Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: You might like this phone more than you expect

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Samsung’s flagship smartphones don’t live nearly in the same vein they once did. They’re not as flashy, they’re not industry-leading in essentially anything, and they’re not cheap either. But, after two weeks with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, it’s hard to deny that, no matter who you are, you might like this phone a lot more than you expect to.

Hardware

This is a smartphone

Samsung’s smartphone design has reached the point where it’s absurdly uninspired. Put the Galaxy S22 Ultra, S23 Ultra, S24 Ultra, and S25 Ultra in a line and the differences are miniscule. Slightly different camera modules, some flatter or curvier edges, etc. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

The only noteworthy change in the hardware and design of the Galaxy S25 Ultra is found in the corners, which are no longer as sharp as the Galaxy Note used to be. The squared-off edges are now curved, leading to a device that feels more in line with the rest of the Galaxy S25 series, and feels way better in the hand. The curves don’t dig into your palm like the previous generations did, which you’ll be able to appreciate even through a case. Last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, even with a case, still felt a bit uncomfortable in my palm because of those sharp corners. The trade-off, though, is that Samsung has embraced fully flat edges, which aren’t as comfortable as the slight curve found on the previous generation. Overall, though, I prefer this year’s design.

That is, the hardware. The design itself is somehow just made more boring by the complete lack of color Samsung is putting out. The Galaxy S25 Ultra comes in black, gray with some white, gray, and gray that Samsung says has blue in it, but just looks gray in person. The only real colors, green and pink, are exclusive to Samsung.com.

Colors have never been Samsung’s strong suit with the Ultra lineup, but it’s getting a bit insulting. Next year, the company needs to make a choice and be bold for once. Either offer some real color choices, or go back to just black and white.

Which color is this? At a glance, you’d never know

Rounding things out, I appreciate the lighter weight of the S25 Ultra, and the display remains best-in-class.

The panel itself is bright, sharp, and vivid, but the standout is Gorilla Armor 2. This new glass cover looks fantastic with its anti-reflective qualities, delivering an experience that you can’t get on any other smartphone. It also remains more scratch-resistant, as I’ve managed to go through the past couple of weeks without any battle scars to show for it.

You’re going to need a case (especially if you want Qi2)

The other noteworthy thing about the hardware is that it absolutely requires a case, for a few reasons.

Firstly, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a fingerprint magnet in every color but black. Picking the device up for even a moment immediately leaves visible smudges from your fingers, and they look bad. It really takes away from the otherwise premium, if stale, design.

Second, the matte finish all around is very slippery. I don’t think this is just because it’s matte, but rather a combination of choices. The new finish on the glass is a little bit slicker than last year, and the switch to flat edges on the frame means you don’t get as much natural grip from the contour of the metal. Combined with a new finish on that metal, it’s a recipe for a device that does not feel secure in the hand. You can fix that with a skin if you really want, but the better fix is with a case.

The main reason you might want a case with Galaxy S25 Ultra is for the sake of Qi2. Samsung’s latest flagship is also its first to adopt the Qi 2.1 standard, but it does so without built-in magnets. Instead, the magnets are offloaded to approved cases. Samsung’s official case is slippery and feels cheap in the time I spent with it at the company’s launch event, but I’ve been very happy with an alternative from Spigen, which is ready for Qi2 charging and accessories.

I do wish Qi2 was built into the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but I’m glad we at least finally have an official means of support for this tech.

Software

One UI 7 is the best part of the Galaxy S25 Ultra

Easily my favorite part of using the Galaxy S25 Ultra thus far has been One UI 7. Samsung’s updated software experience is a considerable improvement over what came before, and it starts with the fundamentals.

One UI 7 is smooth, fast, and a pleasure to use in day-to-day tasks. Everything just feels that little bit nicer when you’re swapping between apps or performing tasks. Some highlights for me include the new vertically-scrolling app drawer, Samsung’s new multitasking page, and, shockingly, the new split notification/quick settings panel. I didn’t like it at first, but over time I’ve come to enjoy the visual separation. Samsung’s take on the notification panel always felt too cluttered for my taste, so splitting things up actually feels much better. The jury is still out on how that will translate to other Android experiences (especially Pixel), but I think it works in Samsung’s case.

Other highlights include the better animations, which are noticeable, lockscreen improvements, as well as the updated icons which offer a nice fresh look to Samsung’s apps (even though I hardly use any of them).

There’s also the arrival of “Live Notifications,” Samsung’s take on “Live Activities” from iOS.

I’ve been waiting on something like this for a while now, and I really like how it’s been implemented. For compatible apps such as the Clock for timers and the Voice Recorder app, you’ll see a chip in the status bar that shows a bit of information and lets you tap for an expanded view. It’s simple and subtle, and works really well. I just wish it worked with more apps. Google Maps is the place I use it the most, but since picture-in-picture usually kicks in, that takes priority over Live Notifications.

The “Now Bar” is also powered by this feature. On the lock screen, the Now Bar is used to surface information from Samsung and Google apps and really does come in handy. I’ve enjoyed it for checking navigation directions in Maps, as well as for simply controlling my music. The Now Bar’s placement at the bottom of the display means that it’s out of the way of my notifications, leaving room for more information instead of pushing them down as is the case on my Pixel. The Now Bar has a further purpose, but more on that below.

With all of the good things, though, there are also the bad.

One UI 7 feels less busy at first glance, but Samsung pretty much just shoved that clutter in a closet. The Settings menu is still as overwhelming as ever, and there are still so many features that you’ll just never use or care about that are in your face by default. Samsung would do well to clean this up further, but the best way to do so will be tricky to find. There are also so many parts of One UI that have been problematic for years that One UI 7 simply doesn’t address. For example, I still hate that One UI buries Android’s Notification History feature, one of the most useful parts of the platform, behind several menu layers instead of showing it in the notification pane itself like Pixel does (twice, in fact). One UI 7 easily could have changed this by adding a button to this new split-pane setup, but it didn’t.

Samsung still puts a heavy skin on top of Android, but it’s better than it has been for a while.

I think this is the happiest I’ve been using a Samsung device since One UI first made its debut in 2018. But in the time since that debut, the core pillars of what made One UI good have become complete afterthoughts. Reachability was one of the most important aspects, but Samsung hasn’t talked about that in a few years now. I just hope that, this time around, Samsung continues in the direction it has set off in instead of turning back to its old habits.

Galaxy AI is fine, but Gemini is the real star

The main focus of the software for Samsung is now on Galaxy AI, arguably even more so this year than it was previously.

In One UI 7, Samsung aims to use AI “agents” to bridge the gap between what AI is capable of and what you as the end user can actually use it for. It’s an admirable goal, and one that Samsung, with Google’s help, pulls off fairly well.

On the Google side of things, Gemini continues to get more and more powerful. New this year is the ability to string together requests that involve different extensions to the AI. This can be used for things such as asking Gemini to summarize videos on YouTube and drop them into Keep or Samsung Notes, or finding a nearby location using Maps and then sending that result to someone via Google Messages. I think these interactions are a bit niche, but the problem I’ve found is that they rely very heavily on trust. To use these interactions, the user needs to trust that the AI will get not one thing right, but two or three things. Personally, I’m still far from trusting Gemini to get that right, so I’m still far more likely to ask Gemini to do the hardest part of the task and then get across the finish line on my own. The biggest thing I still love using Gemini for is converting images to usable data, such as taking a schedule of events and adding it to my Google Calendar.

Circle to Search also remains my favorite “AI” feature on Android, and it just continues to be more useful. Samsung is extending on that functionality this year with “AI Select,” its own piece of software that works very similarly to Google’s feature, just with better tie-ins to Samsung’s own features. With AI Select, you can tap on something on screen and then use Samsung’s Galaxy AI features with that object. I think this helps solve my complaints about not wanting to use Samsung’s apps, but wanting to use the company’s AI tools. Similarly, Samsung separated Writing Assist from Samsung Keyboard this time around, meaning I can use Gboard but still use Samsung’s AI features.

Another area you’ll find AI throughout One UI is natural language search. In the Settings menu you can now say “how do I save battery?” and relevant settings will come up. This doesn’t go quite as far as explaining these settings, but it’s a good step nonetheless. A more powerful example of this is natural language search in Samsung’s Gallery app. Google Photos does this too, but Samsung’s works on-device, and it seems to work fairly well in my experience.

The Gallery app is packed with other AI tools as well. Generative Edit can make advanced edits to a photo and works fairly well, even catching little details such as the shadows of a person you’re removing from a picture. You can also sketch an object to have AI generate a version for for the photo, or convert a portrait into a sketch with the help of AI. Fun tools, but Generative Edit is the only one I have ever found real utility in.

Finally, there’s the Now Bar.

Powered in part by the new Live Notifications, this feature lives on the lock screen mostly as a shortcut to the “Now Brief.” Samsung’s new AI feature promises to deliver timely information based on what the “Personal Data Engine” learns about you over time. And, clearly, it does need some time. For the past two weeks I’ve been checking in with Now Brief – which updates several times throughout the day – and it hasn’t really been all that helpful. It shows me a calendar appointment if I’ve got one, a news article now and again, and the weather. That latter point has been the only useful part but… I can just check my weather app.

I’m hoping Now Brief gets better in time but, for now, it’s nothing special.

More so than ever, the Galaxy S25 Ultra feels like a device built on the promises of AI, and it does deliver on being a package for those AI features to be delivered to the end user. I just struggle to find that as a selling point.

There are a few main problems with Samsung continuing to lean on AI to sell its phones.

Firstly, AI is only so useful. While there are a lot of tools at the user’s disposal on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, only a fraction of them will be used at the regular, if ever in the phone’s lifespan. These tools also continue to beg for your trust and, in many cases, haven’t fully earned it as they make frequent mistakes and oversights.

The second problem is where Samsung’s “Galaxy AI” features are coming from. Most of the features that Samsung relies on the most are built by Google and available on Pixel and many other Android devices. The ones that are exclusive to Samsung require that users are actually using Samsung’s apps and, often, those apps are more of a headache than they’re worth.

Finally, there’s the simple fact that most of Samsung’s AI features don’t care about the device you’re using. There are certain things that need the horsepower of the “latest and greatest,” but you’re going to get 90% of the AI features found on the Galaxy S25 Ultra on last year’s model, and even the one before that. They might not work quite as well, but the difference doesn’t feel worth the hundreds of dollars in between. Samsung’s ridiculous trade-in values can only go so far.

Battery Life

Same battery, but slightly better

Samsung has not upgraded the battery in its “Ultra” device for five years now. You’ll get the same size battery in the Galaxy S25 Ultra as buyers of 2020’s Galaxy S20 Ultra did – 5,000 mAh.

That’s still perfectly adequate in 2025, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra has fine battery life. I’m easily getting 3-5 hours of screen time each day with 25-50% left in capacity. Battery life is great if you’re on Wi-Fi all day, but it definitely takes a hit when you’re on cellular, especially if signal is low. My worst day saw the Ultra go from 6am to 10pm with just under 4 hours of screen time, with the phone being at 22% by the time I put it on the charger for the night. Not bad, but not great either.

In a bubble, that’s fine. It’s no worse but also not much better than the past couple of generations. But the competition is improving. I’m seeing similar endurance from recent Pixel releases, and the OnePlus 13 just puts Samsung to shame. Using newer battery tech, the OnePlus 13 has much better endurance thanks to a much larger 6,000 mAh battery. Samsung has had infamous battery issues in the past and is right to be cautious when pushing the envelope, but it’s officially time to step up in this area.

Another reason Samsung needs to step up is because of the charging situation. 45W charging is fine, but I’d love to see perhaps 65W speeds. It’d make it easier to deal with the days where I need that little boost, or the times where I forget to charge overnight.

Camera

Still fickle, but a step in the right direction

For years I’ve been anything but pleased by Samsung’s cameras. The company has been decidedly behind Google and Apple in terms of stills, and even OnePlus stepped up to be more consistent with the OnePlus 13. But, finally, I feel like I’m seeing real improvements this time around.

Whether due to Samsung’s adjustments, the improved ISP in Snapdragon 8 Elite, or a combination of the two, the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s camera feels noticeably better. Shots have a bit more life and detail, and there’s been a lot more consistency. Fewer shots are ruined by motion or bizarre processing decisions than ever before. The 50MP ultrawide sensor also seems a fair bit better than the 12MP that came before, with sharper results.

It just falls apart a bit in low-light.

In good lighting, the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s camera is undeniably good. When you turn down the lights, it’s anything but infallible. Shots are often fuzzy in low-light, struggle with motion, or end up failing in the craziest ways. In a San Jose bar, a shot with a bartender walking past left them looking like a crazy ghost.

The other problem is that there’s really no fixing a “bad” shot in the moment. I’ve had instances where I take the same shot again, hoping for better results, only to get the same result. That’s a point for consistency, I guess, but it really just means Samsung still has work to do.

On the video side of things, the Galaxy 25 Ultra introduces support for “Galaxy Log,” opening the door to improved video editing, while “Virtual Aperture” can give more control over the actual shot by faking the look of different lenses. Stay tuned to 9to5Google on YouTube for more on that soon.

S Pen

Worse, but you won’t care

The S Pen remains on Samsung’s latest flagship, delivering the stylus experience that, personally, I still don’t fully love. The small canvas isn’t for me, but this beloved feature has a dedicated fanbase for a reason, and nothing else matches it. For the vast majority of people, that experience remains unchanged on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The S Pen still has fast response times, handy features, and the convenient slot to stow it away.

But something’s missing.

Samsung has removed all remote, Bluetooth-powered features from the Galaxy S25 Ultra. As such, users can no longer use the stylus to take remote pictures or perform little gestures. Samsung says that a mere 1% (or less) of its users were actually using these features, and the removal did lead to a slightly lighter overall smartphone (and a stylus that feels weightless). I’m not sure the trade-off was worthwhile, but I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of buyers won’t care outside of a vocal minority.

Final Thoughts

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” That quote has been ringing through my head the entire time I’ve been using the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Samsung’s latest flagship phone is a fine device, but it’s yet another iteration of the same basic formula without any distinct effort towards meaningful improvement, all while Samsung continues to lose its customers.

Yet, I can’t help but love the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

After spending almost two weeks with Samsung’s latest, I found myself coming to enjoy my time with it. And that was the case for multiple members of the 9to5Google team. We all landed on the same conclusion. Over time, this phone really just grows on you, and I think I know why. While Samsung keeps copying the same formula over and over again, it is a formula that technically works for the most part. It’s the foundation of a good phone, even if it doesn’t push too far beyond that. Samsung figured out what works, and it’s sticking with it.

But is that worth $1,300? That’s the question I continue to struggle with.

You’re getting a far better value out of a Pixel 9 Pro XL or (especially) a OnePlus 13. I think in many ways, buying a refurbished Galaxy S24 Ultra would make anyone equally happy while saving hundreds. Samsung’s trade-in deals, though, make that point moot for many, as it’s rather easy to get this phone for as little as $400 with the right combination of trade-in offers and other deals. Carrier offers and monthly installment plans put that total cost to the back of the mind for many as well.

Ultimately, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a perfectly fine, quite good flagship phone in 2025. It’s good at everything you want a smartphone to be good at, has some solid upgrades in the software and camera departments, and does it all for the same price. If that appeals to you, I think you’ll be happy, I just can’t help but want a bit more from a device that calls itself an “Ultra.”

Where to buy Galaxy S25 Ultra