed at night, brightened by the S25’s night mode”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

This night time shot almost looks as if it were taken in the daytime.ย 

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”3000″},{“id”:”234f8018-b747-4943-901f-27c3Ceae0974″,”filename”:”20250129-153834-1.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/04″},”alt”:”A woman in a purple headscarf and floral dress stands in front of a series of palm trees”,”credits”:”Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet”,”caption”:”

And let’s flip that camera around real quick for a selfie.ย 

“,”width”:”3392″,”height”:”2544″},{“id”:”3c6ec134-e8c8-4d06-ba1a-56f1d804c6ba”,”filename”:”screenshot-2025-02-03-at-5-57-46pm.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/02/04″},”alt”:”A hand holding the Galaxy S25 while running an AI search”,”credits”:”Celso Bulgatti / Cnett”,”caption”:”

Remarkably, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus have a great battery life, which is important since both feature power-hungry AI features.

“,”width”:”2100″,”height”:”1400″},{“id”:”ED10E7BD 01C0-47F9-A4C1-C3A8Dee88C5C”,”filename”:”samsung-galaxy-s25-9072.jpg”,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2025/01/29″},”alt”:”Samsung Galaxy S25″,”credits”:”James Martin/CNET”,”caption”:”

The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus have lots of AI but aren’t entirely defined by it.

“,”width”:”4000″,”height”:”2250″}]” ” id=””79E1A20C-48DC-43CA-813a-B3FC5973B096″ ” imagecaption=””

“” imagecredit=”” innovationdate=””2025-02-02: 12: 12: 9804z” ” innovationday=””1″ ” innovationmonth=””02″ ” innovationyear=””2025″ ” position=””Into” ” primarytopicslug=””phones” ” techobjectinfo=””{}” ” usepricing=””true” “>

9.1

Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus

Similar to

  • Lightning fast charging
  • Nice big screen
  • 7 years of OS upgrades and security Excellent performance

Do not like

  • Battery life is comparable to the S25 baseline
  • The S25 has similar specs, but at a higher cost
  • Better camera on other phones for the same price.

Google Gemini is further integrated into the Galaxy interface and can be summoned by a long-press of the side power key to answer questions and perform tasks as your assistant.

In a time where major phone releases have never been more important, Samsung is trying to differentiate the $800 Galaxy S25 or $1,000 Galaxy S25 Plus by focusing on both the new (AI) and the familiar (good camera and battery life). And I’m definitely impressed.

Watch this: Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus Review: AI Finally Makes Itself Useful (Mostly)

Galaxy S25 Plus and S25: Look and Feel

The S25 and S25 Plus have matte glass backs that add a premium touch.

So what’s the difference between the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus? Not much. Other than the Plus being, well, bigger than the baseline model.

The phones both have AMOLED displays with 120Hz adaptive refresh rates, with the S25’s measuring 6.2 inches and the S25 Plus clocking in at 6.7 inches. At 162- and 190-grams, respectively, the S25 and S25 Plus feel light in hand, thanks to their aluminum frames. The screens are covered in Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and the matte glass backs offer an elegant touch and premium feel.

I hesitantly dunked the S25 Plus into a shallow pool at Filoli Historic House & Garden near San Francisco during testing and am happy to report it survived unscathed. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, since both the S25 and S25 Plus have an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, meaning they can survive being submerged for 30 minutes being under 1.5 meters of water (or about 5 feet).

The camera bumps don’t jut out too much on the S25 and S25 Plus, which is nice.

James Martin/CNET

The phones come in Navy, Icyblue, Mint and Silver Shadow, as well as the online-exclusive colors Blueblack, Coralred and Pinkgold. I absolutely adore the Icyblue color of the S25 I’ve been using, and the Plus I have in Navy also looks nice and rich.

The S25 and S25 Plus arrive with Android 15 and Samsung’s One UI 7. And similar to the Pixel 9 series, you’ll get seven years of OS and security updates, helping you get the most bang for your buck (and there’s certainly a lot of buck involved here). The phones are powered by a custom-built Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, helping to bring those many, many AI features to life.

The best thing about AI is that I hardly notice it

Gemini and I, surprisingly, became friends.

James Martin/CNET

I’m not alone in feeling severe AI fatigue. As someone who tends to be AI-averse (do I really need it to write my emails, brainstorm ideas or summarize a PDF?), I tend to be wary of AI-heavy announcements like the one Samsung had at its Galaxy Unpacked eventย in January.

Once I got my hands on the devices, I put my skepticism aside and was surprised.

After a few days, I found myself leaning on Gemini for help with everything from tweaking email settings (this was faster than Googling and reading), caring for my wood cutting board, and finding events and sending corresponding texts via a single voice command.

Ultimately, it’s the AI features that operate discreetly that won me over, like Circle to Search. This is a Google-powered feature that came out last year and lets you circle anything on your screen to quickly see product information and links. Now, Circle to Search can recognize a song playing in the background of a video or even a tune you hum or sing, and I had a lot of fun testing this out. When I hummed niche Taylor Swift songs like I Hate It Here and Foolish One, it nailed both. (Step aside, Shazam.) To be fair, I’m not sure how often I’ll use this particular aspect of Circle to Search, but the tool as a whole remains impressive.

The AI Select tool also served me well, but primarily for translating text. My Spanish vocab has (sadly) gotten rusty since high school. So when I came across an email in Spanish, I tapped the tool on the right-hand side of the screen, circled the text I wanted to translate and within a couple taps, it was quickly transformed into English (and hopefully, accurately).

Here are two Portrait Studio images of me entirely created by AI.

Abrar Al-Heeti / Galaxy Ai

Not all AI features are a home run, though. Portrait Studiois a fun game to play, but it feels like a novelty. It uses AI to create stylized images of you (like a caricature an artist would draw of you on the boardwalk or at the beach). It did a great job of replicating my hijab and eye shape. But I’m unsure how useful this tool will be in the long term. Similarly, Drawing Assist () is a great tool that transforms my crappy sketches into pleasing images. This tool is not useful to me, since I won’t be framing random images of flowers and cats.

So far, the Now Brief has been a disappointment. This feature is designed to learn about your habits, such as whether you check the weather and news every morning or consult your calendar. It will then make suggestions on how to simplify your routines. The only time this feature impressed me was when it displayed a highlight of my images taken that day. Now Brief lists the weather and my activities for the day, along with articles that are 90% irrelevant. It’s not that it won’t learn more about me in the future and become better, but its value hasn’t been proven yet.

Photos, videos and AI are better together

The S25 and S25 Plus have a trio of lenses on the back: wide, ultrawide and 3x telephoto.

James Martin/CNET

The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus share the same camera specs as last year’s series: a 50-megapixel wide camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide camera and 10-megapixel 3x telephoto camera. They also both share a 12-megapixel front-facing camera. So you’ll get the same kinds of images on both the S25 and S25 Plus.

I’ve always admired the punchy colors in Galaxy S photos, and the S25 and S25 Plus were no exception. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

This is one of the best examples of how each shade of color, from pale pinks to vibrant reds, pop. There’s so much texture in this image below, from the ripples on the water to the droplets on the petals, and the background maintains just enough detail and color without robbing the spotlight.

Enlarge Image

Bright colors shine on the S25 and S25 Plus.

Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet

Portrait mode on the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus is perhaps the most impressive I’ve seen, as it does the best job of knowing what to keep in sharp focus and what to blur. Even in this picture below of my (dying) tulips, each leaf and petal remains clearly in the foreground and isn’t lost to background blur.

Enlarge Image

These wilting flowers may not look very pristine, but at least the overall shot does.

Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet

Portrait mode isn’t perfect, of course, as some of the many branches in this shot do get the undesired blur effect. But it’s such a minor detail that hopefully all you’ll notice is how well the flowers on the table pop.

Enlarge Image

I love how commanding the subject is in Portrait shots.

Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet

The improvements over previous Galaxy S devices come in the form of โ€“ yes, AI.ย Generative Editย debuted on the S24 series, bu t is now processed on device, allowing you to quickly and easily remove photobombers or objects cluttering your image. I tried this out with both people and objects and was blown away each time. Generative Edit did a seamless job filling in backgrounds (sometimes even generating new graffiti patterns, as seen below when I removed a railing).

Enlarge Image

There’s a rail on the right…

Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet

Enlarge Image

And now there’s not!

Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet

One downside, though an upside for transparency, is that there’s a label on images that have benefitted from Generative Edit disclosing that this is “AI-generated content.” I understand the importance of this, especially as AI gets better at fooling people, but object removal features are nothing new to photography.

Enlarge Image

Before and after. Notice the AI disclaimer at the bottom of the image to the right.

Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet

Samsung introduced a Virtual Aperture tool that mimics a standalone camera’s f-stops, using the separate Expert RAW app. If you’re a pro photographer, I can see this being a cool feature to have. But as someone who likes things plain and simple, I’m going to stick with the camera’s built-in Portrait mode so that factors like background blur and lighting are sorted out for me.

Another AI-related boost comes in the form of nighttime videos. I was impressed with how rich the dark sky looks in videos I recorded and with how smooth the motion appears as I panned the camera. Daytime videos also looked solid.

Photos at night were splendid, with rich contrast and saturation.

Enlarge Image

The S25 beautifully handled the combination of vibrant greens, dark shadows and bright holiday lights (which are still up for some reason).

Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet

Night mode also did a great job of brightening up this image to almost make it look as if it were taken in the daytime, and not at 7 p.m.

Enlarge Image

This night time shot almost looks as if it were taken in the daytime.

Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet

Selfies maintain the smoothing effect I so love on Galaxy S phones, while maintaining vibrancy and crispness in the foreground and background.

Enlarge Image

And let’s flip that camera around real quick for a selfie.

Abrar Al-Heeti / Cnet

Battery life and performance

Remarkably, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus have a great battery life, which is important since both feature power-hungry AI features.

Celso Bulgatti / Cnett

Battery capacity is one of the few factors separating the phones, with the S25 sporting a 4,000-mAh battery and the Plus packing a 4,900-mAh battery.

Both phones lasted about a day and a half with regular use. In CNET’s 45-minute endurance test, which involves a combination of streaming, scrolling through social media, joining a video call and playing games, the S25’s battery dropped from full to 93% (the same as last year’s S24), while the battery on the S25 Plus dropped to 94%.

In a longer, 3-hour streaming test over Wi-Fi, in which I watched a YouTube video in full-screen mode at full brightness, the S25 dropped from 100% to 85%, while the S25 Plus dropped to 86%.

[

[Samsung[In[InInIn[Samsung[In

Geekbench v.6.0

Samsung Galaxy S25 2,999 9,604Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus 3,224 10,143Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus 2,057 6,571Samsung Galaxy S24 1,955 6,255Apple iPhone 16 Pro 3,507 8,750

  • Single-core
  • Multicore
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
[

Samsung Galaxy S25 6,496Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus 6,875Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 4,415Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus 4,808Samsung Galaxy S24 4,752Apple iPhone 16 Pro 4,672

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
[

[[

The Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus have lots of AI but aren’t entirely defined by it.

James Martin/CNET

Perhaps the highest praise I can give to a phone in 2025 is that there was just enough AI to not make me go crazy. The S25 and S25 Plus have their fair share of AI-powered features, but for the most part, there are only several that I can see myself willingly using. Others like Portrait Studio and Drawing Assist may be fun for keynote demos, but don’t seem to serve a real purpose beyond that. (But it wouldn’t be a Galaxy phone without a flashy feature no one uses, right??)

Thankfully, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus continue to deliver on what, to me, makes the Galaxy S series notable: good cameras, solid battery life and a seamless interface.

Because there are so many similarities between the S25 and S25 Plus, and the higher battery capacity on the Plus didn’t result in any startling differences (although super fast charging is great), I’d personally save some money and just go with the baseline S25. If you want a bigger phone, it might be worth going a full step up with the S25 Ultra, so you could take advantage of added perks like that 50-megapixel ultrawide lens, but that costs $500 more than the regular S25. Still, the S25 and S25 Plus share many similarities with the Ultra, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB RAM and AI features, so you’ll be getting a relatively good value from that baseline model.

If you have a Galaxy S22 or older, switching to the S25 or S25 Plus could be a significant upgrade. If you have an S23, you can benefit from improved battery life and dip your toes into Samsung’s newer AI waters. But if you’re rocking an S24, there’s no reason to pay for relatively modest upgrades.

Ultimately, the S25 and S25 are much of the same as what we’ve seen before. But that isn’t such a bad thing, when “the same” largely still does the trick.

Samsung Galaxy S25 specs versus Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus, Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus

Samsung Galaxy S25 Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus Samsung Galaxy S24 Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus
Display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate 6.2-inch AMOLED; 2,340×1,080 pixels; 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate 6.7-inch AMOLED; 3,120×1,440 pixels; 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate 6.2-inch AMOLED; 2,340×1,080 pixels; 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate 6.7-inch AMOLED; 3,120×1,440 pixels; 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate
Pixel density 416 ppi 509 ppi 416 ppi 509 ppi
Dimensions (inches) 5.78 x 2.78 x 0.28 in.[[[[[[
Dimensions (millimeters) 146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm 158.4 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm 147 x 71 x 7.6 mm 158 x 76 x 7.6 mm
Weight (grams, ounces) 162 g (5.71 oz.) 190 g (6.70 oz.) 168g (5.93 oz.) 197g (6.95 oz.) The[you[you[WEC[WeWeWe[WeWe[WeC

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