Samsung has launched a new lineup that includes Galaxy S devices, appropriately called “the Galaxy S25 lineup for the year 2025.” When Samsung announced that it would make the numbering coincide with the year 2020, I was a big enthusiast and still am. It’s been my Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra over the past few weeks, and I’ve been striving to get into the rhythm of using AI to perform tasks for me and also using the S Pen as much as I am reminded to.
Galaxy S25 Ultra is Samsung’s flagship model at the top of the line and comes with all the specs, features and future-proofing you could require when spending over $1K on smartphones. Since it’s been that way for a while, there aren’t any significant modifications in terms of specs or hardware and features; instead, we see minor upgrades occasionally. If you are one of those who update their phones every year, these releases could be boring, but for people who keep their phones for three to four years, there will be major modifications. So what do you think? Is this S25 Ultra worth one of these improvements? Let’s take a look.
Hardware
Samsung continues its improvement of its Galaxy S line with the S25 series and Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra is some of the most beautiful hardware Samsung has ever made. It’s stunningly beautiful and feels like a phone; however, there are some minor flaws that make me shiver. Although a portion of us stunningly are incredibly disappointed that Samsung chose not to offer us any truly stunning color options for the S25 Ultra, reserving them for the more expensive S25 as well as S25+ models, we can still choose from a variety of decent options, such as Titanium Jet Black and Silver Blue. Samsung states that the colors are “inspired by nature,” which is something we’ve heard repeatedly from these OEMs.
Some of the hardware upgrades consumers should be aware of are the slimmer bezels and the S25 Ultra’s bezels being the slimmest ever to be found in the Galaxy S series. Furthermore, the phone comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 2, the industry’s first scratch-resistant, anti-reflective glass-ceramic coating for mobile devices. It was able to withstand drops up to 2.2 meters on surfaces that resemble concrete. The other glass ceramics were not able to withstand drops of one meter. So you can take it as a worth.
The phone also appears to be incredibly sharp on the sides. The phone isn’t going to break your skin; however, if I applied the sharpening stone and applied it to the metal exterior, I’m thinking I could create a formidable weapon. I’ve used a Pitaka case for the device to guarantee its safety, and I’m assuming that many customers will follow the same procedure as well, which means that sharpness on the edge is likely to go unnoticed by the buyers. In a positive way, the weight and balance in your hand feel fantastic. The device weighs 218 g. Last year’s model weighed in at 223 g. It’s definitely evident.
Specifications and Performance
In typical Ultra style, this model comes with the specifications that people need. The top features of the S25 Ultra include a massive 6.9″ QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED (3120×1440 120 Hz) display. Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset 12GB of RAM and 256GB of base storage, a 5,000mAh battery (45W wired charging Qi2-compatible) with four rear cameras (will be discussed in detail below), WLAN 7, UWB, 5G, an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, as well as facial recognition. One thing that is not normally mentioned in the general specification sheet is the new (and 40% larger) vacuum chamber on the inside, which delivers massive energy efficiency gains.
It’s appropriate to talk about the performance of this phone right now. This phone truly flies. It’s very much like what you get from the OnePlus experience, with animations and smooth transitions across apps that appear almost instantaneous. It’s lightning fast and has been up-to-date throughout my testing. I don’t often play games on mobile these days, but when I do, everything has been perfect.
Display
large, bright, beautiful. Samsung retains its supreme display and its S25 Ultra’s QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED panel that delivers sharp details and more than enough brightness and color, with a thin bezel. There was once a time I thought that Samsung’s display was slightly overly saturated, but no longer. It’s still possible to go into the settings of their display and alter RGB values as well as “Vividness,” but it’s not necessary. From the beginning, the only thing I needed to alter to adjust was Dark Mode. After enabling it, I’ve never been able to access the menu since then.
The display’s settings menu is the Edge Panel (something I typically remove), along with the resolution of your display. In the default setting, Samsung has resolution set at FHD+; however, some customers can select HD+, FHD+, or QHD+. If you’re using QHD+, you can enjoy the sharpest images, but you also consume more battery.
To return towards the Edge panel, Samsung has created an area that users can access quickly, featuring such features as AI Select, Now Brief and Interpreter. It’s something I generally do not use because it’s redundant since each of these options is accessible via the pull-down menu for toggles on or off in the system, or via a combination of shortcuts and widgets. Each to their own, however; as someone who enjoys having a cleaner home screen, this feature had to go.
Camera
Four cameras on the back of the Galaxy S25 Ultra 50MP Ultra-Wide (F1.9 120° FOV) 200MP Wide (OIS F1.7 FOV 85@) and 50MP Telephoto (5x Zoom Optical, OIS F3.4, FOV 22@) as well as 10-megapixel Telephoto (3x Optical Zoom, OIS F2.4, FOV 36@). The ultra-wide camera is the sole major sensor improvement over last year’s; it was upgraded from 12MP. Other improvements are mostly related to software.
Samsung highlights Nightography on the whole S25 series with the latest onboard chipset, which includes the Spatio-Temporal Filter. Samsung claims that, according to Samsung, “This accurately differentiates moving and static objects to improve noise reduction in low light.” In simpler words, it’s focusing on improving noise reduction in dim lighting conditions and we’ve always been awestruck by it. One issue we’ve encountered is that Samsung’s shutter speeds remain extremely slow when they are not in the Pro mode, making photography of objects that move or bright objects difficult. For instance, a lot of moving subjects appear blurry or images will appear overexposed.
I’m going to guess that it could be fixed by an update to the software; however, it’s been that way for at most some time until now. You can tweak it should you wish to switch to Pro mode and alter the speed of your shutter manually but this isn’t how most users utilize their cameras. They’ll want to start the app, then point and click.
The above video shows an example where a cheerleader falls. The scene would’ve been awesome to get a clearer view of her falling into the air. In the event that Samsung could train its camera to recognize the movement of an object within the camera and then increase the shutter speed to capture it, that could be a huge selling feature. This phone is excellent at taking photos of static objects.
One of the new features is the Samsung Log for professional and content creators. With Log users, they can use False Color or Zebra Pattern for advanced control over exposure, and also advanced color-grading options that are normally used in editing tools for professionals. This is a premium feature, and it’s great to see it making its way into mobiles. Another feature that’s new to try includes virtual aperture, which allows precise control of depth-of-field, “enabling both stunning portraits with bokeh and pin-sharp landscapes.”
There’s no question that the camera system of the phone is amazing and capable of a lot; however, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not completely perfect. Below are some images from the camera, which I’ve resized to upload to this website.
S Pen
Each time I use my Galaxy Ultra device, I need to remind myself to get the S Pen out and use it. The experience with this S Pen has remained the same for the past few months, and other than noting down notes from time to time, I haven’t been making use of it often. I believe that my finger provides the most enjoyable S Pen experience. It’s an ideal accessory with such a huge device, particularly when Samsung’s design features are geared to it.
Drawing Assist is a feature that is included on the phone, and it’s a great feature to make use of when using it. S Pen. You can sketch something like the dog (as shown below) and then apply AI for creating an image. It’s enjoyable to use and quite impressive. I’d love to have someone beat my cute little fella.
Samsung took the liberty of removing features in a somewhat secluded manner, the most notable feature being Bluetooth. The owners will no more take selfies with their phones remotely and will also lose certain navigation controls. This could be a cost-saving measure, or they conducted a study and found that one in 100 owners used the feature. This isn’t something I’ve been aware of since it’s not something I’ve ever used; however, there have been some users who were unhappy with the feature. Make use of the feature, or you’ll lose it, users.
Mixed Feelings
Battery
Considering we don’t have a larger battery in the S25 Ultra compared to the S24 Ultra, I wasn’t expecting much of a difference in battery life. And yeah, I didn’t get one. The battery is fine, but the first week with new phones can always be a little odd as it learns your usage. As my time has continued with it, it’s been perfectly acceptable, though we always wish these big phones could last forever (or at least a couple of days).
My typical day at the moment runs from 6-7 am until 10-11 pm on days off. If I’m tired, I’ve been going to bed with 20 percent or less in the S25 Ultra, with more than 4 hours of screen time. Some of you might be aware that there’s nothing spectacular in those numbers, but it’s quite normal in my overall Android smartphone experience.
Contrary to those on the OnePlus 13R that I recently utilized, which was a beast with huge battery longevity, I’m not seeing that anymore from this model. S25 Ultra. I was thinking that this phone’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip inside this phone was less heavy than the earlier models; however, I’ve not seen any significant change in the way I use my phone.
There are reports that Samsung may be looking to incorporate carbon silicon batteries, possibly for the Galaxy S26 series, allowing for higher capacities and quicker charging speeds. This will all be welcomed as you do it in a safe way. As of now, on Samsung’s S25 Ultra, we’re only limited to charging via wired 45W, which is quite quick, but there are some companies offering 100W charging speeds on certain phones. If you consider that people pay more than $1000 for these phones and tablets, it’s great to have this feature also.
Software and Galaxy AI
One UI 7 over Android 15 came with this phone. I love the design and the feeling of One UI 7, with its quick animations and a tweaked appearance of the system toggles; however, Samsung has made it clear that the focus is on Galaxy AI on this device. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Now Bar that’s accessed via the lock screen (or the widget) or the upgraded Circle to Search feature from Google. There’s plenty of AI in this device.
I’ve been waiting for quite a long while for AI tools to be able to help me, and truthfully it’s the first time I’m making use of AI a lot. It’s for instance, helping me write and compose emails and respond to messages. Making images is great and enjoyable but when it’s integrated into apps such as Gmail or Messages, it’s much more user-friendly and natural. I’m okay with Samsung making a million diverse options to make use of AI and observing what works with me, but to me, make it do the basics effectively and I’ll be satisfied. The phone is able to do this.
Returning on Now Brief (and Now Bar), I’m a fan of the concept, but it’s pretty useless for me. Perhaps it’s because I do not have 10 meetings per day or whatever; however, it doesn’t provide anything I’m looking for. To check the weather, I go to Google or the Weather widget. Since I don’t have the ability to alter the information I get within Now Brief, I was bored of reading stories that I didn’t care for. As a plus, I love seeing certain things displayed on the lock screen using Now Bar, such as music and sports scores.
They are located at the bottom of the large device and can be a bit difficult to access; however, I appreciate having them. Overall, I think Now Brief needs to deliver more than just the weather and calendar overviews, as well as a single news item that users may not even be interested in.
One feature I’ve never used but would appreciate is the capability to utilize more natural search terms when looking for images in Samsung’s Gallery app, in addition to Gemini being incorporated in Google Photos. You can request “beach sunset” and have the phone send you photos of precisely the same sunset. You can also ask for pictures from a trip you took recently. It’s a lot easier than scrolling through endless reels of images.
Talking to your phone generally has become easier; this is fantastic for accessibility reasons. For instance, in the Settings menu, it is possible to use the search button, and you will see a voice prompt. Then, you can search for any setting, like “make the text more visible” or something similar to that. This way, there will be no need to fumble through menus of settings to locate a strange setting.
In the end, I believe One UI 7 and all of this AI are significant steps in the right direction. It could be a bit overwhelming; however, it could prove extremely beneficial in certain situations. If it’s working well, it’s a great thing. But often it feels like a bunch of AI nonsense.
Pricing
Samsung has the Galaxy S25 Ultra priced at $1299, which is awesome when you consider that it was the price of last year’s S24 Ultra. Across the board, none of the S25 models changed in price; they all stayed the same. That’s good work from Samsung, especially when we consider that there have been upgrades to each device, such as the base RAM for each model is now 12GB, plus new components like the Snapdragon 8 Elite and an improved ultrawide lens specifically on this device.
I’m going to guess that there will come a tipping point sometime in the near future where these expensive phones aren’t even affordable for most people. With financing options and perhaps also due to Samsung’s generous trade-in policy, however, we’re not yet there, but just how long will this model last? This is a question worth considering.
Buy Galaxy S25 Ultra
- Samsung
- Amazon
- Best Buy
Final Thoughts
For Samsung buyers, there is no better option on the market. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is the pinnacle of the Samsung experience, which arguably makes it the majority experience among Android users. While I would opt for Google’s Pixel experience in most cases, we have to realize that Samsung sells a ton of phones, and people love having the best of the best. And the best of that is the Galaxy Ultra series, to which the S25 Ultra is ultimately a lovely addition. The hardware is refined and beautiful (although it lacks any interesting color options), the cameras are versatile and able to capture lots of detail, and its software will continue to evolve for years.
