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I've tested every single Galaxy S25 phone - and my favorite isn't the flagship model

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Kerry Wan/ZDNET

At Amazon, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus is on sale for $800. Act fast, this is a limited-time deal.

The "middle child" often gets a bad rap, but the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus, which sits right between the smaller S25 and more-capable S25 Ultra, flips the script. Because after just a few days of use, it's quickly become my favorite model of the three.

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Part of the reason is less to do with the S25 Plus and more with the larger, square-shaped Ultra model that I tested first. Even with my larger-than-average hands, I wouldn't exactly call the S25 Ultra's design burdenless; the corners still dig into your palms with extended use, and reaching for certain corners of the screen -- for checkboxes, menu buttons, etc. -- requires a level of finger gymnastics that no other phone prepares you for.

On the other hand, the S25 Plus, with its rounded edges and slimmer profile, is much less jarring -- and the new Navy color gives it a charm that not even the Ultra can match. When I first held my S25 Plus review unit yesterday, my first thought was, "If this model already feels this thin, how much thinner is the new Edge?" That's a compliment to both devices.

But there's more to it than fit and finish. After all, if a compact design is what you're after, the standard Galaxy S25 is just as considerable. For $200 more than the S25 and $300 less than the Ultra, the S25 Plus strikes the best balance of form and function.

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Some key distinctions make the S25 Plus model a significant step up over the standard S25, from double the base storage (256GB versus 128GB) to a much larger battery (4,900mAh versus 4,000mAh) to the QHD+ display (versus FHD).

The higher-resolution display allows the S25 Plus to support Samsung's new ProScaler feature, which automatically upscales lower-resolution content so that it appears sharper and crisper. When I compared the S25 Plus with ProScaler to the S25 without it, the latter device lacked a level of clarity.

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