Samsung’s latest and greatest flagship phone is upon us, packing the S Pen, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy processor, and a total of 322 megapixels in the camera department. Some notable upgrades are present, but it could be argued that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is losing even more ground on its rivals in terms of design, battery, and charging technology.
It’s on the software side of things that Samsung is hoping its new flagship will win over its fans. Launching with One UI 7, which is based on Android 15, the Galaxy S25 Ultra offers a bagful of helpful features, making full use of AI to make daily tasks less of a chore.
“Modern life is hard. Balancing work and home is incredibly overwhelming, and we’re all looking for ways to help us juggle life’s demands. We’ve reached a point now where AI has evolved to become a companion – it’s knowing intuitively what you need, and when. It’s lightening your load so you can focus on the things that matter, at your own pace. In many ways, it’s becoming a pocket personal assistant for people, helping you manage your to do lists.“
Annika Bizon, Director of Mobile Experience, Samsung UK & Ireland
Thanks to Galaxy AI and One UI 7, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will be the king of productivity, as previous Ultra models have been since the demise of the Galaxy Note series. All Galaxy S25 devices will have a 6-month trial subscription to Google’s Gemini Advanced plan with 2TB of cloud storage.
Features such as Circle to Search have been optimized further. They can now quickly recognize phone numbers, email addresses, and URLs on your display – making it easier to call, message, and navigate websites.
Instead of Bixby activating when you press the Power button, Gemini will respond, letting you seamlessly interact with Google and Samsung apps, as well as third-party apps such as Spotify.
Other tools, such as Call Transcript, Writing Assist, and Drawing Assist, have also been optimized for increased ease of use. The Personal Data Engine on the S25 series aims to use AI to help protect your data, which is kept private and secure in the Knox Vault.
The Galaxy S25 series will receive seven generations of OS upgrades and security patches, which means the handset will stay relevant and benefit from new features during its lifetime.
The rear camera setup consists of the same line-up as seen on the S24 Ultra except for a new 50MP ultrawide camera, which offers a neat upgrade from the 12MP used by its predecessor. 10-bit HDR recording is now enabled by default, offering four times richer color expression over 8-bit, thus aiding the S25 Ultra’s low-light abilities.
Editing features such as Audio Eraser help simplify the removal of unwanted noises from videos, which means that Uncle Bertie’s badly timed sneeze needn’t make it into the final cut.
As smartphone cameras continue in their long march towards DSLR parity, the new Virtual Aperture function brings depth-of-field control to the Expert RAW mode. Portrait Studio has been tweaked to allow users to make personalized avatars with increased true-to-life expressions.
| Galaxy S25 Ultra | |
|---|---|
| Display | 6.9-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz (1~120Hz), Vision booster, Adaptive colour tone |
| Dimensions & Weight | 77.6 x 162.8 x 8.2mm, 218g |
| Rear Camera | 50MP Ultra-Wide (F1.9, FOV 120˚) 200MP Wide (OIS F1.7, FOV 85˚) 50MP Telephoto (5x Optical Zoom, OIS F3.4, FOV 22˚) 10MP Telephoto (3x Optical Zoom, OIS F2.4, FOV 36˚) |
| Front Camera | 12MP (F2.2, FOV 80˚) |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy |
| Memory & Storage | 12+256GB, 12+512GB, 12+1TB |
| Battery | 5,000 mAh |
| Charging | Wired: Up to 65% in ~30 mins with 45W adapter Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare |
| OS | Android 15, One UI 7 |
| Network & Connectivity | 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v5.4 |
| Water Resistance | IP68: Water and dust resistant (up to 1.5m freshwater for 30 mins). |
| Colors | Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Black, Titanium Whitesilver, Titanium Grey |
| Pricing | From $/£1299 |
In terms of construction, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a little narrower and slightly slimmer than its predecessor. Rounded corners are present, which should make the phone slightly more comfortable to hold than last year’s model.
Corning’s Gorilla Armor 2 protection is present, offering yet more durability plus the inclusion of the anti-reflective surface treatment first unveiled on the S24 Ultra.
When it comes to hardware, the main upgrades comprise of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor and a slightly larger 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with QHD+ resolution, and 1-120Hz refresh rate. The S25 Ultra has 12GB of RAM while its rivals stretch to 16GB and beyond, and comes with 256/512GB/1TB of storage.
The battery sticks at the same 5,000mAh capacity it has been for oh so long, despite it looking like 6,000mAh will be the norm for 2025 for other brands.
This brings us to our predictable complaint about Samsung’s Galaxy S-series of phones: the glacial pace of charging speeds. Yup, 45W is still the speediest Samsung offers on this premium-priced flagship. That said, Samsung promises a 65% charge in around 30 minutes. This isn’t terrible; it’s not what one would expect on a 2025 flagship phone costing over $1,000.
But. If you’ve never used a phone that offers a full charge in forty minutes or less, 45W will seem fast enough.
As usual, Samsung offers the Galaxy S25 Ultra in four standard colors (Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Black, Titanium Whitesilver, Titanium Grey) with three further options when ordering directly from Samsung.com.
Pricing for the Galaxy S25 Ultra starts from $/£1,299 for the 12/256GB variant, with a free bump to 512GB of storage when pre-ordering from Samsung.
Do you plan on pre-ordering the Galaxy S25 Ultra? Let us know in the comments below.
