Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra specifications
- Display: 6.9-inch ProScaler Dynamic AMOLED display
- Screen refresh rate: 120Hz
- Processor: Snapdragon 8 Elite
- RAM: 12GB
- Internal storage: 156GB, 512GB, 1TB
- Battery: 5000mAh 45W fast charging
- Cameras: Main camera 200MP, Second camera 50MP, Third camera 50MP (ultra-wide), Front camera 12 MP
- Back: Gorilla Amor 2
- Frame: Titanium
- Colours: Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Black, Titanium Whitesilver and Titanium Grey
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra pros and cons
Pros
Brilliant design
S Pen still provides a productivity boost
Solid battery life
Still best camera lineup on the market
Cons
No Qi2 magnets built in
S Pen loses Bluetooth
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Initial verdict
As the most powerful device in Samsung’s latest flagship S series, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is built to impress. From the moment you start using it, you’ll notice its top-tier performance—but what really sets it apart is how it adapts to you over time, learning your preferences to deliver a truly personalised and top handset experience.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra takes AI on phones to a whole new level, letting you multitask across multiple apps with the help of Google’s Gemini Assistant. It also packs an incredible camera system, stunning HDR video, and a new top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite performance with battery life that will comfortably last you all day.
Over the past few years Apple and Samsung flagship phones have started to look more and more similar and at first glance, the S25 Ultra fits that brief. But after testing it, I’ve got to admit—this has all the makings of a top Samsung phone and feels uniquely Android, even more so than the S24 Ultra which was far more generic looking.
The 6.9-inch display is brighter, the cameras are even more versatile (and arguably just better), and the AI features are way smarter than what you’ll find on its biggest rival and Apple equivalent, the iPhone 16 Pro Max. You can even use your voice to control multiple apps at once. And while the design definitely has some iPhone vibes, it’s noticeably lighter than Apple’s latest flagship.
Of course, Samsung did cut some corners. It shares a number of specs with its predecessor, the S24 Ultra. The S Pen no longer has Bluetooth, and if you want Qi2 wireless charging, you’ll need to buy a special case.
Still, with its killer performance, long-lasting battery, and next-gen AI, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is, in my opinion, one of the best phones on the market.
Design
As someone who is used to handling an iPhone 16 (6.1-inch display), the S25 Ultra (6.9-inch display) felt large to begin with, but thanks to the new Samsung design this wasn’t much of a concern after a few days of use.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is 14 grams lighter than the S24 Ultra, and its softer, rounded corners make it feel better in hand. The flat sides resemble the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but the edges still feel sharper than they should be. Apple smooths out these details better, making its phones more comfortable to hold. That said, Samsung’s titanium frame still feels solid, and slimmer bezels mean a slightly bigger 6.9-inch display.
As usual, Samsung has excelled in camera design. The iconic floating set of cameras on the back looks more brilliant than ever and is a definite win over the iPhone’s bulky camera patch.
Display
The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s display is among the best a handset device can offer, and that’s saying something, considering how good the S24 Ultra was.
The screen size has grown slightly from 6.8 to 6.9 inches with slimmer bezels on each side, making watching videos or playing games even more immersive. Watching the video side by side with the iPhone 16 really showed off its impressive display. The S25 Ultra’s display was brighter and more vivid, especially outdoors.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra has a peak brightness of 2600 nits, outshining the iPhone 16 Pro Max (200 nits) but falling short of the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL’s insane 3000 nits. This helped it deliver rich colours when I was using it outside for the majority of the day.
The screen is also tougher than its predecessor, thanks to Corning Gorilla Armor 2, designed for better drop and scratch resistance. Although I did not put it through any rigorous tests, I had no issues with damage the whole time I used it.
AI features
Unsurprisingly, after launching Galaxy AI last year in the S24 model, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has been packed with smart AI features, with cross-app actions stealing the show. After a bit of practice and familiarising myself with the Gemini integration feature, multitasking with just my voice became a doddle.
For example, I pressed the side button and said, “Look up the date, time and location of the next Kendrick Lamar show in the UK, add it to my calendar, and text it to my friend Max.” The S25 Ultra pulled up the info, added it to my calendar, and sent the text—all in one go, showcasing the power of AI in action.
Cross-app actions seamlessly integrate with Samsung, Google, and popular third-party apps like WhatsApp and Spotify. Another clever AI feature is AI Select, which analyses what’s on your screen and offers relevant options—like instantly pulling text from an image or converting part of a video into a GIF with minimal effort.
Circle to Search also gets a boost. It can now recognise emails, phone numbers, and URLs on your screen, so you just tap and go. Plus, it can even identify sounds and music in videos and handily save it to your phone.
My favourite AI feature was Now Brief, a personalised daily summary. Now Brief gives you a snapshot of your day, including the weather, your appointments and news, plus tailored Spotify playlists. I found this a particularly useful way to start my day, as it laid out everything I needed to know and had the potential to become even better the longer I used the device.
Another handy tool was the Now Bar, which delivers real-time updates on your lock screen, like sports scores, timers and directions. It’s similar to Apple’s Live Activities, and while it works well, Samsung could do more, like adding Uber for journey tracking or Amazon for details about your deliveries.
The S25 Ultra’s AI features go beyond productivity, too. With Google Gemini, you can ask questions about a YouTube video and get instant answers. I tested this by asking Gemini to summarise one of my favourite football chat shows ‘Stick to Football’ from Sky Sports Youtube channel the Overlap.
In a few seconds Gemini pulled together some bullet points about the topics discussed, even mentioning people by name, such as Wayne Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson. Although this felt like a nice touch, it was a very surface-level summary and certainly has room for improvement.
Photo search is also smarter, letting you find images using natural language. Searching “Tower Bridge in the day” instantly brought up my shots and impressively left out the ones in the evening when it wasn’t quite fully dark.
And if you’re sightseeing? Just snap a photo, ask Gemini, and it’ll tell you what you’re looking at. I tested it on Southwark Cathedral and quickly found out it was formerly the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, built with Norman period architecture and has stood for over 1000 years.
Cameras
The Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn’t see any major upgrades in terms of camera hardware, but the ultrawide sensor gets a notable boost—from 12MP on the S24 Ultra to 50MP. This means sharper details in every shot and the potential for more vivid and detailed macro photography.
Beyond that, the camera setup remains the same with a 200MP main sensor, 50MP 5x telephoto, 10MP 3x telephoto, and a 12MP front camera, all carried over from the S24 Ultra.
To test the new ultrawide camera, I snapped a photo of Tower Bridge and compared it to the iPhone 16 Pro Max (pictured above). Samsung’s shot delivered better detail and more vivid colours, while the iPhone’s image was brighter but lacked contrast, even on a cloudy day.
Macro photography, excels even further and is where the S25 really comes into its own. In a close-up shot of a flower, the Samsung cameras showed incredible detail to the point where you could see each individual petal.
When it comes to colour, the S25 Ultra’s 200MP main camera is a standout. In that vibrant flower shot, the pinks, yellows, and greens were richer and had better gradation compared to anything I could take on my iPhone.
Portraits and selfies also benefit from Samsung’s processing. In a portrait shot, my skin tone appeared warmer, and my blue jumper stood out nicely against the soft, artfully blurred background. The same applies to selfies—while the iPhone captured finer details in my hair, the S25 Ultra let in more light, particularly enhancing my face and eyes.
At 10x zoom, the iPhone 16 Pro Max produced an eye-catching shot of the Gherkin building, though it was a little bit fuzzy and not very crisp. But the S25 Ultra stormed ahead on fine details, especially in the building's glasswork and textures. You could even see individual lights inside the offices.
Samsung’s AI tools also get an upgrade on the newest Galaxy range. The improved Generative AI edit removes unwanted objects (and their shadows) more effectively. Plus, one of my favourite features from the Galaxy Z Fold 6—Sketch to Image—makes its way to the S25 Ultra. I tested it by drawing a rough sketch of a butterfly over a flower using the S Pen, and within seconds, the AI transformed it into a lifelike butterfly. Pretty cool.
Performance
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is powered by a brand new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip paired with 12GB of RAM, making it one of the fastest smartphones on the market.
I pushed the S25 Ultra pretty hard to see what it was capable of, flipping between over a dozen open apps—including Chrome, Spotify, and Photos—and the experience stayed very smooth throughout.
When it comes to gaming, the S25 Ultra truly excels. “Dungeon Hunter 6” ran flawlessly, even with swarms of enemies on screen. As I used all of my power moves to fight goblins and fire-breathing monsters, the frame rate held steady, with no stuttering or slowdowns and the gameplay was always incredibly responsive to my commands. The only thing that let it down in the gaming department was the fact the phone got very hot with as little as five minutes of use, despite having a larger vapour chamber than the S24.
But overall, if raw power and gaming performance are your priorities, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is one of the most capable flagship phones you can buy.
Battery
Since the Galaxy S25 Ultra has the same 5,000 mAh battery as its predecessor, I wasn’t expecting major improvements in battery life—and that turned out to be the case. While it was perfectly acceptable and lasted me most of the day, it wasn’t noticeably longer than what I’m used to.
During my typical 9 AM to 6 PM weekdays, the S25 Ultra consistently ended the day with 20% or lower, even with 4+ hours of screen-on time. While that’s decent, it’s not particularly impressive, especially compared to devices like the OnePlus 13R, which can easily last up to two days.
Given the addition of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, I had high hopes for the S25 Ultra’s battery life. On paper, the new processor should bring better power efficiency, but in my experience, the battery life feels about the same as before.
Currently, the S25 Ultra sticks with 45W wired charging, which is fast but far from industry-leading. Some brands already offer 100W+ charging, and for a phone that costs over £1,000, it would be great to see Samsung push those limits in future models.
Software and updates
The One UI 7 update is currently an exclusive for the S25 series (at the time of writing) and cannot be found on any other Samsung phones. It focuses heavily on AI enhancements and includes some welcome usability improvements.
One of the most noticeable changes is the redesigned Quick Settings and notifications layouts. Now, a swipe from the top left brings down notifications, while a swipe from the top right reveals Quick Settings. It’s a cleaner, more intuitive setup—reminiscent of Apple’s Control Center, but tailored for Samsung’s ecosystem.
One of my favourite AI-powered additions unique to the UI 7 update is the Call Transcript feature which informs both people on the line that the conversation is being recorded. Once a call ends, you can see a full transcript of the conversation, and for longer calls, you can even request an AI-generated summary—which I found a handy tool for keeping track of important details.
On the longevity front, it’s great to see Samsung backing the Galaxy S25 Ultra with 7 years of software and security updates—matching Google’s commitment to its Pixel devices. That makes the S25 Ultra one of the longest-supported Android phones available on the market today.
Final thoughts
While the Galaxy S25 Ultra isn’t much of an upgrade in terms of specs, Samsung has focused on meaningful improvements—especially in AI, helping you make your day-to-day life more efficient.
The brilliant cross-app actions feature, which lets you control multiple apps at once with just your voice, has the potential to redefine how we interact with smartphones and I would be surprised not to see Apple and Google Pixel follow suit.
That said, Samsung still has room to grow. Expanding AI-powered integrations with more third-party apps would make features like Now Bar even more useful. And while Now Brief has potential, it feels a bit underdeveloped at this stage - this will no doubt be a big push to get right for the S26. It also feels a shame that the cameras, which Samsung is so often rightly applauded for, haven’t been given any meaningful upgrades.
Despite these minor drawbacks, the S25 Ultra impresses across the board. AI-powered tools, a stunning display, fast performance, brilliant cameras and great battery life make it a standout flagship—so much so that it’s enough to make me consider switching to Android.
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