I’ll cut straight to the point. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a fantastic phone. It was also one of the easiest phones I’ve ever reviewed because it’s not much different from last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
$1300 $1500 Save
$200
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a top-of-the-line smartphone with a 6.9-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display and a 120Hz refresh rate. It boasts the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB of RAM, and a 5,000mAh battery with 45W Super Fast Charging 2.0.
- Thinner, lighter, and flatter design
- 50MP ultrawide camera is a nice improvement
- All-day battery life, incredibly fast processor, and a beautiful display
- Now Brief is incredibly Ineffective
- AI features remain mostly gimmicks
- “Qi2 Ready” is not good enough
Price and Availability
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is available in four colors: Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Whitesilver, Titanium Gray, and Titanium Black. The phone starts at $1,299.99 with 256GB of built-in storage, 12GB of RAM, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Galaxy processor and goes up to $1,659.99 with 1TB of storage.
Of course, Samsung and almost every major carrier offer trade-ins and other deals, so there’s a good chance you can pick up the device for much less.
This year, Samsung brought the S24’s and S24+’s flat design to the Ultra. Gone are the round and bulbous sides and sharp corners. Now, you’re met with a flat display, rounded corners, and squared-off titanium-covered edges. It’s hard to describe the hand feel, but it’s premium and solid. The phone is a dense brick in the best way possible.
Samsung also managed to shave off some weight and thickness. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is 8.2mm thick and weighs 218g. That’s only 0.4mm thinner and 15g lighter than the S24 Ultra, but combined with the easier-to-hold design, the difference is immediately noticeable.
Around front, the display is ever slightly bigger than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, moving from 6.8 inches to 6.9 inches. This is thanks to even thinner bezels. You won’t notice the difference, but it is crazy how thin the bezels have gotten.
The screen is also as bright and beautiful as ever. Last year’s flagship with its Gorilla Armor glass with its anti-glare coating received a lot of praise, and it was warranted. Holding the phone up against a Pixel or an iPhone, the glare from the glass was night and day. I’m thankful to say that Samsung kept that glare-reducing coating around for another year with the Gorilla Armor 2, and it’s just as good.
Under the hood is 12GB of RAM and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. When I tell you this chip is fast, nothing I threw at the processor slowed down the phone. I could throw specs and benchmarks at you, but just know that Samsung tuned this SoC to handle everything from word processing on the CPU to gaming on the GPU to running AI tasks on the NPU.
“Qi2 Ready” Is a Cop-Out
I was thrilled when Samsung and Google announced they would support Qi2 in 2025. This would mean that each company’s phones would natively magnetically connect to MagSafe mounts, stands, etc., without an added accessory. But then Samsung said the Galaxy S25 series is “Qi2 Ready.”
Ugh.
So, while my Galaxy S25 Ultra review unit supports 15W wireless charging, I needed a case or magnetic sticker to connect the phone to any MagSafe or Qi2 accessories. You could go with Samsung’s Magnet Case, but I opted for the Ghost 2.0, courtesy of dbrand.
This isn’t a full review of the Ghost 2.0, but it has my full recommendation. I’m not normally a clear case person, but it makes the Galaxy S25 shine. Plus, with how clicky the buttons are, I’d almost rather use the phone with the case than without. My only real complaint is that dust and lint build up around the rubber around the display, but that’s a complaint I have with every case.
And what really matters in terms of being “Qi2 Ready” is that the magnetics in the case are super strong. I never worried about my wallet coming loose or my phone falling off my Nomad Stand.
Also, next time, I really hope Samsung changes where it places the wireless charging coils. There’s an entire ecosystem of MagSafe and Qi2 accessories that don’t properly fit on any of the Galaxy S25 lineup. Much like my beloved Peak Design Mobile Wallet, most of these cover up the bottom camera (as seen above). You shouldn’t be stuck buying Samsung’s $30 first-party magnetic wallet as a workaround.
The S Pen Lost Features (That I Didn’t Care About)
Aside from the sheer size difference and the number of cameras around back, the one thing that makes the Ultra distinct in the Galaxy S25 lineup is the included S Pen stylus. This year, though, the S Pen is technically a downgrade because it no longer includes a Bluetooth radio and cannot perform Air Actions.
According to Samsung, only 1% of customers use the S Pen’s remote features. Supposedly, more people are using the gesture controls on Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch for hands-free photos.
Some S Pen fans are upset about the change, but I could honestly care less. In the two weeks I’ve had my review unit, I only used the stylus once to scroll through an article. Technically, my wife has used it the same number of times because she wrote the text seen in the above photo.
Those who rely on the S Pen to jot down notes shouldn’t be affected. The stylus still works just the same as soon as the tip is within a couple of millimeters of the display.
One UI 7 Is Polished
Warranted or not, One UI (and previously Touchwiz) was often regarded as one of the worst Android skins. With the launch of One UI 7 on top of Android 15, I don’t have many complaints.
Samsung’s software now looks and feels more like the Google Pixel’s take on Android. Everything is fast and smooth, there are lots of customization options, and there is a new vertically scrolling app drawer. Clean and simple interfaces go a long way to making the Galaxy S25 Ultra feel more modern.
I only have two complaints. The first is how One UI 7 handles lock screen notifications. Instead of showing up in the middle of the screen, by default, they now get hidden in the notification bar. Second is how Samsung is separating the notification shade and quick settings. Swipe from one corner and you get your notification. Swipe down from the other, and you get the quick settings. They’re no longer combined.
Thankfully, both features can be adjusted in the phone’s Settings menu. Once I figured that out, my experience with the Galaxy S25 Ultra was much better.
The Now Bar Is Fantastic…
When I first went hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, I was over the moon about the Now Bar and Now Brief. The Now Bar is similar to Apple’s Live Activities. These are widgets that update in real-time and live on your lock screen and notification bar. These include sports scores, timers, and more.
What I really like about Samsung’s implementation is that the Now Bar widget is always visible, even when you are using your phone. As you can see from the second photo below, the sports score graphic takes up the top-left corner of the notification section. You don’t have to swipe down or lock your device to see the widget.
The one thing I’m not sure about is if you can retrieve the Live Notification if you accidentally swipe it away. With Live Activities on an iPhone and iPad, you can go into whichever app and tap a button to relaunch the notification. With things like live sports scores that Google updates, once the notification is gone, it’s gone forever. Even unfollowing the team and refollowing won’t get the notification to launch again. You have to wait for the team’s next game.
I asked a Samsung representative this question but have not received an answer. I’ll update this review if I hear back.
…The Now Brief Is Useless
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Now Brief was a huge disappointment. When you launch it from the home screen widget, you’re supposed to get a rundown of your day, helpful information like leaving early for a reservation if there’s traffic, and routine suggestions. Instead, I was mostly met with the weather widget, the calendar widget, and a news story.
Hilariously, the only routine it suggested was to automatically launch the Slack app when I woke up and first unlocked the phone. That says a lot about my usage patterns, but it also wasn’t very helpful. Somehow, I have been using the Galaxy S25 Ultra as my primary phone for two weeks, and this is all it has learned about me.
What really sealed the deal with the Now Brief were the absolutely awful news stories it recommended. Whenever I tapped on the widget, I was met with a low-quality political, entertainment, or click-baity news article. Unfortunately, I have another dozen or so screenshots of the Now Brief that I didn’t bother including.
When asked, a company representative told me I could go into the Samsung News app and set my topic preference. I did just that and only selected “Tech.” Nothing changed. To this day, I continue to get these chumbucket-level articles. These alone are why the Now Brief widget will never live on my home screen.
Oh Yeah, There Are Other AI Features Too
The Galaxy S24 Ultra brought with it Google’s Circle to Search and other generative AI features. Those are all still on the Galaxy S25 Ultra—and supposedly improved—but I never found a reason to use them last year, and the same remains true now.
This year, though, Samsung is including AI features that I find more helpful. The first isn’t exclusive to Galaxy hardware, but if you use Samsung apps, it’ll have extra functionality. What I’m talking about is Google’s improved Gemini experience. By simply long-pressing the power button, you can ask the AI agent to do multi-step tasks, such as locating local restaurant ideas and texting them to a group chat.
In practice, performance is hit or miss. Sometimes, this process worked flawlessly, but normally, it fell flat on its face. I expect things to improve over time, especially as more apps jump onboard (Samsung, Google, WhatsApp, and Spotify apps already work) and the feature is rolled out to more phones (beyond Galaxy and Pixel).
Next up is natural-language search, specifically in the Settings app. I first experienced a similar feature on the OnePlus 13, and it’s great. When you don’t know specific keywords or how Samsung names its settings, casually asking your phone for help will usually get you what you want. For example, asking how to silence notifications while you sleep gets you the Do Not Disturb menu.
And finally, we have AI Select. You’ve long been able to highlight text, photos, and videos on Samsung devices, but with the new feature, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will be cognisant of what’s on your screen. So, if you’re watching a video when you launch the feature, it’ll offer to create a GIF. Or if you’re looking at a photo, maybe you want to make it your wallpaper.
Solid Cameras, Not Much Improvement
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s camera system is nearly identical to last year’s model, with the exception being the new 50MP ultrawide sensor, up from 12MP. Saturation is solid across the board, with punchy colors and plenty of detail if you ever want to zoom in.
I don’t see much difference between the new 50MP ultrawide camera and last year’s 12MP sensor, but that’s not bad. The lens still has a slight warp effect, but it’s not horrible as long as you don’t have someone walking into the frame (as seen below). Zoom quality is also great, but the 50MP 5x telephoto almost always looks better than the 10MP 3x camera.
My biggest complaint with the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s cameras from last year is that they didn’t do great capturing moving objects. I experienced similar results with the S25 Ultra. It’s a tad better, but objects aren’t tack sharp unless they were completely stationary while I took the picture.
Something worth mentioning is that the aesthetic caps on top of the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s primary cameras are prime lint magnets. There’s enough of a gap between the phone’s body and the metallic rings that fluffballs will start to build up the moment you take the phone out of the box.
Should You Buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra?
In a vacuum, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is great. It offers top-of-the-line specs and top-notch performance, and the screen is large enough to watch movies or get work done using the S Pen. If you buy this phone, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
But if you’re looking for something truly “Ultra,” this phone no longer offers that “WOW” value. It’s the status quo. If you’ve used one of Samsung’s flagship phones from the past three or four years, you know exactly what you’re getting. That’s not a bad thing, especially if you value consistency. Samsung has a playbook, and it’s following closely in its own footsteps.
If you’re looking for something unique and groundbreaking, you will need to look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a tried and true powerhouse, the Galaxy S25 Ultra should be your next phone.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
$1300 $1500 Save
$200
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a top-of-the-line smartphone with a 6.9-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display and a 120Hz refresh rate. It boasts the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB of RAM, and a 5,000mAh battery with 45W Super Fast Charging 2.0.
