Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review

Introduction

Just like day follows night, you can be sure that when a new year arrives, Samsung launches a new series of flagship Galaxy S-series phones. 2025 is no exception, with January heralding the arrival of the S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra. 

Of the three, it’s the Ultra that shows more change from previous generations than either the regular or Plus models, sporting a refreshed design that brings it more in line with the rest of the collection, though in doing so, it might’ve lost its ‘personality’. 

But aside from that and a few other minor tweaks to the already-premium hardware from Samsung’s previous flagship, there’s a very real feeling that AI is being included everywhere to distract from the fact that hardware hasn’t changed all that much.

It remains one of the best smartphones available in 2025 with an excellent screen, top-end performance and a versatile camera offering, but it’s hard to imagine Galaxy S24 Ultra, or even Galaxy S23 Ultra, fans will be tempted to upgrade this year. 

Design

• New design with flat edges and rounded corners
• Thinner, lighter and narrower than its predecessor
• S Pen no longer offers Bluetooth connectivity

For the past few years, Samsung’s Galaxy Ultra model has been a bit of an outlier in the Galaxy collection. While the regular Galaxy and Galaxy Plus models have offered a combination of flat edges and rounded corners, the Ultra model stuck with the same pointed corners and rounded edges first introduced with the Galaxy S22 Ultra. 

It’s something I have commented on numerous times, and it seems that Samsung has finally paid attention. The Galaxy S25 Ultra sports the same rounded corners, flat edges and textured camera rings as the rest of the Galaxy S25 collection, unifying the design of the flagship range for the first time in quite a few years.

The redesign is a bit Marmite, however. I love the new look and feel of the phone, with way better purchase on the flat sides than its curved alternative. Others feel that it has lost its personality. 

I can’t disagree with those who share the sentiment; the Galaxy S24 Ultra stood out from the flagship crowd, many of which adopt a similar combination of flat edges and rounded corners as the S25 collection. The Galaxy S25 Ultra, on the other hand, would be hard to spot in a crowd next to the likes of the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. 

But, in terms of how it feels to hold and use, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has my vote. It just feels nicer in the hand, aided by the fact that it’s a tad shorter, slimmer and thinner than the Galaxy S24 Ultra despite a marginally larger screen.

I am a little disappointed that Samsung didn’t take the opportunity to also double down on durability with the same IP69 protection we’ve seen from the Oppo Find X8 Pro and Honor Magic 7 Pro, but in reality, the number of scenarios where the phone is blasted with pressurised jets of hot water is low. It’d just help the phone justify its sky-high price tag a little more.

That said, there is improved screen protection in the form of Corning’s latest Gorilla Armor 2 that can apparently survive a drop onto concrete from head height, though that’s not something I can confirm myself. The phone has remained completely scratch-free after a week of use, though that’s admittedly not very telling. 

The other staple of the Galaxy Ultra experience is, of course, the S Pen. It’s present and accounted for this year, but it has had a notable downgrade, no longer offering Bluetooth connectivity. 

This means you can no longer use the stylus as a remote shutter when taking photos, nor can you perform air gestures to activate functions from afar – though I’d argue that these are relatively niche features and the vast majority won’t lament their loss. I certainly didn’t. 

Crucially, the core writing experience on offer from the S Pen matches the S24 Ultra, with both offering an incredibly low-latency writing experience, ideal for quick notes and sketches – though for any serious note-taking, I tend to revert to the larger screen of the Kindle Scribe. 

Screen

• Slightly larger 6.9-inch QHD+ AMOLED screen
• Incredibly slim bezels
• Anti-reflective coating works well

While the Galaxy S25 Ultra has had a redesign, the display remains largely unchanged – though given how impressed I was with the S24 Ultra’s screen, that isn’t a complaint.

That said, we’re once again getting a suitably high-end Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen with an LTPO-enabled 120Hz refresh rate, support for HDR10+ and the same 2600nits peak brightness. The impressive anti-reflective coating also makes its return, once again negating both indoor and outdoor reflections better than any other glossy smartphone screen I’ve seen.

There are differences on offer from this year’s model, of course. With even slimmer bezels than the S24 Ultra that’d give the iPhone 16 Pro Max a run for its money, the S25 Ultra’s screen has marginally increased to 6.9 inches while being narrower and shorter than its predecessor. 

That might sound minor, but the S25 Ultra’s near-bezel-less experience offers an ultra-premium look and feel unmatched by much of the competition. It is an absolute joy to use, whether scrolling through social media, gaming, or watching YouTube videos. It just feels a little roomier than its predecessor.  

The rounded edges of the newer design mean the display doesn’t have those same sharp corners, which some might see as a downgrade, but it’s not something I really noticed – the curvature is less aggressive than other round-edge phones like the iPhone 16 Pro Max.  

That said, I find it difficult to complain about the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s screen in everyday use; it’s bright enough to be used outside without complaint, the colours are vivid, and with a QHD+ resolution, it’s pixel-perfect. 

I would’ve liked to have seen a boost in peak brightness to match the Honor Magic 7 Pro’s 5000nits, but given that it’s only available when displaying HDR content, it’s not as big a dealbreaker as it might seem on paper. 

Cameras

• Similar camera hardware to S24 Ultra
• Great all-round performance with boosted zoom quality
• New Galaxy Log shooting mode

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra takes a phenomenal photo, there’s no arguing that fact – but the hardware is very familiar. The S25 Ultra retains the same 200MP main, 10MP 3x and 50MP 5x cameras, while the 12MP ultrawide has seen a jump to 50MP, so it’s safe to say that, generally speaking, you’ll get pretty similar results to the S24 Ultra.

I have found that to be the case, though there are notable improvements in the processing, especially when it comes to the 50MP 5x telephoto lens. Boosting the zoom to 30x, you’ll see more detail, improved contrast and less of that oil painting-esque look we’ve become accustomed to at more aggressive levels of zoom, and it performs well in low light if you stick to the 5-10x range. 

As with last year’s S24 Ultra, there is a bit of an awkward zone (from 3x to 4.9x) where the comparatively low-res 10MP 3x telephoto kicks in, with a notable difference in overall quality in all but ideal shooting conditions, but it still remains the better focal length for portrait photography than the more aggressive 5x alternative. 

The upgraded 50MP ultrawide is a welcome addition to the roster, even if it is the only difference in hardware; while the differences aren’t that stark when shooting in ideal conditions, continuing to deliver vibrant, detailed shots, the ultrawide is way more capable once light levels begin to drop, mainly thanks to new quad-pixel binning. 

I’m also impressed by how little distortion there is at the edges of the ultrawide lens, managing to deliver a wide-angle view without that awkward fisheye warping so often seen in ultrawide lenses. 

Of course, it’s the main 200MP camera that performs best, and it’s the one you’ll be using most often. 

With the abundance of pixels, combined with extreme 16-in-1 pixel binning tech, the main lens captures plenty of light and detail, with equally capable HDR processing delivering a good balance between highlight and shadows with very little blowout – even those shot in direct sunlight.

The colours aren’t as accurate as what you’ll get from the Pixel 9 Pro XL or Oppo Find X8 Pro, with Samsung’s smartphones consistently delivering an overly vibrant colour palette, especially when it comes to the greens of grass and blues of the sky. I can’t deny that they look great on social media. If you prefer a more toned-down look, however, you’d be better off elsewhere. 

That performance continues once light levels drop, with the S25 Ultra able to capture low-light shots with plenty of detail and vibrant colours, even surpassing what I could see with the naked eye in some particularly challenging scenarios. It can have a slightly unnatural look as a result, but I’d prefer that to dark, muddy shots.   

The S25 Ultra’s camera capabilities have also had a boost this year; while it caps out at the same 8K@30fps as the S24 Ultra, it now supports Galaxy Log, Samsung’s proprietary take on the LOG format. 

It’s similar to RAW photos in that it captures video with very minimal processing so you can colour-correct and adjust dynamic range in the post-production process. It’s not a feature the vast majority will appreciate, but it’s a real boon for those who take video capture more seriously. 

Performance

• Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
• One of the most capable phones around
• Can get hot when gaming, which reduces performance

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – and the rest of the S25 range – ships with a custom version of Qualcomm’s top-end chipset for 2025, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. Given the huge performance boost we’ve seen from other 8 Elite devices like the OnePlus 13, it’s safe to say that the S25 Ultra is a strong performer.

In benchmark tests, it easily trounces the iPhone 16 Pro Max in both the CPU and GPU departments, while also boasting marginally better performance than the aforementioned OnePlus 13 and MediaTek 9400-equipped alternatives like the Oppo Find X8 Pro. 

It’s not quite the highest performer around, with the RedMagic 10 Pro and ROG Phone 9 Pro both delivering improved performance. Both those are gaming phones, so it’s not really that surprising. 

That translates to a great gaming experience, though I did notice the phone would get warm over longer periods of gameplay, especially when powering high-end 3D titles like Call of Duty Mobile and One Punch Man World. 

There’s a bigger vapour chamber to help keep that heat away from the chipset, but benchmarks still showed a bigger drop in performance over 20 minutes of gameplay than OnePlus’ flagship. 

That said, you’re unlikely to run into many issues in day-to-day use. The S25 Ultra feels about as fast and responsive as you’d expect. Apps open instantly, there’s next to no shutter lag when taking photos and load times in games are fairly short. With an excess of power, I expect that to continue for quite some time. 

Elsewhere, the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes with the same 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage options, with the top-end model also boasting a boosted 16GB of RAM, and all the latest staples in connectivity including 5G, Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7 are present and accounted for. 

Software and AI

• OneUI 7 based on Android 15
• New Galaxy AI smarts seem half-baked
• Seven OS upgrades promised

It’s clear from the fact that the majority of the S25 range announcement focused on AI that it’s, once again, the main focus. 

Samsung claims that AI is baked directly into OneUI 7 and that should allow for an entirely more useful AI companion, with the ability to combine multiple app actions into a single request. 

This should allow the onboard AI to do things like search for your football team’s fixtures and add them to your Calendar app, but after trialling a few requests, it’s still frustratingly limited in what it can do.

That also ties into Samsung’s new Now Brief functionality, which should deliver a range of contextual information in the mornings and evenings from a variety of apps – things like pictures you’ve taken, upcoming travel plans and more – but I’ve not found that to be the case. 

Despite checking my Brief every morning and evening for the past week, all I’ve been presented with is the weather and a shortcut to a random Spotify playlist I’ve never used packed full of songs I’ve never heard of. 

You get more information like how you’ve slept and current energy levels if you’ve got a connected Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Ring, but it doesn’t do the same with third-party trackers, even if that information is available in Google Fit. 

Other new features include the ability to search for songs in videos using Google’s Circle to Search, although this likely won’t be exclusive to these Galaxy phones for long.

Galaxy AI features previously exclusive to Samsung apps – like the writing assistant and ability to summarise text – are now available across the OS, though again, it’s not something I found myself using all that often, if ever. 

For me, it’s the design of OneUI 7 that’s worth getting excited about. It introduces a redesigned UI with new icons, new animations and more that help the phone feel fresh, while also sporting new features like a split control centre and notification shade, redesigned notifications and even an updated multitasking menu. 

It’s a genuinely notable UX upgrade, though with the same OneUI update coming to older Galaxy phones (the S22 range is confirmed to get the update) it isn’t a key reason to buy the S25 Ultra specifically.  

And, as with last year’s range, the S25 Ultra will receive seven OS upgrades that’ll take it through to OneUI 14 based on Android 22 – one of the longest support promises of any phone right now. 

Battery Life

• Same 5000mAh cell as its predecessor
• All-day battery life with caveats
• Faster charging despite offering the same 45W support

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to battery life. 

It got me through an average day without much complaint, but this year’s Ultra is starting to fall behind the competition with Samsung’s aversion to adopting the high-capacity silicon-carbon battery tech, instead shipping with the same 5000mAh cell as the S24 Ultra.

In real-world testing across a week with the phone, I’ve generally finished most days with around 20-30% left in the tank. That’s with around 3-4 hours of screen time over roughly 16 hours – a healthy mix of scrolling through social media, checking emails, replying to WhatsApp messages and the occasional spot of gaming. 

That’ll service most people just fine, but compared to the 5910mAh Oppo Find X8 Pro which would usually finish a comparable day with closer to 50% battery remaining, it’s lacking. Of course, your usage will vary depending on what you’re up to, so you may well see better (or worse) battery life than I’ve seen. 

The good news is that, despite shipping with the same 45W charging as the S24 Ultra, Samsung has optimised the charging process. That translates to speedier charging, with the phone achieving 70% charge in 30 minutes with a full charge in 62 minutes compared to the S24 Ultra’s 59% and 71 minutes.

You still don’t get a charger in the box, so you’ll have to source a compatible 45W charger yourself. 

The S25 Ultra is also the first smartphone in the world to support the Qi 2.1 standard, but oddly, there are no discernible benefits to this; it still caps out at the same 15W as its predecessor, and you’ll need a magnetic case (sold separately – find the best S25 cases here) to benefit from Qi 2-compatible accessories. 

Should you buy it?

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