Samsung Galaxy S25 Series: The Biggest New AI Features

Samsung is launching a slew of new AI tools on the Galaxy S25 series, continuing the push it started last year with the introduction of Galaxy AI.

While the initial wave of Galaxy AI features focused on single use cases, such as editing a photo or translating a phone call, the new tools announced on Wednesday are intended to simplify navigating your phone in general. Such tools include the ability to execute actions in multiple apps using voice commands and speaking or typing in natural language when searching for photos or device settings.

The updates are another sign that smartphone makers like Samsung are increasingly leaning on AI to make their phones feel fresh and new at a time when annual hardware changes have become incremental. Apple and Google took similar approaches with the iPhone 16 and Pixel 9, both of which centered on new AI software. But Apple has been rolling out its suite of Apple Intelligence features in phases through software updates, whereas Samsung says its new crop of AI-powered functions will be available on the Galaxy S25 family at launch.

While the tools are launching on Samsung’s newest phones, the company hasn’t ruled out the possibility of trickling them down to older devices — as it’s done with certain Galaxy AI features. However, it hasn’t announced specific plans to do so, and not all features are likely to be supported on previous-generation phones since they run on older and less capable processors.

Here’s a closer look at the Galaxy S25 lineup’s new AI tools.

Read more: Your Phone’s Camera Is Paving the Way For Virtual Assistants of the Future

Watch this: Samsung Galaxy S25 First Look: AI Everywhere

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Cross app actions

Among the most significant new AI features is what Samsung is calling cross app actions. This essentially allows you to execute tasks that would normally require opening multiple apps with just a voice command. For example, you should be able to say something like, “Find me a vegan pet-friendly restaurant nearby and send it in a text message,” or “Find the next Buffalo Bills game and add it to my calendar.”

Apple is also updating Siri to take action within apps, although that functionality hasn’t launched yet.

Samsung says cross app actions will use a combination of Samsung and Google’s AI models depending on the action. So if your voice command is primarily centered on search, it’ll likely use Google, but if it involves interacting with Samsung apps (like saving something to Samsung Notes), it may lean more on Samsung’s tech.

At launch, Spotify and WhatsApp will be supported in addition to apps from Samsung and Google.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus (pictured) come with a slew of new AI features.

Carly Marsh/CNET

AI Select

AI Select is a tool that suggests actions or apps based on the content of your phone’s screen. For example, it may recommend capturing a GIF if you’re watching a video, or setting an image as your phone’s background if you’re viewing a photo. You can access AI Select by swiping out from the screen to launch the Edge Panel, which is a sidebar with app shortcuts. Once you tap the button, it’ll analyze what’s on screen to provide you with the appropriate suggestions.

Conversational search

You’ll also be able to search for specific photos and settings using language that’s more natural and general. In the photo gallery app, for instance, you could type something like, “bottles of wine from France” or “wedding in Pittsburgh” to pull up the right photo. Samsung says its phones use location data to determine where the photo was taken along with AI to analyze the contents of the image. Apple and Google have launched similar features for their own respective photos apps.

The settings menu will also support this type of conversational search. So if you don’t know what a specific setting is called, you can say or type something like, “My eyes are hurting, can you help me with the screen?” to pull up relevant settings like brightness and the blue light filter.

Patrick Chomet, Samsung’s executive vice president and head of customer experience, hinted at this type of functionality when speaking with CNET last year about the company’s approach to AI on smartphones.

“My very top-down view is that long term, I would like a phone where you would never have to go into the settings menu,” Chomet said in a previous interview. “You shouldn’t have to know the name of any feature. And we wouldn’t have to name them, because the device would have full enough intelligence and context to support the actions that you want to do.”

Personalized recommendations

Samsung also wants to make the software on its phones more personal. The company is using a large language model to provide recommendations based on your personal habits across products and how you use your phone. For example, if you sleep better when your thermostat is set to 68 degrees and you happen to wake up at the same time each night, your Galaxy S25 might recommend a routine to change the temperature once you fall asleep. Of course, in that scenario you’re ideally wearing a Samsung Galaxy Ring or Watch to sleep and using a SmartThings-compatible thermostat.

Otherwise, Samsung is also adding a new Now Brief widget to the home screen, which displays a batch of information specific to your routine such as data about your morning commute, reminders about events on your calendar and weather conditions among other tidbits.

Samsung’s new phones come with a feature called the Now Brief.

Lisa Eadicicco/CNET

Circle to Search can recognize sound

Circle to Search is getting an upgrade. Instead of just searching for what’s on screen, it’ll be able to recognize sounds such as songs from videos and social media posts. Samsung says you’ll also be able to hum a tune to have Circle to Search identify it, although I haven’t had the chance to try this yet. You’ll be able to trigger this feature by tapping a new icon that looks like a music note in the Circle to Search interface.

Overall, the Galaxy S25’s new AI features feel like a step in the right direction — although it’s impossible to tell how useful they are without spending extensive time with Samsung’s new phones. It’s also unclear whether features like these will be enough to drive upgrades, especially considering 25% of respondents to a CNET survey last year said they don’t find AI features helpful and don’t want more integrated into their phones.

But the notion of using AI to make software more proactive and prevent the need to bounce between apps seems like a promising endeavor.