Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: A powerhouse you won’t regret buying

I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra as my primary phone for the last two weeks, and I know what you’re thinking, isn’t it just like the last one? Sure, the hardware features aren’t that different to before (apart from a few important ones, as you’ll find out), but where Samsung has pushed ahead is in the software, specifically Galaxy AI. But are these AI features compelling and regularly useful enough to make it worth buying, especially if you own the last Ultra? I’ve found out, and was taken aback by my conclusion.

Specs

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: design

The Galaxy S25 Ultra has changed quite a lot from the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but as most of the alterations are quite small, listing them individually won’t mean much. It’s best to take an overall look at the shape and design instead. The biggest and most easily realized change is it’s 15 grams lighter at 218 grams, and it’s so much more manageable than before. Hold the two phones together, and the S25 Ultra feels sensibly sized, even if its specification suggests otherwise. It’s Ultra in name and not size and weight anymore. I’ve had it in my pocket and it’s no more bothersome than the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Samsung has rounded the corners for “improved grip,” and it doesn’t dig into your palm like the S24 Ultra. However, it has flattened the sides, top, and bottom of the frame, which no longer taper between the screen or glass back, and instead meet at a sharp angle. It’s uncomfortable to grip, so the improvements in the rounded corners are negated by worse in-hand feel.

It’s also quite a slippery phone. The flat titanium chassis does not provide much grip, especially  against clean, oil-free hands. The tighter you hold it, the more you notice the sharp sides. Samsung says it has improved the titanium for more durability, and the Corning Gorilla Armor 2 glass is more resistant to fractures. The screen also has improved anti-reflection coating, which along with the stellar brightness means I’ve had no problem seeing it in direct sunlight, plus there’s an IP68 dust and water resistance rating. This is a durable phone.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s design has caused controversy due to the rings around the cameras on the back. These are stuck on, rather than being part of the glass back itself. It’s not an especially elegant or “premium” solution, but unless you deliberately pry them off the phone, it’s unlikely to be an issue. Still recognizable as a Galaxy S-series Ultra model, the S25 Ultra’s innocuous design and annoyingly sharp edges are saved by the meaningful weight reduction and further work on overall durability.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: camera

The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 200-megapixel main camera and pair of telephoto cameras will be familiar to owners of the last Ultra, but the 50MP wide-angle camera is all-new for this phone. I’ve griped about terrible 8MP wide-angle cameras for a while, so it’s great to see a brand make an effort, and it really pays off. Detail, colors, and dynamic range are all excellent, putting it well ahead of the wide-angle camera on the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max in a separate test.

You probably won’t be using the wide-angle as much as the main or telephoto cameras though. The main camera doesn’t over-saturate images or struggle with exposure like it used to, and gets the balance right in both sunny and overcast conditions, but it doesn’t pack as much detail into shots as you may expect. It lost out to the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max in our test, which showed up where Samsung’s main camera still needs work to make the most out of its massive megapixel count.

Telephoto shots at 3x and 5x look great, but the 10x hybrid’s photos are pixelated and smoothed out when you crop them, making it a disappointment. Zoom to 30x and this effect is even more pronounced, and while it’s usable, the shots won’t win any sharpness or detail prizes. Samsung’s final zoom setting, 100x, is impressive in that I can tell what it is in the photo, but I’d never want to share it or keep it for posterity either. Stay in the 3x and 5x zoom range, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra is superb, and the main camera takes solid photos provided you don’t look too closely.

I like Samsung’s editing suite, especially the new filter system and the way you can quickly change the style. It’s Samsung’s take on Apple’s Photographic Styles, and it has succeeded in making it easier to use and more relevant to people. Shoot video and the automatic slow-motion mode is fun and requires no actual effort to use, but the Audio Eraser feature — which removes background noise from your videos — is very situation dependent, and doesn’t always make much of a difference. Use Pro mode and you can shoot video in LOG format ready for color correction later.

I do feel that for $1,300 and the title of Samsung’s top flagship phone, the camera should impress more than it does on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The new wide-angle is a definite step forward, but there’s a haziness and blur in the finer details from the main camera which wasn’t present on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Software changes have affected the 10x hybrid zoom, as increased smoothing has robbed it of some natural texture, but the 30x is a definite improvement over the S24 Ultra. However, I rarely use it, so technical advances have little impact on my day-to-day photography.

I personally miss the Bluetooth-enabled S Pen stylus’s ability to act as a remote shutter release. No, I didn’t use it everyday, but when I did need it, it was invaluable. Wide-angle camera aside, there’s not much here that can be called a big step forward over the Galaxy S24 Ultra, or anything that makes the S25 Ultra a must-buy for keen mobile photographers either.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: software and Galaxy AI

One UI 7 over Android 15 is installed on the Galaxy S25 Ultra at launch, and Samsung will support it with seven years of both major software and security updates. This is superb, and gives the phone masses of longevity. The software is fast, smooth, and reliable. It’s also feature packed, but sensibly ordered to make finding things simple, while the global search is good at pinpointing what you need.

Some will like the new separate notification and quick settings pull down menu, but I find it annoying as I frequently pull down the wrong one when I’m in a hurry and using it with one hand. The switch to a vertical app drawer is far more welcome (activate it by sorting apps alphabetically), and it’s faster to locate apps than with Samsung’s old page-based system. Multi-tasking is slick too, right down to how smooth the system is when you resize windows.

One UI 7 is the best version of Samsung’s software yet, but the company is using Galaxy AI to encourage you to buy the S25 Ultra. A lot of what was available on the Galaxy S24 Ultra — from AI summaries and translation, to Circle to Search and writing assistance in text messages — makes a return, but now it has the Now Brief and the Now Bar, which are supposed to make the phone more personal, and help you take back time for yourself.

The Now Brief gives a summary of your day in the morning, at midday, in the evening, and before bed. It includes the weather, meetings on your calendar, travel reminders, navigation, and if you’re wearing a Galaxy smartwatch or the Galaxy Ring, data from Samsung Health too. To get much from the Now Brief, you need a lot going on, be in a position where you’ll probably forget things, and regularly wear a Samsung wearable. If this doesn’t describe your life, it’s not very informative.

It lives in a widget on the Home screen but also informs the Now Bar, which sits at the bottom of the lock screen. It’s a bit like Apple’s Dynamic Island, but less useful. It works with Samsung apps like the clock and Notes, plus it’ll show sports information from Google, and music playback from certain apps. But it doesn’t show my car parking timer like the Dynamic Island, or handy information from travel apps outside of live navigation for example. It’s sure to improve, but at the moment there will be times when you don’t even realize it’s a feature at all.

How much you get from Galaxy AI depends on your personal needs. Translation is helpful if you travel a lot to places where you don’t speak the language, the Now Brief may be helpful if your diary is out of control, and summaries may be helpful if you take a lot of extensive notes during meetings or presentations. But I suspect most of these will only be helpful occasionally. Samsung really pushed the personal assistant angle with the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Now Brief, but it hasn’t landed for me.

Google Gemini has replaced Bixby, and provided you don’t ask it anything too complicated — it sets timers like a fiend — it does the job. The conversational aspect sounds and feels natural, but Gemini loves to talk so be prepared for it to go on and on until you stop it. It’s good at summarizing, such as returning a list of songs from a specific genre, but it also gets plenty wrong when you want specifics. For example, asking it for songs from K-pop girl groups, it still put in songs from boy bands. It doesn’t inspire confidence. Gemini isn’t an S25 Ultra-only feature either.

I’ll end with a couple of positives. I love the way you can search for settings using your voice, which has worked seamlessly and saves a lot of time, plus Samsung’s Keyboard doesn’t need to be the default option as it’s built into Search. The updated Circle to Search now looks for audio in videos, plus it recognizes phone numbers and addresses in images, so you can dial or look up locations directly from a photo. These are genuinely helpful time-savers, quickly accessed on the phone, without any need for Samsung to turn to the marketing team in order to “sell” them to us.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: screen and performance

Two features which have always made the Ultra ultra still remain — a massive screen and the fastest processor you can get. The 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED has a 120Hz refresh rate and a whopping 3120 x 1440 pixel maximum resolution, plus it’s incredibly bright and the fantastic anti-reflective coating makes it easy to see in almost every situation and environment. It’s a true beauty, and a high point of the phone.

Samsung has collaborated with Qualcomm on a special Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor, where special attention has been paid to the NPU to keep up with all those AI demands. It’s faultless, and I’ve not seen anything but lightning fast response times and performance from it. However, it doesn’t seem more powerful in daily use than the Snapdragon 8 Elite in the OnePlus 13 or Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro.

It has no issues playing games like Asphalt Legends: Unite at its highest settings, and the phone doesn’t get hot when you select the device’s performance mode. Running the 3DMark benchmarking app’s Solar Bay Stress Test does make the phone very warm, but never to the point where it overheats, or that it gets too hot to hold. This is the same as I found with the other Snapdragon 8 Elite phones I’ve used since the Realme GT 7 Pro.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: battery and charging

With around three hours of screen time each day, without playing games, the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 5,000mAh battery has lasted two full days before it needed recharging. Add games, 4K video recording, and some AI use and it won’t make it through the second day. It has proven to be as efficient and long-lasting as the OnePlus 13.

Plug in a compatible 45W charger (which doesn’t come in the box) and it takes an hour and five minutes to fully charge the battery. The speed is more impressive when you simply want to top-up the battery, or give it a boost at the last minute before going out. The same 45W charger energizes the battery to 50% in 20 minutes, and reaches 75% in 30 minutes. The phone has 15W wireless charging, and is “Qi2 Ready,” which means it supports the standard, but needs a compatible case with the magnets built into it to operate.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will be available from February 7. It starts at $1,300 for the 256GB version, and rises to $1,420 for the 512GB model, then tops out at $1,660 for the 1TB Galaxy S25 Ultra. These prices match the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

There aren’t many other non-folding Android phones that cost this much, and the problem for Samsung is, several that are serious challengers cost a lot less. The OnePlus 13 is superb and starts at $900, while the Google Pixel 9 Pro starts at $1,000 and impresses with its software and camera. Samsung’s top phone is also more expensive than Apple’s top iPhone, the 16 Pro Max.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a powerhouse and its performance, screen, and battery life will impress and satisfy most people who buy one. It’s also a phone that will last years due to its durability, software commitment, and wealth of features. However, as an expensive device all this isn’t noteworthy, it’s expected.

This is where the S25 Ultra falls down. It does what’s required, but it doesn’t quite nail the extras that make it worth so much money, or a strong recommendation over some tough competition. The Now Brief and Galaxy AI have their uses, but not everyone is going to find them regularly useful. Many of its best AI features aren’t unique to the phone either. Then there are the omissions and cutbacks. There’s no built in Qi2 wireless charging, wired fast charging falls behind the OnePlus 13’s speed, the S Pen is now less useful, and the camera — while improved — has some odd issues I wouldn’t expect. Samsung wants Galaxy AI to be the feature that pulls you in, but it isn’t consistent, compelling, or regularly enticing enough to do so.

Does all this mean you shouldn’t buy it? No, it’s still excellent and you won’t regret buying it, but there are several other phones that represent far better value that do just as much, and sometimes perform even better. This is what took me aback, because it’s the first time in several years I’ve not wholeheartedly been behind the an S-series Ultra model. It says a lot about the direction Samsung has taken, and about the quality of the competition.