Samsung Galaxy S25: UAE price, release date and what to know about Ultra and Edge models

The National's first impressions of the new flagship smartphones

Samsung Electronics' first Unpacked event of the year has taken place with the focus now shifting to whether or not its new flagship devices are as good as advertised.

Before the release, the company is aiming to entice consumers in the UAE and other markets by offering to double the storage for free for pre-orders.

If you were to buy a 512GB model, you would only pay the cost of the 256GB version.

Before we further get into UAE specifics, here are The National's first impressions.

No aesthetic and hardware changes

If you've been a Samsung user, you'll readily realise with the Galaxy S25 that not much has changed since 2021's Galaxy S21 series.

While keeping an identity is crucial for a brand, it has been five years since the last major redesign for the Galaxy S.

The only aesthetic changes are the slightly rounder corners, smaller bezels and bigger rings on the camera lenses. Hardware-wise, the only spec upgrade worth mentioning is the Galaxy S25 Ultra's ultra-wide camera being significantly increased to 50MP from 12MP.

Apple employs a similar strategy of keeping a familiar design on the iPhone, but it does not take five cycles to refresh the iPhone's look, whether it be changing the edges and finishes or rearranging the camera lenses.

Samsung, however, may have a good reason for making minimal changes.

Samsung-Google versus Apple-OpenAI

Generative artificial intelligence continues to be a significant player in recent technology and smartphones are no exception.

Samsung brought generative AI to the mainstream mobile sector with its Galaxy AI in last year's S24 phones. However, the team-up between Apple and OpenAI signalled how serious future competition in this space will be.

Samsung announced a partnership with Google at Unpacked, and the Alphabet unit's Gemini Advanced is being offered on the Galaxy S25.

Finally, a complete switch to Qualcomm

In the past, users have had grievances with Samsung's Exynos chip, with complaints over short battery life, overheating and generally poorer performance when compared to Qualcomm chips.

Samsung was using both Exynos and Qualcomm chips to balance out costs and their availability globally. Samsung also used the Exynos to configure it to their specifications.

That has ended as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite is now being used on all Galaxy S25 devices. Samsung did say that the Elite is specifically configured for Galaxy devices, aiding it in enhancing the performance of Galaxy AI.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 line-up on display during a media preview in San Jose, California. Alvin R Cabral / The National

What about the Galaxy S25 Edge?

The slimmer version of the Galaxy S25 series was the surprise of Unpacked, but details were scarce.

It seems close to the reported 6.4 millimetres thickness and is Samsung's thinnest phone by far. It also only has two cameras.

However, no further details were provided.

The device won't be available alongside the rest of the Galaxy S25 line-up. Tech journalist Mark Gurman reported that the company is planning a release in the first half of this year and its price would be below that of the S25 Ultra.

But the biggest takeaway is that Samsung would beat Apple to the draw on a slim smartphone, especially amid reports that Apple is planning to release what has been called the “iPhone 17 Air”.

Galaxy S25's availability in the UAE

Orders for the Galaxy S25 series are now live, and its general availability will be on February 7.

In the UAE, the country's two telecom operators, e& and du, have made the devices available on their websites with several perks, including double storage for free, four months of Samsung Care+ and unlocked premium subscriptions for users of Samsung Members.

Major UAE electronics retailers, including Sharaf DG, Jumbo Electronics and Emax also offer the same perks, with additional bonuses such as free Samsung smart bands, bags and power banks.

You can also get your Galaxy S25 devices at Samsung's official stores in the GCC. The company is offering double storage for free, offering up to Dh679 in savings.

The device also comes in exclusive online-only colours. For the S25 and S25+, you can choose from blue, black, coral red and pink gold, while for the S25 Ultra, you can select from titanium jet black, titanium jade green and titanium pink gold.

How much will they cost in the UAE?

The price of the Galaxy S25 is set at Dh3,199 for 12GB, Dh3,449 for 256GB and Dh3,949 for the new 512GB version.

The Galaxy S25+ will cost Dh3,899 for 256GB and Dh4,399 for 512GB.

The top-tier Galaxy S25 Ultra is priced at Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,599 for 512GB and Dh6,599 for 1TB.