If you’ve been holding off on upgrading your Samsung device to the latest Ultra variant, this may be the generation to start paying attention. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is the lightest it’s ever been while promising significant gains in performance, battery life, and AI prowess. I can’t tell you if those claims are true, because I only held the S25 Ultra for a measly hour. However, Samsung is putting its best foot forward here. What I see on the outside doesn’t scream repetition, even if I have seen some of the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s AI features before.
Like the Galaxy S24 Ultra, this year’s Galaxy S25 Ultra focuses on what it can do with AI, generative or otherwise. Some features have been improved, like the Object Eraser, which lets you easily scrub objects from a photo. Other AI features have been contextualized to become more integrated with the Samsung device. There’s even a more conversational algorithm. But don’t be surprised if some of the AI features sound familiar.
See Galaxy S25 on Samsung.com
See Galaxy S25 Ultra on Samsung.com
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hardware
Well, it’s the dawning of the age of Aquarius—it’s literally in the stars right now—and while I had hoped that would mean an era of radical new smartphone design, we have the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with even squarer edges instead! The Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn’t move the design mark on Samsung’s ultimate, everything-you-could-want-flagship. But Samsung did such a good job lightening up the chassis that I constantly chanted light as a feather, stiff as a board to myself while handling it. It was the only thing I could think about. The phone feels more airy than the heavier units of the last few generations. Samsung said it extracted 15 grams from the previous Ultra’s chassis to create this lighter version. The bezel is also 15% thinner this time, which helped remove some extra trim.
Inside, the Galaxy S25 Ultra runs what Samsung calls the “first of its kind” customized Snapdragon 8 Elite processor coupled with 12GB of RAM. (I would have liked to see 16GB instead since that’s where Google and OnePlus are.) Technically, it is a first of its kind because the Elite is a new processor series, but it’s the same kind of partnership that Samsung and Qualcomm have had for a while now. Samsung claims a 40% faster NPU, 37% faster CPU, and 30% performance improvement for the GPU. That power bump accommodates the improved camera system and gaming capabilities on the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the device’s hoards of generative AI tasks. Samsung also made a big to-do about its 40% larger vapor chamber, which has a tailored thermal interface material, or TIM, to help draw out the hot air toward the exhaust vents meant for them.
© Adriano Contreras / GizmodoThe S Pen is still there, and it’s also light as a feather.
The S Pen is still a significant part of the Samsung Galaxy Ultra production, though there’s nothing remarkably new about it in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. In this generation, Samsung removed Bluetooth from the S Pen to lighten the load. It also removed the need for a charging coil to power the stylus.
The camera
© Adriano Contreras / GizmodoThe Galaxy S25 Ultra mainly improves its wide-angle capabilities in this generation.
The camera improvements on the Galaxy S25 Ultra are minimal, though the S25 Ultra’s new 50-MP ultra-wide camera sensor will produce more detailed wide-angle scenery. Otherwise, it’s the same 200-MP primary camera with incredible Space zoom, a 50-MP telephoto lens, and an additional 10-MP telephoto. Most of what Samsung improved lives in the camera’s algorithms, like the Portrait Studio mode for taking glamorous shots among the everyday doldrums. The photo filters have also been updated with more vintage appeal, and a new virtual aperture feature is available in the camera’s Expert RAW mode.
Speaking of experts, if you have been asking Samsung for Log capabilities (they told us this was a heftily requested feature), you are finally getting your due. Samsung has taken a page from the books of overseas phone manufacturers and included log access capabilities in videos taken with its hardware. Specifically, it’s called Galaxy Log, which allows you to access the color grading and adjust it as you see fit.
The software
© Adriano Contreras / GizmodoAI Select lives in the same sidebar menu where Smart Select used to be.
The Personalized Data Engine is a big part of the Samsung One UI 7.0 experience, which ships on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. This engine effectively works in the background to collect information and attempt to deliver it smartly and contextually. The main AI feature that utilizes it is the Now Bar, which is like the iPhone’s Dynamic Island if it were all AI-based, but I didn’t get to test it outright. There’s also the twice-daily brief. I write more about my experience using Morning Brief in the Galaxy S25/S25+ hands-on since that’s the phone I experienced it with, but it’s the same experience across the board.
I was mentioning features I’d seen on other phones before. I appreciate that Samsung added a way to edit audio, called the Audio Eraser, but it’s nothing to write home about. Google’s Pixel 9 series was already boasting that capability. I tried it out in the semi-noisy briefing area, where I had hands-on time. I tried to increase the volume of my voice and lower the background noise. I could hear the phone blaring the audio, but I couldn’t tell whether the editing was precise. I want to try it out on the Bay Area’s transit system, BART, known for its screeching tunnels. That’s the real test of these audio-adjusting algorithms.
Samsung made a big deal about its AI agents’ “cross-app” capabilities and how it knows where to put data you ask it to move. I’m confused about the branding, but it’s all AI. Smart Select, a feature that’s existed on Samsung for millennia, has been renamed AI Select. The idea is exactly like Google’s Circle to Search, except it can reach out to other apps when the context calls for it. For instance, Samsung mentioned an example of adding a schedule of sports games you’re looking at on the page to a personal calendar. I tried to do this with a Galaxy S25 sample unit but with concert tour dates instead. It did not work as I had envisioned. I hope to get more time to do this once we receive our hardware for review.
Where to buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
There is so much more to say about the Galaxy S25 Ultra that I cannot put into words until I have the hardware to test against the other smartphones you can buy. But I can tell you that Samsung kept the price of this year’s Ultra steady. Like last year’s device, the phone starts at $1,300 for 256GB of storage and is available with up to 1 TB. It will be available in four colors: Silver Blue, White Silver, Gray, and Black. A menagerie of exclusive colors will be sold only online if you’re willing to wait longer for shipping. The phone is available for pre-order today.
See Galaxy S25 on Samsung.com
See Galaxy S25 Ultra on Samsung.com
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