Samsung Galaxy S25 series was unveiled last month as the latest flagship phone from the company. It was one of the first major phone launches in India after the OnePlus 13, and everyone, including me, was eager to see what Samsung had to offer. As it turns out, the South Korean giant stuck to the ‘why fix it if it’s not broken’ ideology, and didn’t really bring any major changes to the phones. Apart from the usual incremental hardware upgrades, the only change was the new design of the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the new Galaxy AI features.
However, after using the top-of-the-line Galaxy S25 Ultra for a couple of weeks, I believe that it could still be the best all-round flagship Android smartphone of the year, or at least a top contender. The phone starts at Rs. 1,29,999 for the 256GB option. Meanwhile, the 512GB and 1TB variants are priced at Rs. 1,41,999 and Rs. 1,65,999. All variants get 12GB of RAM and are available in a bunch of colour options.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Design: Slimmer and flatter
- Dimensions – 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2mm
- Weight – 218g IP
- Rating – IP68
One of the first things you’ll notice about the new Galaxy S25 Ultra is its flat frame and rounded corners. It now features a uniform design in line with the rest of the Galaxy S25 series. The flat frame and rounded corners also make the phone more comfortable to hold. While it no longer has a unique design, it also won’t poke your palm within five minutes of use.
No more rounded sides
Samsung has used grade 5 titanium for the frame, and you get Gorilla Armor 2 protection on the back. The phone is now slightly slimmer and around 14 grams lighter than the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It continues to be IP68-rated for dust and water resistance. I believe Samsung could’ve done better here, as competitors are out there offering better ingress ratings, including OnePlus, which now offers an IP69 rating on the OnePlus 13.
On the front, the Galaxy S25 Ultra continues to offer an anti-reflective coating, which I think more phone manufacturers should do. The front is also protected by Gorilla Armor 2. The bezels on the screen are also slightly slimmer.
The anti-reflective coating on the screen means fewer reflections
At the back, the camera rings now feature a different design, and appear to be floating. They are somewhat more protruded than before as well. The flash is in the same location as the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Everything else at the back remains the same as before.
The camera rings on the Galaxy S25 Ultra are more pronounced
The left frame houses the Volume keys and the Power button, whereas the top houses the speaker grille. You’ll find the USB Type-C port, second speaker, and SIM card tray at the bottom. The bottom left corner has the slot for the S Pen, which now lacks Bluetooth support (sad face). You can no longer use the S Pen as a remote camera shutter or for any air gestures.
The hole for the SIM card tray is now on the opposite side
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is available in Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Gray, Titanium Black, and Titanium Whitesilver colours. However, you can also get the phone in Titanium Jadegreen, Titanium Jetblack, and Titanium Pinkgold colour options if you purchase it online via the Samsung store. Our review unit came in Silverblue, which gets a hint of blue on the rear panel.
In terms of design, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is premium all around.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Display: Gorgeous as always
- Size and type – 6.9-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X, QHD+ resolution
- Refresh rate – 120Hz
- Protection – Corning Gorilla Armor 2
The display on the Galaxy S25 Ultra is not a major upgrade from the predecessor, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. It’s still one of the best-looking panels on a smartphone, and it’s now slightly bigger at 6.9 inches. The display supports HDR10+, up to 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, and is protected by Gorilla Armor 2, which is said to be tougher. In my few weeks of use, the screen did not pick up any scratches. Samsung continues to offer a non-reflective coating on the display, which is great when watching content, but it also means that the overall brightness of the panel is affected. While I didn’t have any issues using the phone under direct sunlight, it did appear less bright than, say, the Google Pixel 9.
The phone gets a slightly bigger 6.9-inch display
The Galaxy S25 Ultra offers a 120Hz refresh rate and two modes – Adaptive or Standard. You can also choose the colour mode of the display between the Vivid and Natural options. The phone also lets you adjust the screen resolution (HD+, full-HD+, and QHD+) as per your liking. There’s Widevine L1 support as well, so you can rest assured that all Netflix and streaming content will play in full-HD resolution.
The phone offers an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, which works just as well as the last one. It’s fast, has almost a zero error rate, and is placed in a really good position. It also works if your finger is wet.
The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is excellent
Overall, an excellent display, as always, and you’ll love watching content or playing games on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Software: More AI
- OS – Android 15
- UI – One UI 7
- Software support – 7 years
This year’s Galaxy Unpacked event for the Galaxy S25 series was mostly about Galaxy AI. The phones didn’t really get many major updates, but the software certainly did. The Galaxy S25 Ultra runs Android 15-based One UI 7 out of the box and comes with a bunch of new AI features that make the phone more useful. You can read all about the new Galaxy AI features here.
Apart from new AI features, you get the classic One UI look and feel, but with several improvements. There’s a split notification and Quick Toggles menu now, which works similarly to iOS. You can pull down the notifications drawer by swiping down from the left side of the screen, whereas the Quick Toggles show up when you swipe down from the right. However, you can go back to the previous design if this isn’t to your liking.
The phone will receive 7 years of OS and security updates
The phone also comes pre-installed with Google apps and a few from Microsoft, but there isn’t any bloatware. You can also use the S-Pen included inside the phone to navigate and perform various functions. However, the S-Pen no longer has a battery and therefore doesn’t support Bluetooth functionality, which is a bit disappointing. The pen still supports scribbling, drawing,m and writing with handwriting recognition, but you can no longer use it as a remote for the camera shutter or perform Air gestures.
The S-Pen no longer supports Bluetooth and lacks a battery
Samsung DeX continues to be available on the Galaxy S25 Ultra and lets you connect your phone to a monitor and use it as a desktop computer.
- SoC – Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
- RAM – 12GB LPDDR5X
- Storage – Up to 1TB UFS 4.0
This phone is going to last you years, and you will not see any major slowdown in performance even 3-4 years down the line. Yes, it’s that powerful. The 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy CPU may not deliver the same high-end AnTuTu scores as some of the other flagships that are focused on all-out performance (such as the OnePlus 13, iQOO 13, and Realme GT 7 Pro), but everything is super smooth and fast on the phone. There’s no lag whatsoever.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy SoC makes sure everything is running smooth
I ran our usual set of synthetic benchmarks to see how the phone performed, and below are the results. Do note that all of these tests were done with the resolution set to QHD+.
| Benchmark | Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra | iPhone 16 Pro Max | Vivo X200 Pro | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL |
|---|
| Geekbench 6 Single | 3,053 | 3,203 | 1,577 | 1,944 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi | 9,832 | 7,846 | 6,496 | 4,667 |
| AnTuTu v10 | 21,23,303 | 15,87,059 | 20,80,659 | 10,67,971 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 19,266 | N/A | 16,804 | 12,922 |
| GFXB T-rex | 120fps | 59fps | 120fps | 120fps |
| GFXB Manhattan 3.1 | 115fps | 59.7fps | 120fps | 105fps |
| GFXB Car Chase | 94fps | 59.4fps | 99fps | 55fps |
| 3DM Slingshot Extreme OpenGL | Failed to run | N/A | Maxed Out | Failed to run |
| 3DM Slingshot | Failed to run | N/A | Maxed Out | Failed to run |
| 3DM Wild Life | Maxed Out | 8,942 | Maxed Out | 8,902 |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 23,683 | N/A | 19,834 | 9,294 |
The Galaxy S25 Ultra easily outperforms phones such as the iPhone 16 Pro Max, Google’s Pixel 9 Pro XL, and even the Vivo X200 Pro.
Gaming on the phone is extremely fun, especially thanks to the large display with slim bezels. The phone features the Adreno 830 GPU, and it does a great job of delivering a high frame rate and smooth gaming. The device also doesn’t get hot while gaming or using the camera continuously, thanks to the vapour chamber. I played extended sessions of BGMI and Genshin Impact and the Galaxy S25 Ultra only got warm after about half an hour, but never hot enough to make things uncomfortable.
BGMI ran at all the highest available settings without any issues
The Galaxy S25 Ultra features a hybrid stereo speaker setup that’s commonly found on most phones. The speakers sound great and get pretty loud. There’s also a bit of bass with no cracking at higher volumes. It’s a solid pair of speakers. The earphone and microphone quality during calls was also quite good. I also didn’t face any network issues, including when using Wi-Fi. The phone offers Wi-Fi 7 support, Bluetooth 5.4, and NFC.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Cameras: Solid cameras with some upgrades
- Main rear – 200-megapixel, f/1.7, PDAF, OIS
- Ultrawide – 50-megapixel, f/1.9, PDAF, 120 degree FoV
- Telephoto 3x – 10-megapixel, f/2.4, PDAF
- Telephoto 5x – 50-megapixel, f/3.4, PDAF, OIS
- Selfie – 12-megapixel, f/2.2
The camera setup on the Galaxy S25 Ultra is largely the same as the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which was the same as the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and so on. However, there’s now a new 50-megapixel ultrawide camera. The selfie camera is also the same as the predecessor. The camera app has been redesigned in One UI 7, with the different camera modes now placed underneath the shutter button.
The phone gets a new 50-megapixel ultrawide sensor
Photo quality from the main camera is excellent in daylight conditions. There’s plenty of detail in the images, and you’ll find the white balance to be on point in most situations. The dynamic range is excellent as well,l and colours are very true to life with little to no over-saturation. Photos appear to be better than the previous Galaxy S24 series, and this could be because of the new ISP in the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. Samsung also claims that they’ve made some changes to the post-processing algorithms.
Daylight photos shot using the 200-megapixel main rear camera [Tap to expand]
The telephoto cameras produce good results when there’s plenty of light, but I found the 5x to do better with close-up shots. Nevertheless, both the 3x and 5x cameras deliver good photos with accurate colours and great dynamic range.
3x Telephoto (Top 2), 5x Telephoto (Bottom 2) [Tap to expand]
Portrait photos with the cameras also turn out great, with good edge detection and not too much bokeh.
You can also shoot photos at 10x, 30x, and all the way up to 100x. The noise levels increase as you go higher up the zoom range. While the 10x and 30x are somewhat usable, the 100x isn’t. Meanwhile, Samsung still does the AI enhancement when you zoom in on the Moon.
Top to bottom: 2 x 10x shots, 2 x 30x shots, 2 x 100x shots [Tap to expand]
The new ultrawide camera is also quite good in daylight conditions, and the colour matches the images from the main sensor. The photos have good exposure,a wide dynamic range, and there’s almost no edge warping.
Ultrawide shots: Top – Daylight x 2, Bottom – Lowlight x 2 [Tap to expand]
Selfies are great, and there’s nothing to complain about here. You get detailed photos with very good dynamic range, almost natural skin tones, and good white balance. The camera does support autofocus, which helps deliver sharper images in all lighting conditions.
In low light conditions, the main camera continues to take good photos, but you’ll find some noise if you zoom in. The colours are good, though, and the exposures are well-maintained. The dedicated Night mode does make things a little better, but the difference is mainly in the sharpness.
Lowlight shots from the main rear camera [Tap to expand]
The photos from the 3x and 5x telephoto cameras are not the best at night, even with the Night mode. There’s a loss of focus, extra sharpening, and images have a lot of softening going on. However, I did find the cameras to offer good colour output. Again, the 5x sensor does a better job somehow, with slightly more detail and better dynamic range.
The ultrawide camera delivers images that have good colours and decent details. The white balance and dynamic range are not too bad. I did find them to be on the softer side compared to the main camera, though.
Video performance on the Galaxy S25 Ultra is really good across all the sensors when the lighting is good. All cameras have the ability to record at 4K 60fps, which is nice. You can also shoot at 8K 30fps on the main, ultrawide, and 5x telephoto cameras. All cameras also support video stabilisation, but the main and 5x cameras handle the bumps the best. The colours, details, and dynamic range are excellent from the main camera. The telephoto cameras aren’t as good as the main sensor, and so is the ultrawide. However, videos from all cameras, shot in daylight conditions, are very usable.
In low light conditions, the main camera still does a really good job. The videos are detailed, the colours aren’t overdone, and the exposures are well-handled. There is some noise in the shadows, though, but nothing bad. The telephoto and ultrawide cameras also do a fine job in the dark, provided there’s good lighting.
Samsung has also introduced LOG recording on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and you get improved 10-bit HDR video recording. There’s also an Audio Eraser feature that’s available in the Gallery app, which very much reminded me of the Audio Eraser that was announced by Google with the Pixel 8 series. In testing, the feature did a good job of removing noise.
Overall, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has a really good camera setup, I wouldn’t call it the best in the market, but it delivers consistent performance across all the sensors.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Battery: No upgrades here
- Capacity – 5,000mAh
- Charging – 45W wired, 25W wireless
Samsung went with the same 5,000mAh battery that was found on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, however, that’s not really a bad thing. The phone still offers good battery life. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted for 27 hours and 34 minutes with the brightness at 50 percent, resolution set to QHD+, and refresh rate set to Adaptive. I also ran the PCMark Work 3.0 Battery test on the phone. It delivered a runtime of 14 hours and 9 minutes before the battery hit 20 percent.
The phone supports up to 45W fast charging
As for charging, the phone supports the same 45W fast charging as before. Using a 30W charger, the phone hit 52 percent from 0 in 30 minutes. A full charge took about 1 hour and 10 mins. However, you can use a higher-wattage charger and reduce the charge time.
With daily usage, the Galaxy S25 Ultra would easily last me a day and a half or even longer. Under heavy usage, I’d still end the day with 15 to 20 percent battery. The phone also supports 25W wireless charging with Qi 2.1 support.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a really good all-rounder Android flagship that you should buy if you’re coming from a Galaxy S22 Ultra or an older iPhone. If you’re someone with an S23 or S24 Ultra, I’d say you should hold on a bit longer. The phone delivers excellent performance, offers a beautiful display, a versatile set of cameras, a better design, and some usable AI features. It could definitely be a contender for the best smartphone of the year. And no, the new Galaxy AI features aren’t enough to justify an upgrade.
In terms of alternatives, you could look at the OnePlus 13 (Review), iQOO 13 (Review), the Vivo X200 Pro (Review), Oppo Find X8 Pro (Review), or the Pixel 9 Pro XL (Review) from the Android stable. You’ll get better performance and overall value from most of these phones, except the Google Pixel. The Vivo is also a better camera phone. All of these phones are also cheaper. On the Apple side, there’s the iPhone 16 Pro Max (Review), which will offer more or less the same performance across the system and cameras. You could also get yourself a Galaxy S24 Ultra, which will now be cheaper.
