The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is almost a carbon copy of its predecessor on the outside, though does make some changes inside. The biggest one may be the role of the S Pen, but Galaxy AI features clearly lead the way for what Samsung is trying to do with its flagship smartphone.
There’s more than a little bit of familiarity here, which may give you pause on whether this is worth an upgrade. Not everything here is exclusive nor especially groundbreaking. It’s just what Samsung’s been doing the last few years.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (as tested):
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Sticking to a similar design philosophy
Off the bat, the Galaxy S25 Ultra looks like a clone of the previous S24 Ultra. You have to really look to notice the differences, most of which aren’t very stark. A flatter 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED—which is 0.1-inches larger than before—is one example. Samsung manages to make the screen a tad bigger without increasing the body size by simply making the bezels even thinner.
Rounded corners make the phone look and feel a little more contoured, while shedding some weight gives the device a lighter impression in your hands. But the main reason Samsung shaved off the weight is by removing the Bluetooth radio previously built-in to the S Pen. That removes all Bluetooth features, like air gestures and remote shutter support for the camera. If you liked taking photos using the pen before, you won’t be able to do that here.
It’s a contentious move, even if Samsung claims “99% of users” weren’t using it. In effect, it makes the S Pen little more than a basic stylus. It still writes the same, so there’s no difference in responsiveness or accuracy otherwise. You won’t be able to use a different S Pen or one from a previous model, either. Samsung disabled all those Bluetooth features entirely for the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Under the hood, the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor delivers enough power to make the S25 Ultra a viable mobile gaming device for most titles. By and large, you won’t notice any real problems running apps or games on here anyway. This is actually a custom version of the chipset to accommodate the neural processor running Samsung’s Galaxy AI features. The phone starts at 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, going up to 16GB and 512GB or 1TB.
Qi2 and MagSafe accessories
Like OnePlus before it, Samsung will support Qi2 wireless charging (meaning faster speeds) and magnetic accessories. The catch is that you need to get a case to make it work. This opens up a number of possibilities in how you can accessorize the Galaxy S25 Ultra, be it battery packs, LED lights, speakers, tripods, selfie sticks, and more. It also means you can use MagSafe accessories initially designed for iPhones.
Samsung offers its own cases with built-in magnets but third-party manufacturers are also doing the same. If you’re thinking of buying a case to protect the S25 Ultra, consider one with magnets to take advantage.
Galaxy AI continues to expand
Combine the existing Galaxy AI features with new ones and updates and you get arguably the broadest package on any phone. There’s potential here, too, given what’s available, though it takes time to figure it all out if you haven’t used it.
One of the key ones is Cross App Actions through Google’s Gemini. For example, I asked it to show me the five best pizza places in New York City and to send the addresses to Samsung Notes as well. It not only laid them out in Google Maps but also listed the names and addresses. If I asked for 10 or 20 places, it could do the same thing.
By connecting to your Google Workplace, you can not only add things to your calendar this way but also send details to contacts through messages too. These integrations remain limited to specific apps but they show what AI can do when tying them together.
You can find all the Galaxy AI features under their own menu in the Settings app. Existing ones like Interpreter, Note assist, Transcript assist, and Browsing assist are back along with several others.
Now Brief and Now Bar
The most notable is probably the Now Brief, a widget you can access from the home screen. It gives you a snapshot of your day, including weather and appointments, but also news and Spotify playlists. It’s too soon to tell how effective the feature will be because it’s based on learning your preferences over time. I didn’t have my review unit long enough to know for sure.
The Now Bar sits at the bottom of the screen with contextual info about what you’re doing on the phone. If you’re streaming music, recording audio, sports scores, etc. While you can cycle flip through them like cards not all apps work with the Bar. You may order food from a delivery app and see nothing show up on the bar. Same with rideshare or downloading a file, for instance.
One thing I kind of like is how Galaxy AI can summarize a video. The easiest way is by activating Gemini while watching a YouTube video and telling it to summarize. It then asks for a link (which you can get from the Share button), and proceeds to give you a basic summary with approximate points in the timeline. It doesn’t work with every video app, and certainly doesn’t with the likes of Netflix, Prime Video or Disney+.
Galaxy AI and photography
Gemini and video summaries segue into how the AI works with photos. Best Face is really the only photography-specific new feature but it’s the editing side that offers more opportunity. The problem is they don’t always mix well because of strict limitations. Drawing assist lets you use a photo from your Gallery and create a drawing, painting, or sketch from it. The key word there is “from”. Unless it’s a portrait of a human, the AI will simply create something different based on the subject. Rather than getting an illustration or oil painting version of the photo, I get a totally different image.
Generative AI portraits are based on the photo, and while they try to be accurate, the results just don’t come out consistently. More often than not, they simply looked like somebody else making them harder to appreciate or share with others. You can, of course, generate entirely new images by typing in or voicing a prompt, including sharing them as memes or stickers. Regardless of what you do in Drawing assist, Samsung places a watermark on any image you save or download.
Other features like Remaster and Generative Edit also return. The former does little for most photos (unless it’s a portrait) whereas the latter is better at removing an object or person in a photo and letting you place it somewhere else in the frame. One thing I’d love to see is Samsung integrate layering so you can save multiple elements and place them in the same image.
Circle to Search is another mainstay that proves among the most useful. It’s an Android feature at this point, so no exclusivity here, but it’s a great way to learn more about places, people, or search items you see.
Camera
Apart from the ability to take 50-megapixel photos with the ultra-wide camera, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is basically using the same camera array going back to the S23 Ultra. You can still take 200-megapixel photos with the main lens, or drop to 50-megapixels or 12-megapixels whenever you want. The periscope telephoto remains at 5x optical zoom, along with the same second 3x optical zoom telephoto lens (albeit only 10-megapixels).
You can certainly take good photos with this phone, though the entire array feels a little dated at this point. The one key constant is that Samsung leans too heavily on HDR to produce shots that sometimes look a little too unnatural. Daytime and night shots can equally produce solid results except the S25 Ultra gets exposed when trying to capture action. It’s not a great camera for sports or even if you have a child or pet that move around a lot. It was the same problem in the previous S24 Ultra, and I can’t tell that anything’s been done about it here.
Expert RAW is a great choice when you want to do all the image processing yourself in a program like Adobe Lightroom. You can also make use of the telephoto and ultra-wide lenses both offering macro capability. The telephoto can get you as close as 22cm while it’s just 4cm with the ultra-wide.
On the video side, Samsung now includes LOG recording to add even more granular control over editing and processing afterward. The rest of the video modes largely stay the same. One thing that changes comes from the Galaxy AI lineup in the form of Audio Eraser. It helps reduce crowd or background noise though is no substitute for using microphones.
Battery life
Samsung is using the same battery going back to the S22 Ultra. That’s yet another example of the company recycling its own tech with its latest flagship. I expected a bigger battery to accommodate the increasing AI features, but there’s no change. Instead, battery life gets a slight boost from the efficiencies built into the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. You should be able to go a full day before you need to recharge but even moderate usage probably won’t get you far beyond that.
It’s also still slower to recharge than other phones, like the OnePlus 13, for example. It maxes out at 45W, and since there’s no charger in the box, you would need to have one on hand. If you do, it takes about an hour to fully charge. Lower than 45W, you’re looking at over 90 minutes for sure. Wireless charging is also fairly slow, though you may get a boost with a Qi2 pad or stand.
Final thoughts on the Galaxy S25 Ultra
Samsung offers seven years of Android and security updates, which is excellent. Only Google matches that with its Pixel devices. The Galaxy S25 Ultra also remains unique as one of the only phones that can run a desktop operating system when you plug it into a laptop or monitor (DeX mode). That’s kind of the rub with this phone: it’s unique in some respects, yet not all that different or innovative in others.
If you value the missing S Pen features, get a Galaxy S24 Ultra instead. If you’re thinking of upgrading from a previous model, first consider what features the S25 Ultra has that appeal to you. Note that all of the Galaxy S25 series handsets have the same AI features.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is available now in titanium black, titanium grey, titanium silverblue, titanium silverwhite and titanium pinkgold.
