Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Introduction

Just like day follows night, you can be sure that when a new year arrives, Samsung launches a new series of flagship Galaxy S-series phones. 2025 is no exception, with January heralding the arrival of the S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra. 

Of the three, it’s the Ultra that shows more change from previous generations than either the regular or Plus models. But apart from that, there’s a very real feeling that AI is being included everywhere, in more ways than before to distract from the fact that hardware hasn’t changed all that much at all. 

I went hands-on with all of Samsung’s traditional flagships for 2025 to see what was new. 

Design

• Rounded corners and flat edges
• Slimmer and lighter
• S Pen returns

The first thing that struck me when picking up the new Ultra for this year was that it’s no longer the uncomfortable, block-shaped device of previous years. Samsung has shaved a couple millimetres from the thickness and the width, and lost a few grams in weight in the process to make a phone that feels noticeably lighter and more nimble than before. 

There is a downside to this slimming down though: in making this move, the Ultra has lost some of its charm. It’s ‘Ultra’-ness is missing somehow. 

Its completely right-angled corners, matched by a properly rectangular display and rounded edges, helped it stand out from the pack. Granted, that shaping meant it didn’t look like the other Galaxy S models in the past, holding on to that Galaxy Note design language, but at the same time, it helped the phone seem special. 

This latest reshaping means it looks and feels just like the others, albeit larger, and with less sharper rounding on the corners. It’s a bit plainer-looking. 

Still, this rounding of the corners means one of my biggest complaints of the older models has been taken care of. Pressing it into my palm isn’t painful or uncomfortable like the old sharp corners were, so maybe that’s a win in the end for practicality and everyday comfort. 

Otherwise, it looks and feels like you’d expect it to. It’s big, but pretty thin. It features completely flat edges around all four sides and is built from glass and titanium. And despite the rounding and slimming down, there’s still a built-in S Pen silo to store the classic Samsung stylus, right in the bottom edge. 

As far as durability goes, Samsung promises this will be even more scratch- and impact-resistant than the last one thanks to featuring a new, upgraded version of Gorilla Glass Armour. 

Like last time, this is exclusive to the Ultra, and means the display is harder to break than the other S25 models and features that special anti-reflective quality that cuts out glare and makes the display visible in any conditions, without needing to crank the brightness up to the max. 

As you’d expect, it’s also IP68 rated against water and dust, so should cope just fine with every day spills, drops, scrapes and bangs. 

Display, performance & cameras

• 6.9-inch QuadHD+ screen
• Snapdragon 8 Elite
• New 50MP ultrawide camera

Reading through the hardware specs on the S25 Ultra reveals few surprises. A lot of the focus has been on software, AI and features, but this thing still packs a punch. 

As mentioned, there’s a larger display this time. It’s 6.9 inches, and with skinnier bezels and the anti-glare effect from the glass, it’s one of the more impressive displays to look at. Even when standing in a room with lots of bright direct light reflecting from the surface. 

It’s QuadHD+ resolution, which I assume won’t be enabled as standard out of the box. Samsung typically has the phone set to FullHD+ by default to save battery, meaning you’ll need to activate the full resolution if you want that extra crispiness. 

It’s not all about pixels anymore though. With a display capable of reaching 120Hz refresh rates and dropping as low as 1Hz, it can remain smooth and fluid as needed, and drop to really low refresh levels on a static page to save battery. It can also reach up to 2600 nits brightness, and has a ProScaler software feature to boost sharpness on 720p, or low-res content. 

Internally, there’s the new Snapdragon 8 Elite. Or to give it its proper name: the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, because Samsung says it has worked closely with Qualcomm to optimise it for the Samsung phones. 

This is twinned with a larger, more effective vapour chamber, and should mean noticeable improvements in CPU, GPU and NPU performance, as well as really quick, almost zero-lag experience when snapping a photo in the camera. 

The Ultra, as always has the biggest battery of the series, featuring a 5000mAh capacity cell, which can refill pretty quickly at 45W speeds. 

As far as camera hardware goes, most of the improvements you’ll see will be more down to the new processor in the phone. Elements like better low-light performance in video, faster shutter times for instant snapping, for instance. 

Samsung is also launching Galaxy Log/10bit video recording on the Ultra, giving videographers more control over their footage and enabling more advanced colour corrections and colour grading in the edit. 

Otherwise, the quadruple camera system on the back is largely the same as before apart from a new 50-megapixel ultrawide camera. It’s got the main 200MP sensor and a 50MP telephoto 5x zoom lens, alongside the new ultrawide and 10MP 3x zoom. 

Software & AI

• OneUI 7 based on Android 15
• New Galaxy AI features
• Seven years of OS upgrades promised

Samsung’s latest phones will launch with the Android 15-based version of One UI, and you can bet that means lots of AI talk. In fact, the company has stated it’s baked into every part of the experience. 

While a lot of it wasn’t available to test on the hands-on devices, Samsung has spoken about how the AI is contextually aware and baked into key apps like Calendar, Messages, Weather, Samsung Health and other first-party apps so that it can be personal to you. 

It has features like daily morning or night ‘Now Briefings’, which can look ahead or look back, check your schedule, the weather, your activity, to give you a rundown of what’s coming up, or what you’ve achieved in the day. 

Using a natural language model, you can speak to the AI and ask for quite detailed things. For instance, you could ask it to show you all the photos you took from your last trip to a certain country, or ask it to find all the fixtures for your favourite sports team and add them to your calendar. 

Samsung even mentioned linking it with a Galaxy Watch and TV, so it might even be able to detect when you fall asleep in front of the TV, then pause the show and switch off the television set. 

Other AI tools include the drawing assistant feature, which I did actually manage to play with. It can take really rough sketches and turn them into paintings, cartoons, or other styles of drawing, complete with colour. Or, you can just type in a text command and ask for something specific, like a red car racing through some trees. 

So far, the actual results from those have left a little to be desired, and Samsung will be rolling this out to other devices anyway, so definitely not one to upgrade for. 

There’s a lot more to the AI stuff than what I was able to see or try in the hands-on experience, so stay tuned for our reviews for a more in-depth look in the near future. 

Software support will continue to be strong for Samsung owners. The company has promised 7 generations of OS updates, which should take you up to Android 22, with seven years of security patches also included. 

Full Specs

	Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review
UK RRP	£1249
Manufacturer	Samsung
Screen Size	6.9 inches
Storage Capacity	256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Rear Camera	200MP + 50MP + 50MP + 10MP
Front Camera	12MP
Video Recording	No
IP rating	IP68
Battery	5000 mAh
Wireless charging	No
Fast Charging	No
Size (Dimensions)	77.6 x 8.2 x 162.8 MM
Weight	218 G
Operating System	OneUI 7 (Android 15)
Release Date	2025
First Reviewed Date	21/01/2025
Resolution	x
HDR	No
Refresh Rate	120 Hz
Ports	USB-C
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite
RAM	12GB

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