It’s no secret I’ve been critical of Galaxy AI in its current form on the new Samsung Galaxy S25 phones. It needs a bit more polish to be ready for prime time, especially if Samsung wants to use it as the main reason you’d buy a new Samsung in 2025. However, despite my initial disappointment, Galaxy AI is far from a lost cause. The sales pitch still sounds good, and if Samsung can deliver on the promise of Galaxy AI, I think the final result will be positive. Here are the 5 Galaxy AI features I’m most looking forward to if Samsung can right the ship.
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1
Now Brief
I need more than just the weather and news
Samsung presented Now Brief as a personal information dashboard curated with news and information about your day. It is designed to keep you up-to-date and organized. Unfortunately, my experience so far has been that Now Brief tells me about meetings and serves up bizarre news stories, with the occasional ski weather warning, even though I don’t ski. I had to jump through hoops for Now Brief to start picking up and displaying health data, but it still doesn’t provide meaningful insights.
Despite its poor first impression, I’m hopeful Now Brief will become more helpful. Instead of just a widget hub listing information from various sources, I’d love for Now Brief to become a more active participant in my day. When I have a meeting different from the usual time, I’d like Now Brief to remind me to grab some lunch or realize I have a few stacked events and suggest working on something coming up later during downtime in between. If you’re going to sell me on agentic AI solutions, that’s what I want to see. The future is there; Samsung needs to deliver it.
2
Now Bar
Samsung will need assistance from developers
Similar to Now Brief, I expected more from the Now Bar. So far, it’s helpful for media controls and telling me when there’s a new Now Brief, but it has the potential to grow into more. I was excited to see Google Maps integration come to the Now Bar, giving me turn-by-turn navigation from the lock screen. I can also tap on the Now Bar to see more detailed information about the next direction and use it to end navigation when I arrive at my destination.
Samsung will need assistance from third-party developers with the Now Bar. I’m optimistic app makers will adopt the Now Bar as an intuitive way to display information and aid our interactions. Sports scores are a fine start, but I’d love to see apps like Stellarium take advantage, letting me know when something extraordinary is happening in the night sky. Notifications still serve a purpose, but developers can get more inventive with the Now Bar.
3
Cross-app integration
It needs to be easier
Cross-app integration on the Galaxy S25 series allows you to access information and perform actions between multiple apps with a single prompt to the voice assistant. I generally got good results in early tests, but the output wasn’t polished. I’ve had to go back and rewrite texts multiple times because of poor formatting or an impersonal tone. I hope it just needs more context over time.
However, I have to parse words to ensure I get information from the right app. If I want to pull an event from my calendar and send it to a friend, I have to highlight that I want the information from my Google Calendar and that I want it sent to a friend over WhatsApp. I still find it easier to pull out the information myself. I’m not claiming there is a simple fix, but if you’re advertising AI as a way to change my user experience, I need it to be more intuitive than what I’m already doing. I think cross-app integration shows a lot of promise, and I’m excited to see how it progresses over time, but it needs work in its current form.
4
Photo editing
Galaxy AI shows it’s getting better
Samsung’s photo editing tools have delivered the best of everything it promised from Galaxy AI. Samsung highlighted we’d be able to do more editing on the device, and the company focused on improving results from its generative editing tools. The early returns have been good, as I’ve had success removing an unwanted item or person from a photo and any artifacts, like shadows, they may leave behind. It’s a more practical function of AI, and that’s what I’d like to see more of from Galaxy AI.
I still don’t absolve Samsung for not giving us a more upgraded camera system for the Galaxy S25 lineup, but I have noticed improvements in its computational model. Photos look crisp with vibrant colors, and while they are nothing to brag about so far, they show Galaxy AI’s potential to improve older hardware with up-to-date software models.
5
Video editing
Never have another moment ruined
Samsung did an excellent job integrating Galaxy AI enhancements into its video editing software. We saw several impressive demos of the Galaxy S25 identifying and isolating individual audio sources, allowing us to raise or lower the volume as needed. We saw extreme examples of people climbing mountains and reducing wind noise after recordings, but if I were Samsung, I would lean into more practical scenarios.
When I look at Samsung’s video editing tools, I don’t think of hiking in the mountains, but I think of life events I can record without worrying they’ll be ruined. I look forward to taking a video of my daughter’s first school concert without obsessing over the noisy parent next to me overpowering the audio. When she walks for the first time, I love knowing I can edit out a particularly loud garbage truck in the background. It’s about preserving and maintaining memories, and I think it’s a highlight of Galaxy AI on the S25 series.
It is a rough start, but there is room for improvement
I may not recommend you buy a Galaxy S25 series phone based on Galaxy AI, but that doesn’t mean I will completely dismiss its potential. Samsung has plenty of work to do, but the pieces are there for Galaxy AI to transform how we interact with our smartphones. Samsung should focus more on the practical and polishing how Galaxy AI handles daily tasks. Still, I’m confident there will be a tipping point where AI functionality becomes more straightforward than how we’ve interacted with our phones in the past.
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Samsung Galaxy S25
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 keeps things small without sacrificing power. With a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB of RAM, and all sorts of tools courtesy of Galaxy AI, this is everything you expect from a modern flagship squeezed into a relatively svelte chassis.
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Samsung Galaxy S25+
Samsung’s Galaxy S25+ finds just the right middle ground between its two siblings. With a 6.7-inch display, up to 512GB of storage, and 12GB of RAM, this smartphone includes practically everything you could ask for in the modern AI age, without driving up the price.
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Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra leaves the Note-like design behind for the very first time. With flat edges, curved corners, and a massive 6.9-inch display, this is a modern flagship through and through — and yes, that S Pen is still here too.
