Finally available, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra debuted at Galaxy Unpacked 2025 alongside the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus. The phone’s features and, most importantly, its price have finally been revealed after numerous leaks and wild speculation.
While many aspects of this year’s phone remain the same as those of last year, there are some fantastic improvements to explore. improvements such as a larger display, a custom Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, a 50MP ultrawide camera, and a ton of AI technology hidden beneath the surface. Even better, your entry point is still $1,299 from the previous year because prices haven’t changed.
This is all the information you require regarding the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. For a more thorough look at the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s usability, be sure to read our hands-on review.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Major Modifications
- The Galaxy S25 Ultra has a 6.9-inch screen and is marginally larger.
- Galaxy phones now have Samsung TV’s ProScaler technology for better display quality.
- Stronger screens with reduced glare are promised by Gorilla Glass Armor 2.
- The ultrawide angle camera can now function as a macro lens and has increased to 50MP.
- You can switch between f/1.4 and f/14 with the new virtual aperture.
- Beyond the typical 8 Elite chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy provides a significant performance boost.
- Upgrades to Galaxy AI include Dynamic Island-style and Audio Eraser. NowBar Qi2 wireless charging is available, but it does not include magnets.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Cost & Quality
Starting at $1,299 or £1,249. That’s the same price you would have paid for a Galaxy S24 Ultra with comparable specifications. Although 512GB and 1TB models are also available, that gets you a model with 256GB of storage. Every model has 12GB of RAM.
While the full Galaxy S25 series will go on sale on February 7, pre-orders for the phone began on January 22. Titanium Silverblue, Titanium White Silver, Titanium Gray, and Titanium Black are among the available colors. Jade Green, Jet Black, and Pink Gold are the only colors available on the Samsung website.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Specifications
| Name | Galaxy S25 | Galaxy S25 | Galaxy S25 Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $799/£799 | $999/£999 | $1,299/£1,249 |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB | 256GB, 512GB | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| Colors | Icyblue, Navy, Mint, Silver Shadow | Icyblue, Navy, Mint, Silver Shadow | Titan Black, Titan Gray, Titan Silverblue, Titan Whitesilver |
| Dimensions | 2.77 x 5.78 x 0.28 inches | 2.98 x 6.23 x 0.28 inches | 3.05 x 6.40 x 0.32 inches |
| Front Camera | 12MP | 12MP | 12MP |
| Dust/water resistance | IP68 | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear cameras | 50MP wide, 12MP Ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto | 50MP wide, 12MP Ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto | 200MP Wide, 50MP Ultrawide, 50MP 5x telephoto, 10MP 3x telephoto |
| RAM | 12GB | 12GB | 12GB |
| Weight | 5.71 ounces | 6.7 ounces | 7.68 ounces |
| Refresh rate | 120Hz | 120Hz | 120Hz |
| Battery | 4,000 mAh | 4,900 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Screen size | 6.2″ FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display | 6.7″ QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display | 6.9″ QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy | Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy | Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy |
| OS | Android 15 / One UI 7 | Android 15 / One UI 7 | Android 15 / One UI 7 |
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: New Features
Although this might initially appear to be an iterative update, the Galaxy S25 Ultra differs from the Galaxy S24 Ultra that we saw around this time last year in a number of significant ways. The primary one is that Samsung has made design adjustments, removing the sharp right angles of earlier Galaxy S flagships and further flattening the edges and corners.
Samsung has slightly increased the phone’s size; it is now 6.9 inches instead of 6.8. With this new design, Samsung has also promised a 15% reduction in the bezel. The general screen specifications, which include QHD+ resolution and an adaptive refresh rate of 1-120 Hz, have not changed. Proscaler, an automatic content upscaler that improves picture quality by 43%, is one piece of TV technology that Samsung has added.
Additionally, the front and rear glass have been upgraded to Gorilla Glass Armor 2, a feature unique to the S25 Ultra. This glass should be helpful in those bright environments because it promises to be stronger and have better anti-reflective qualities.
Additionally, our 50MP ultrawide camera lens is an improvement over the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 12MP lens. It appears that this will improve the camera’s low-light performance and enable it to serve as a macro lens for extremely close-up images. It will work in tandem with the 200MP primary camera and the two telephoto lenses, each of which has a resolution of 50MP and 10MP. plus optical zooms of 5x and 3x.
Additionally, the camera has a brand-new Gen Pro Visual Engine driven by AI that can eliminate blur and noise from images to create better images under various lighting conditions. Along with virtual aperture controls that allow you to switch between f/1.4 and f/14, Samsung has also included a Spatial Temporal Filter, which is unique to the new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy Chip.
Regarding the chip, Samsung asserts that it collaborated with Qualcomm to develop the Snapdragon 8 Elite for the Galaxy chipset. This indicates that the phone manufacturer hasn’t merely improved an already-existing chip; rather, it was designed with Samsung Galaxy phones in mind. A 40% increase in NPU, a 37% increase in CPU, and a 30% increase in GPU contribute to the additional performance.
In addition, Samsung added a new thermal interface material to improve heat dissipation by 8% and expanded the cooling of the vapor chamber by 40%. Therefore, the heat build-up should be significantly less than with the S24 Ultra, even when the phone is using all that performance.
You can enjoy a variety of new Galaxy AI features with the Galaxy S25, which will come pre-installed with OneUI 7. The Now Bar, a Dynamic Island-style feature that displays crucial information at the bottom of your home and lock screen, is one of the main offerings. Now, Brief will also provide summaries of the agenda at various points throughout the day. Additionally, it has “ProActive AI,” which can help you stay ahead of possible issues like heavy traffic.
Bixby will handle all of the on-device AI functions, while Google Gemini will also power AI. Although Samsung is unable to specify which AI models will be used for which features, cloud features will combine the two. The Galaxy S25 will also allow generative AI editing on-device, though users will still have the option to use cloud processing if they so choose.
Qi2 wireless charging has finally been added by Samsung, though not fully. The phone itself has no magnets, but everything has been updated to Qi2. It appears that they tampered with the S Pen’s functionality and display.
Comparing the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra to other phones
The Galaxy S25 Ultra may look different from other Galaxy flagships thanks to its design changes, but it still looks a lot like competing phones. With flat edges and curves that roughly match the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Pixel 9 Pro XL share a similar appearance. At this stage, the only thing that truly distinguishes the three phones from one another is their different camera bumps.
With the same size and general specifications, the displays are essentially the same. The brightness will be the only significant difference, though we are still unsure of the S25 Ultra’s screen’s actual brightness. Nevertheless, Gorilla Glass Armor 2 is unquestionably superior to the Victus 2 glass used by the Pixel 9 Pro and OnePlus 13. Without testing it first, we are unable to say how it stacks up against Apple’s exclusive Ceramic Shield display at this time.
Once again, the main camera’s 200MP resolution is the camera’s most notable feature; competing cameras simply cannot match it. Resolution isn’t everything, but for those who prefer larger numbers, Samsung has won because most flagship phones only have 50MP cameras.
Similarly, the inclusion of the 50MP ultrawide camera is consistent with previous additions and ought to improve camera quality, especially with the phone’s new AI visual engine. Additionally, Samsung has maintained the dual telephoto lenses, albeit without modification this generation. Unfortunately, until we have the opportunity to test the camera ourselves, we won’t be able to determine just how much has improved—or not.
We already know how well the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite performs in comparison to the competition. Naturally, it outperforms Apple’s A18 Pro in specific graphics and multicore benchmarks and completely destroys the Pixel’s Tensor G4 chipset in benchmarking tests. Still, the A18 Pro consistently outperformed it in other domains, such as single-core performance. Although we are still unsure of the exact amount, the S25 Ultra’s use of the unique “For Galaxy” version of the chip should improve performance.
Battery life is no different. Despite having some of the best phone battery life, the Galaxy S24 Ultra was unable to overtake devices like the iPhone 16 Pro Max and OnePlus 13. The S25 Ultra’s battery capacity hasn’t changed, but the chipset (and perhaps other components) should be more efficient. However, we cannot determine how much better or worse things are this year until we conduct the testing ourselves.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s use of Qi2 wireless charging helps differentiate it from competitors running Android. Samsung claims that the phone is equipped with everything but magnets, allowing users to benefit from features like adaptive wireless charging and faster wireless charging speeds, which are not available with the Qi1. Unfortunately, it still only has 15W of wireless charging power, and it is less powerful than the iPhone MagSafe due to the absence of magnets.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Conclusion
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is undergoing numerous changes this year, including numerous software updates and improved hardware, which we have only just begun to explore. It’ll be interesting to see how much of an impact that has because Samsung is obviously making another big push with AI, particularly in the camera and display categories.
It will be particularly intriguing to observe what advancements the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip brings. It turns out to be the S25 Ultra’s secret weapon, with the performance expected to surpass that of the standard 8 Elite chip—which isn’t exactly a slouch—and the potential for significant energy efficiency gains. However, until we bring the phone into our lab for extensive testing, we won’t be able to say for sure.
The best part is that Samsung hasn’t raised prices, even though there have been rumors that they might. Although Samsung hasn’t made a phone that will likely appeal to owners of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Galaxy S25 Ultra might be of great interest to anyone with money to spend who owns an older phone.
