Samsung has announced the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, its latest Ultra flagship that packs the best hardware the Korean manufacturer has to offer. But how does it stack up against the brand’s last year’s flagship — Galaxy S24 Ultra? Is it a meaningful upgrade over its predecessor and does it justify the increased price tag? We’ll find out here.
Both the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Galaxy S24 Ultra are identical in some areas but one area where they differ the most is design. From S23 Ultra to S24 Ultra, the design didn’t change much but with S25 Ultra, Samsung has decided to finally ditch the sharp corners, thereby also leaving the Note form factor behind. However, that doesn’t mean that Samsung is giving up on the S-Pen, as it still resides on the bottom side of the device.
The rounded corners offer a slightly better in-hand feel as it doesn’t hurt your palm when holding with one hand. While the camera layout remains identical to S23 Ultra and S24 Ultra, the front display is completely flat now, same as the frame. This results in a uniformity when compared to the Plus and vanilla models in the S25 lineup. So if design plays a major role on your list of changes a successor should have, Samsung has tried to match up to your expectations.
Specs-wise, the display on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra seems to have gone up to 6.9-inch from 6.8-inch in S24 Ultra which is a minor difference. Rest of the specs seem identical, including a QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x LTPO panel with dynamic Refresh Rate from 1Hz till 120Hz, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Eye comfort shield, and up to 2600 nits of peak brightness. Further, there’s an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. Corning Gorilla Armor protects this panel.
The Processor is the major upgrade here in S25 Ultra, packing the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. Furthermore, you now get 16GB RAM in top models which is another upgrade people would expect from a flagship, while storage options remain the same as before. What also remains identical is the 5000mAh battery with 45W wired charging and 25W wireless charging, which is kind of disappointing considering most other flagships now have a high density silicon-carbon cell.
As for cameras, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra packs the same Sensors as S24 Ultra, except for the ultra-wide angle sensor which has been upgraded from a 12MP sensor to a 50MP sensor. However, we can’t comment on whether it’s an upgrade in real world results as we haven’t used the device as of now.
Further, Samsung has removed the Bluetooth functionality from the S-Pen in S25 Ultra which was present in the S24 Ultra as well as the S23 Ultra. This feature enabled additional features like the S-Pen button acting as a shutter button when out of the phone so you could remotely click a shot. While it may not be a deal breaker for many, it’s still counted as a feature Samsung removed.
To sum up, the S25 Ultra brings a refreshed design, more RAM, a more powerful chipset, a new ultra-wide angle camera, and that’s about it. While these are welcome upgrades and changes, we feel Samsung could have done better, especially in the battery area where the device should have been equipped with a larger cell and much faster wired charging. Moreover, Samsung is still using the same primary camera as the S23 Ultra which is two generations old at this point. We hope Samsung will address these concerns in the next iteration of the Ultra phone but for now, these are the upgrades you’ll have to make do with.
