The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra does all of the right things you want from a high-end smartphone, but its redesign annoys me.

People tend to keep phones longer than they used to, though, and anyone upgrading to the S25 from an Android phone released more than a couple of years ago won't mind that, visually, it looks like Samsung's released the same phone three years in a row. Next to a modern Google or OnePlus phone, though, the Galaxy S25 looks awfully basic.

At its Unpacked event last week, Samsung took the wraps off the Galaxy S25 lineup and spent a majority of the time talking about AI -- a trend in phone announcements these days. Echoing both Google and Apple, Samsung said it " built an AI OS from the ground up " when referring to its latest phone software, One UI 7 .