Despite the somewhat underwhelming appeal of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series strictly on the spec sheet, Samsung has somehow found a way to make it a compelling flagship. After spending weeks with the smartphone as my daily driver, I happen to specifically enjoy the compact form factor and lightweight build. With that being said, the more and more I use the Galaxy S25, the more clear it becomes that Galaxy AI is a huge selling point for this lineup.
With the Galaxy S25, you get the best of both worlds in terms of smartphone AI. Of course, there’s Galaxy AI, which is Samsung’s in-house suite of AI tools. However, on top of that, the Galaxy S25 also supports a large variety of Google AI features — including the new agentic Gemini, Circle to Search, and Magic Editor, for starters. Crucially, Samsung is offering an unprecedented level of control over where your data is processed with its recent Galaxy lineups.
In the Galaxy AI tab in the Settings app for the Galaxy S25, there’s a toggle called Process data only on device. It does exactly what it sounds like. “For added privacy, you can prevent collection and processing of your data for Galaxy AI’s advanced intelligence features,” the company explains. “Online processing provides the best results and is required for some advanced intelligence features.”
To be fair, on-device AI processing isn’t new at all. The Samsung Galaxy S25 uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip for on-device AI computing, just like how a Google Pixel phone uses the Tensor G4 chip for the same thing. In fact, the Galaxy S24 has this very same toggle available. The key difference here is that Google doesn’t let you switch off cloud processing altogether, and compared to the Galaxy S24, the newer Galaxy S25 can run many more Galaxy AI features on-device.
Last year, disabling cloud processing for Galaxy AI meant leaving behind nearly all of the suite’s best features. Thanks to the powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip, that isn’t necessary anymore. You can use some or all of the following Galaxy AI feature with on-device processing on the Galaxy S25:
- Call Assist
- Writing Assist
- Interpreter
- Note Assist
- Transcript Assist
- Browsing Assist
This makes using on-device processing only on your Samsung Galaxy S25 a much more viable option this year compared to last. Of course, there are still some sacrifices to be made. Summarization features across Writing Assist, Note Assist, and Browsing Assist won’t work with cloud processing disabled. Moreover, the best Photo Assist features — including Sketch to edit and Portrait studio — won’t work with on-device processing either.
Regardless, these limitations are a bit easier to concede with the Galaxy S25, since you retain access to some of the more useful Galaxy AI tools. It’s at least worth considering for the extremely privacy-conscious, even if many Galaxy S25 users aren’t likely to flip the toggle on. I probably won’t restrict my Galaxy phone to on-device AI either, but there’s something to be said about Samsung at least giving users the final choice — that’s more than Google or Apple can say. That’s what Android is all about, after all.
If I’m a Pixel or iPhone user today, I’m envious of the choice Samsung is providing to Galaxy S25 users — and even users of older Galaxy phones. While the Pixel 9 series can use the Gemini Nano model to process data on-device, there’s no way to force the smartphone to only use on-device processing.
The same goes for the iPhone 16 series and its A18 chips. Apple has the groundbreaking Private Cloud Compute system for off-device processing, but it does not tell the end user exactly where their data is being processed for any specific feature. There’s a degree of uncertainty there that requires a level of trust. For some, it doesn’t make sense to put trust in AI and corporate data collection.
Even the Galaxy S25 isn’t perfect, if only because Samsung can only control what it can control. The on-device processing toggle only covers Galaxy AI features — it excludes any Google AI or Gemini features. Still, Samsung is setting the standard for user choice when it comes to on-device processing for AI features, and it deserves a commendation for that.
Plenty of (private) AI
The best thing about the Samsung Galaxy S25 is that you get the best of both worlds with Google and Galaxy AI. The next best thing is that you can force all your Galaxy AI features to run on-device for enhanced privacy and security. It makes the Galaxy S25 one of the best phones for AI you can buy right now.
