Everything You Need to Know About the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Specs, Features, and Drawbacks
The highly anticipated annual event for Samsung fans, and perhaps all Android users, has arrived, as the South Korean company unveils its flagship phone lineup for the year. Let’s set aside the other models and focus on the strongest, the Ultra version.
With every new release, Samsung strives to improve performance, introduce innovative technologies, and meet user expectations. So, what new features will Samsung bring this time? Will the Galaxy S25 Ultra strike the perfect balance between technological advancement and everyday needs?
Design
The leaks were correct about the device's external design. Samsung has shifted to a flatter design for the back, front, and even the sides, with the corners becoming slightly rounded after we were accustomed to their sharpness for years in previous generations. While not as much as the S25 and S25 Plus, it remains a noticeable change.
The device has a matte finish as usual, and the second generation of Gorilla Armor Glass, used in the previous generation, has been adopted. This glass has proven to offer high durability and strength compared to the protective layers used by competitors in the same category. Additionally, the titanium frame continues to be used for better durability and scratch resistance.
The frame has become flatter to align with the current trend in flagship phones. However, it must be acknowledged that the curved frame provides a more comfortable daily use experience. The rear camera lenses have maintained their prominent protrusion, with the only difference being that their design is now closer to what we saw in the Z Fold 6.
- On the front, the screen dominates the surface with incredibly thin bezels.
- The S25 Ultra features the thinnest screen bezels in the world, with a camera hole in the center and an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor integrated beneath the display.
- As usual, the S Pen, with its optical capabilities, comes bundled with the phone, allowing for note-taking, drawing, and completing many tasks quickly.
- It seems that Samsung has reached the pinnacle of feature enhancement and writing speed with the S Pen, so the absence of new features this time is natural and can be accepted.
On the right side, there are the power button and volume buttons, while at the bottom, you’ll find a USB Type-C charging port, speaker, microphone, and dual SIM card slot (note that the SIM card slots may vary by region). The phone supports stereo sound with the call speakers, providing an excellent audio experience thanks to Dolby Atmos technology.
Additionally, it comes with water and dust resistance rated at IP68. The device weighs 218 grams, is noticeably lighter than the previous S24 Ultra, and has a thickness of 8.2 mm. Overall, these are very positive figures compared to the previous generation, ensuring a more comfortable user experience to offset the slightly larger size and screen dimensions.
The Display
Let’s move on to the display, which has seen a slight increase in size to now measure 6.9 inches. While the screen size is larger, the dimensions remain the same as the previous generation, thanks to the smart utilization of the front panel.
- The display is a Dynamic AMOLED 2X with QHD+ resolution, and the refresh rate dynamically adjusts from 1Hz to 120Hz depending on the situation to preserve battery life.
- The screen supports HDR10+ technology for brighter and sharper content when viewing and maintains a peak brightness of 2600 nits.
In addition, Samsung has updated the protection layer to Gorilla Glass Armor 2, which brings noticeable improvements in light absorption to avoid external light reflections. This results in a better user experience and clearer content visibility, especially in outdoor environments. Beyond this, there’s no need to elaborate further on the display, as everyone is well aware of Samsung’s ability to develop screens that are currently among the best in the industry.
Samsung Unveils One UI 7 with 7 Years of Updates
Samsung also announced the seventh generation of its One UI interface, based on Android 15, during the conference. The company promises users seven years of continuous system updates, a welcome feature for those who prefer using a single device for five to six years.
As expected, Samsung introduced new enhancements and features to Galaxy AI with this software update. One notable improvement is the Circle-to-Search feature, which now makes it easier to recognize phone numbers, email addresses, or links for quick access.
- Additionally, the software integrates Google's AI model, Gemini, which can be accessed by simply long-pressing the side button to help you accomplish tasks more efficiently.
- Samsung has enhanced Galaxy AI's capabilities to seamlessly integrate with Google apps and supported third-party applications like Spotify. For instance, users can now ask Gemini AI to search for their favorite team's match schedule and conveniently add it to their calendar.
- Additionally, Samsung retained practical Galaxy AI features such as text summarization and rephrasing for better clarity, converting voice calls into text at half the real-time duration, and the innovative Sketch-to-Image feature for transforming ideas into real visual edits.
Samsung has improved privacy features in the Galaxy S25 Ultra with the introduction of a Personal Data Engine. This engine securely processes your data on the device to deliver highly personalized AI-driven experiences tailored to your preferences and usage patterns.
Features include natural language photo search in the gallery and proactive suggestions via the Now Brief service, accessible through the Now Bar on the lock screen. Importantly, all personalized data is stored securely, ensuring complete privacy.
Processor
The hardware features Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite processor with an enhanced version designed to work more efficiently with Samsung phones. It consists of eight cores with a frequency of 4.47 GHz, built on a 3nm manufacturing architecture, and is accompanied by an Adreno 830 GPU.
The flagship processor has proven its power and high efficiency in handling flagship tasks and heavy gaming on previous devices, and the enhanced version for Galaxy phones will offer higher and more powerful performance.
- Samsung has worked closely with Qualcomm to customize this processor, which features the advanced ProScaler technology that achieves a 40% improvement in display image scaling quality.
- Additionally, Samsung's digital natural image engine is directly integrated into the processor to improve energy efficiency and enhance the gaming experience.
- The processor is equipped with a Vulkan engine and enhanced ray tracing technology, ensuring a smoother and more realistic gaming experience.
- The phone will be available with 12GB of RAM and various storage options starting from 256GB, up to 512GB or 1TB.
Camera
In addition to the rear camera system, Samsung has maintained the same main lens for the third consecutive generation, featuring the HP2 sensor with a 1.3 x 1-inch size and a 200MP resolution, with an f/1.7 aperture and optical image stabilization support.
- It also kept the periscope telephoto lens with a 50MP resolution, capable of 5x optical zoom with an f/3.4 aperture, and a 12MP telephoto lens with an f/2.4 aperture, supporting 3x optical zoom.
- The only upgrade in the cameras is in the ultra-wide lens, which has been upgraded from 12MP to 50MP with a wider f/1.9 aperture, resulting in better wide-angle photos with higher detail, sharper quality, and better performance in low-light conditions.
- The cameras feature HDR recording with 10-bit color depth by default, providing four times richer colors compared to traditional 8-bit technology, allowing the phone to capture more details in all lighting conditions.
Thanks to the powerful processor, the Galaxy S25 analyzes motion and time to reduce noise more effectively, enabling it to detect both moving and stationary objects with greater accuracy, ensuring clearer and purer shots in any scenario. The main camera can record videos in 8K quality at 24 or 30 frames per second.
Samsung has added a set of advanced tools that were previously limited to specialized software. The Audio Eraser tool allows users to remove unwanted noise from video clips by isolating various categories of sound, including human voices, music, wind, nature, crowds, and general noise. It enables control over reducing or completely removing these sounds.
Additionally, the Virtual Aperture feature has been integrated into the Expert RAW mode, offering depth-of-field control with a virtual aperture. The Galaxy LUT (Look-Up Table) feature provides precise color grading options, enabling the production of more professional videos.
- Portrait Studio has been enhanced to allow users to create more expressive and realistic portraits, with new analog-style filters added to give photos and videos a cinematic appearance.
- At the front, Samsung has retained the same 12-megapixel lens with an aperture of f/2.2. Overall, it can be said that in recent years, Samsung has increasingly relied on improving image processing through software and processor performance, rather than upgrading the camera hardware.
Battery
- As for the battery, the company has kept the 5000mAh battery with a 45W wired charging capability. The new feature is the support for 25W wireless charging.
- There were rumors about the support for Qi 2 technology, but Samsung hasn't mentioned anything about this, so it's likely that this news is inaccurate.
- The phone will be available in a variety of colors, including white, blue, gold, two shades of black, mint green, and gray.
Thus, we come to the end of our quick review of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which represents a gradual evolution from its predecessor with notable improvements in software and overall performance. Although Samsung kept most of the camera specifications, the upgrades in image processing and artificial intelligence bring a unique photography experience. The company is strongly betting on the Galaxy AI features and long-term updates to attract users looking for a flagship phone that will last for years.
