Samsung officially unveiled the new Galaxy S25 series; Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra at the Samsung Unpacked event, and I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the devices ahead of their launch.
I received a review unit of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra during a local Galaxy Unpacked catch-up event. I’ve already done a YouTube Shorts unboxing video of the phone, which you can watch.
In my quick hands-on video, I mentioned that the Galaxy S25 Ultra has refined its design to align more closely with the rest of the Galaxy S-series. It features rounder corners and a design that’s unmistakably Samsung. Compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is noticeably lighter, despite retaining the same 5,000 mAh battery capacity and sporting a larger display. Thanks to the rounded corners and flat frame, it feels more comfortable to hold.
When placed side by side, the S25 Ultra is also slightly slimmer than its predecessor.
As mentioned in my video, Samsung has decided to remove the S Pen’s Bluetooth connectivity feature, which disables the Air Gestures and Bluetooth Remote Control functions. This decision was made due to low usage among users. However, the S Pen is still a great companion for accessing AI features such as Circle to Search, Drawing Assist, Writing tools, and more.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra continues to feature a premium titanium build, and its front protective glass has been upgraded to Corning Gorilla Armor 2, which offers 29% better crack resistance and 60% improved screen durability over the previous generation. Additionally, it boasts advanced anti-glare technology, reducing reflections and enhancing readability in bright conditions—perfect for outdoor use.
The display has slightly increased to 6.9 inches, still featuring a 120Hz LTPO 2.0 Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a 3,120 x 1,440 QHD+ resolution. The bezels are not only symmetrically aligned but also slimmer, offering a more immersive viewing experience.
Under the hood, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, a custom mild overclocked version of the standard chip. This makes it the fastest mobile processor yet, with a 2+6 core configuration: two prime cores clocked at 4.47GHz and six performance cores at 3.53GHz. Its Adreno GPU delivers a 30% performance boost and up to 35% better ray tracing capabilities. Meanwhile, the Hexagon NPU brings a 40% increase in AI processing speed, supporting multimodal AI models critical for Samsung’s AI features, such as Galaxy AI x Gemini Live.
In the camera department, the S25 Ultra receives an upgrade with a 50MP ultrawide sensor and an f/1.9 aperture. The other cameras remain the same as before, including the 200MP primary sensor, a 10MP 3x telephoto lens, and a 50MP 5x periscope camera that supports 100x Space Zoom. The front camera is still a 12MP sensor with autofocus.
It may not have a lot of new upgrades from the camera hardware but the camera UI brought a lot of intuitive UI which is now less messier and easier to navigate. Additionally to that, it shoots 10-bit HDR by default.
Running on One UI 7.0, based on Android 15, the Galaxy S25 Ultra continues Samsung’s tradition of long-term software support, promising 7 years of OS upgrades and security updates. The One UI 7.0 also brings Gemini integration to more advanced generative AI capabilities to the device, including multimodal inputs that can run more complex tasks on-device and in-app assistants.
I’ll share more details in my full review of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, so stay tuned.
If you’re already interested in picking one up, here are the pricing and available deals until 13th February 2025:
