TheSamsung Galaxy S25 Ultramight be the company’s most marginal upgrade yet—only behind the S25 and S25+, which barely count as a generational bump. But these phones set the tone for the rest of the industry: sometimes the most meaningful updates aren’t the ones that make headlines.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
The Galaxy S25 Ultra sets a new standard for AI-driven mobile experiences, featuring Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. The device introduces context-aware AI capabilities, such as multimodal interactions and tools like AI-assisted editing and natural language commands.With a durable titanium build, a new 50MP ultrawide camera, and ProVisual Engine enhancements, it offers exceptional photography and video quality.
How We Test and Review Products at MakeUseOf
While we receive product samples to review, we don’t allow companies to compromise our independence.
Price and Availability
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is available directly through Samsung’s website and major retailers, including Best Buy and Amazon. It includes either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage and comes in the following colorways: Titanium Black, Titanium SilverBlue, Titanium Gray, Titanium WhiteSilver, Titanium JetBlack, Titanium JadeGreen, and Titanium PinkGold.
Specifications
Less-Sharp Design
The Galaxy S25 Ultra introduces the most significant design refresh I’ve seen in recent years:curved corners. Genuinely, the visual differences between the S25 Ultra and its last three predecessors are so minuscule that it feels like we’ve been on an “S” year for the past couple of years, but the changes Samsung has made with the Galaxy S25 Ultra are welcome.
For one, Samsung has managed to slim down the device considerably, bringing the weight down to 218 grams from the S24 Ultra’s 233 grams while also reducing the thickness to 8.2mm from 8.6mm. While a 15-gram reduction might seem minimal on paper, it makes a noticeable difference in daily use, especially considering this remains one of the largest flagship phones available.
Perhaps the most welcome change is the shift to rounded edges, addressing one of the main criticisms of the S24 Ultra’s sharp corners. This new design approach, while arguably inspired by competitors like the iPhone and Pixel, significantly improves handling comfort when holding the phone for extended periods of time.
On the back, the cameras get distinctive rings around the lenses that accentuate the four-camera array, similar to last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 6. Honestly, they look pretty good. Functionally, they don’t add anything, but I would assume the larger surface area around the lenses would offer slightly better protection from drops.
In terms of materials, Samsung continues to use titanium for the frame, but this year’s phone implements a stronger grade 5 titanium that should be on par with the iPhone. The company also upgraded the glass to Gorilla Glass Armor 2, which promises enhanced scratch resistance and durability.
Samsung claims the phone can survive being dropped screen first onto concrete, but I’ll let someone else test that out. All this to say, despite very minor changes across the board, the industrial design language remains distinctly Samsung, and the device retains the S-Pen slot integrated into the design despite the slimmer profile.
It’s hard to fault the company for being boring, especially because of how great the Galaxy S24 Ultra was—logically, why would they go to the effort to redesign an implementation that has worked for the past couple of years?
I think my biggest issue with Samsung’s approach isn’t necessarily that they’re choosing not to innovate— I prefer them and every other company not to change their designs just for the sake of it— what I find concerning is the design foundation and direction they have landed on isn’t timeless. Every tweak they made to it only made the phone feel more generic. In a world where OnePlus, Vivo, and Huawei exist, it’s hard to look at the Galaxy S25 Ultra and see it as the halo phone for Samsung when other companies clearly are more ambitious.
Same Incredible Display
The display on the S25 Ultra is excellent. Samsung has largely maintained the same panel specifications from the S24 Ultra, which isn’t a criticism given how incredible of a viewing experience that display already was. It’s a slightly larger 6.9-inch AMOLED panel that continues to offer a resolution of 1440 x 3120 pixels and the same peak brightness of 2,600 nits.
The anti-reflective coating introduced with the S24 Ultra remains one of the standout features, significantly reducing glare in outdoor conditions. This continues to set Samsung’s displays apart from competitors and it makes the S25 Ultra’s screen exceptionally usable in bright environments. I think the slight trade-off in saturation due to the coating is a worthwhile compromise for the improved visibility, especially because Samsung boosts saturation and vividness anyway.
The screen also maintains its variable refresh rate, scaling from 1 to 120Hz as needed, and continues to support HDR10+ content. The bezels are slightly thinner and uniform all the way around; I would never call the S24 Ultra bezels big or distracting, but the tiny reduction in bezel size on the phone is noticeable side-by-side, and it does make using the S25 Ultra feel like a newer phone.
A Camera System Needing a Touch-Up
The camera system on the S25 Ultra presents a mixed bag of improvements and persistent challenges. The headline upgrade is the new 50MP ultrawide camera, which is a pretty significant jump from the 12MP sensor of its predecessor. This enhancement brings notably improved detail in landscape shots and macro photography, but the rest of the camera array remains familiar: the 200MP main sensor, 50MP 5x telephoto, and 10MP 3x telephoto lens.
I think, for the most part, camera performance is on par with last year. The images out of the ultrawide and telephoto lenses are very good and retain decent detail and sharpness. Color reproduction across the lenses is also quite good and remains consistent while switching between focal lengths, which is great to see as well.
However, the main 200MP sensor presents some concerning issues, particularly with focus consistency and shutter lag. In testing, I’ve experienced significant delays between pressing the shutter button and image capture, which has resulted in blurry photos simply because I moved my hand after clicking the shutter button, but the image was captured half a second later.
Focus hunting is also more prevalent than it should be for a flagship device, especially in moderate to low-light conditions— Even with my subject being center-frame, a lot of photos come out being out of focus, and generally soft and grainy. I have experienced this on the Galaxy S24 Ultra as well, but it’s been a year for Samsung to address this, and for it to appear on the main sensor is something that needs to be addressed.
The camera system’s saving grace comes in its video capabilities. The introduction of default 10-bit HDR recording and improved log recording options positions the S25 Ultra as a serious contender for mobile videography. These features, combined with Samsung’s already capable video stabilization, make for an impressive video capture experience that rivals the iPhone 16 Pro.
Impressive Performance and Battery Life
The S25 Ultra is equipped with the new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset paired with 12 or 16GB of RAM. Samsung claims performance gains of 40% NPU, 37% CPU, and 30% GPU performance gains over the previous generation appear to hold up in real-world testing, with the S25 Ultra scoring 2,871 on single-core and 9,212 on multi-core. The “For Galaxy” optimization provides slightly higher clock speeds compared to standard implementations of the same chip in other devices.
Perhaps more impressive than the raw performance numbers is the improved thermal management. Samsung has increased the vapor chamber size by 40% and implemented a new thermal interface material, which should result in more consistent performance during extended use. In my testing, I ran into zero issues navigating the UI, browsing the web, or scrolling social media.
The shutter delay from the camera is the only notable issue that comes to mind, but I’m unsure if it’s due to software or the chipset—my best guess is it has to do with software optimization because the rest of my usage with the S25 Ultra has been extremely consistent.
Battery life also remains consistent with the S25 Ultra, delivering up to two days of moderate use from the 5,000mAh cell. While this performance is commendable, it’s somewhat disappointing that Samsung didn’t incorporate newer battery technologies like silicon carbon like the OnePlus 13, which could have potentially increased capacity without adding bulk. Charging capabilities remain unchanged at 45W wired and 15W wireless, which feels increasingly conservative compared to competitors' offerings.
Forget Galaxy AI, OneUI 7 Is the True Star
The software experience on the S25 Ultra represents Samsung’s most notable strength, particularly in its AI implementation, but also in designing and executing on argubly the best smartphone UI right now: OneUI 7.
Samsung’s evolution from a company once criticized for its cartoonish interface to one delivering perhaps the most refined Android experience is remarkable. From animation to changes in state to the visual overhaul OneUI 7 brings, the Galaxy S25 Ultra offers the most stable and dependable user experience across the board and still offers the same seven years of software and security updates, which is excellent,
For the most part, the integration of AI features feels thoughtful rather than gimmicky. The partnership with Google remains strong, with features like Circle to Search still present and Google Gemini now able to parse through Samsung apps to perform tasks. Samsung’s Object Eraser is by far the best on the market that delivers scary good results. It feels like Samsung’s version is just a notch above Google’s Magic Eraser, and completely beats out Apple’s version on the iPhone.
Samsung also incorporated an audio eraser tool as well as a new Portrait Studio tool to compete with Apple’s Audio Mix and Image Playgrounds, respectively, and for the most part, I think they’re both very clearly the first iterations of these types of tools. I think Apple’s Audio Mix is slightly better at isolating sound and voices, but Samsung’s Portrait Studio offers much better results that are true to the original image compared to Apple’s Image Playground.
On the other end of the spectrum is Samsung’s Now Bar, which is this Dynamic Island pill thing that exists near the bottom of the phone’s lock screen. It works much like the Dynamic Island and can display live activities like a stopwatch, timer, music, and notifications, but so far, it’s only limited to Samsung’s apps and Spotify. I think it’s a decent feature, but what Samsung is trying to push with the Now Bar is Now Briefs, which has been in my testing, extremely useless.
It’s meant to provide a personalized summary of content that updates throughout the day and integrate with news, calendar, and even YouTube Shorts (for some reason), but even with enabling everything on, I got nothing out of my AI summaries aside from weather and my calendar, which both exist as their separate widgets on my home screen anyway.
Overall, Samsung’s software trajectory shows remarkable maturity, but it also goes to show that the S25 Ultra strongly relies on its software to sell itself, even if some features like Now Briefs still need refinement.
Should You Buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra?
TheGalaxy S25 Ultramight seem like a modest upgrade on paper, but it represents Samsung’s maturing approach to flagship smartphones. While some might dismiss it as boring, this iteration demonstrates Samsung’s understanding that in today’s market, the battleground has shifted from hardware specifications to AI capabilities and software experience.
The hardware improvements–from the more comfortable design to the improved thermal management–are thoughtful refinements that enhance the user experience. The camera system, despite its inconsistencies with the main sensor, shows promise with its improved ultrawide capability and video features.
However, what truly sets the S25 Ultra apart is its software experience. Samsung has successfully positioned itself at the intersection of hardware capability and AI innovation, offering a package that neither Google nor Apple can fully match at present. Google’s AI features, while impressive, are constrained by Tensor’s limitations, while Apple’s AI capabilities currently lag behind.
As the line between hardware and software continues to blur, the biggest concern going forward is whether these features remain free or accessible. Samsung’s approach last year heavily leaned on making Galaxy AI a democratized way of accessing AI tools, but this year, the Galaxy S25’s Galaxy AI suite is set to stop being free after the end of 2025, which means if you don’t pay for it, you won’t have it. If that becomes the case, it’s hard to see where the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s competitive advantage lies.
Overall, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is arguably Samsung’s most refined flagship yet – not because it revolutionizes the smartphone industry, but because it expertly delivers a dependable experience.
