Artificial intelligence, or AI, is the phone world’s new favourite buzzword. Almost every upcoming phone has plans to incorporate machine learning and large language models in some form or another, and the first to do so are already on sale. But what are the best AI phones – and the features they bring actually worth having?
I’ve used a bunch of phones with AI on board, and a handful more that offload their AI processing to the cloud. The best AI smartphones have a mix of both. You’ll even find AI cameras and AI image editing on certain flagships. Some use cases are genuinely impressive, and will appeal to most phone owners; others are a lot more niche, and will only be useful to a small minority. These are the models that stand out so far.
The best AI smartphones on sale now:
1. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Pros
- AI offerings far more streamlined than previous efforts
- Flagship performance, display and build quality
- Very capable (if not class-leading) cameras
Cons
- AI functions only free for first year
- As expensive as flagship phones get
| Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra tech specs | |
| Screen | 6.9in, 3200×1440 AMOLED w/ 1-120Hz LTPO adaptive refresh, 2600 nits |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy |
| Memory | 12GB RAM |
| Storage | 256GB/512GB/1TB on-board |
| Cameras | 200MP, f/1.7 main w/ Quad pixel AF, OIS + 50MP, f/3.4 periscope zoom w/ dual pixel AF, OIS, 5x optical zoom + 10MP, f/2.4 zoom w/ dual pixel AF, OIS, 3x optical zoom + 50MP, f/2.2 ultrawide rear 12MP, f/2.2 front w. dual pixel AF |
| Battery | 5000mAh w/ 45W wired, 15W wireless charging |
| OS | Android 15 w/ OneUI 7 |
| Dimensions | 163x78x8.2mm, 218g |
The corners might be a little rounder and the sides a little flatter, but otherwise the Galaxy S25 Ultra is very similar to last year’s effort. A faster chipset with better cooling, uprated ultrawide camera and tougher, less reflective display glass are the only improvements of note. But given the S24 Ultra was such a fantastic all-rounder, marginal gains are still enough to make this new phone rather desirable indeed.
A Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy CPU provides the performance muscle, with Samsung-specific tweaks that give it the edge over rival flagships. 12GB of RAM and a range of capacity options mean there’s a model out there for everyone. The S Pen stylus is a little more basic this time around, but still comes into its own for note-taking and doodling.
The 200MP main snapper continues to trade blows with the best of ’em, and though the two telephotos aren’t quite class-leaders, they can still bag a pleasant pic. The 50MP ultrawide is a welcome improvement, and adds macro close-up abilities to boot. Samsung hasn’t boosted the 5000mAh battery between generations, but the more efficient CPU helps it last the day on a single charge.
Galaxy S25 Ultra AI features
Galaxy AI, Samsung’s suite of AI-enhanced software, debuted on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but felt a bit piecemeal; things are a lot more cohesive this year, with shortcuts and OS-wide tools instead of standalone apps. AI Select lives in a pop-out sidebar and lets you highlight text to activate Writing Assist, or images to generatively edit them.
Writing Assist is an evolution of the Chat assist tool baked into the S24 Ultra’s onscreen keyboard. It can create more professional-sounding copy for work, pepper sentences with hashtags for sharing on social media, or sprinkle in emojis for expressive texting. There are also options to summarise longer stretches of text, translate between languages, and check spelling and grammar on the fly.
You’ll also find a transcription summariser built into the voice recorder, which transcribes conversations on the fly (in multiple languages, to boot) and then creates a succinct synopsis in just a few taps. Real-time voice translation, for both phone calls and in person, also relies on AI to give speedy and accurate interpretation. It supports 13 languages at launch, with more expected to follow later.
Now Brief and the Now Bar are all new for 2025. The former is a contextual hub that summarises useful info from your apps. Think sports scores, weather reports, commute traffic and upcoming calendar appointments. The latter simplifies that even further on your lock screen, a bit like Live Activities on iOS.
There’s also Circle to Search; this Google-led tool isn’t exclusive to Samsung phones any more, but it works brilliantly with the S25 Ultra’s S Pen. Press and hold the home button (or gesture bar, if you’re using gesture controls) and draw a circle around anything onscreen. Machine learning recognises objects and locations in a flash, bringing up relevant Google searches – including where to buy the items in question.
Samsung has also added AI to its image editor and photo gallery. It can remove unwanted reflections from glass and shadows from faces with a tap, delete or reposition objects anywhere in the frame, and generationally expand any images you’ve cropped too tightly. The AI camera elements are largely done post-shutter press, rather than before, but object detection does rely on machine learning.
Finally, Instant Slow-mo can create extra frames and inject them into your recorded video footage, creating a convincing effect even if your clips were only shot at 30fps. Just preview your video in the Samsung Gallery app, press and hold on the moment you want slowed down, and it’ll play back brilliantly smoothly.
The best news for owners of older Galaxy phones? Samsung will likely bring most of these AI additions to the Galaxy Z Fold6, Flip6, Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S23 series, meaning you don’t need to upgrade to try them out.
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