Traditionally, at the beginning of the year, Samsung introduced a new line of flagship smartphones, the top model of which is the Galaxy S25 Ultra. In this article, I'll tell you what the new device has to offer and how it stands out from its predecessor Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Design
It is difficult for smartphone manufacturers to radically change the design from year to year, so we mostly see gradual changes that allow us to keep the recognizable elements of the case. Last year, Samsung reduced the bezels, abandoned the rounded screen, added a titanium frame and a new anti-reflective display glass. It would seem that we shouldn't expect any significant changes this year.
However, there is still room for innovation in the design of Galaxy S25 Ultra. And it's worth starting with the display, thanks to smaller bezels (incredibly, they have shrunk again), Samsung managed to increase the diagonal to 6.9 inches. At the same time, the body of the smartphone has grown slightly in height, but has become narrower and thinner. The dimensions of the S25 Ultra are 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm, while the S24 Ultra measures 162.3 x 79 x 8.6 mm. The weight of the new product is also lighter: 218 grams versus 232 grams for its predecessor.
However, the most noticeable thing, at least at first glance, is the new shape of the case. It now has flatter edges and rounded corners. I find the slightly convex edges of the Galaxy S24 Ultra more comfortable, but with the reduced width of the body, this is not so critical. But the transition to rounded corners is really good, because many people complained that when you hold the smartphone with one hand for a long time, the sharp corner begins to press on the palm of your hand. And the pockets of your jeans will probably rub less. All in all, a good solution that improves the ergonomics of the smartphone. And a big plus for reducing the weight and thickness of the case. Now the device looks more compact even in protective cases.
In addition to the larger display and thinner bezels, the front panel of the Galaxy S25 Ultra also has a new Gorilla Glass Armor 2, Samsung says that the glass surface is 29% more resistant to damage compared to the S24 Ultra. And this is good news, because the first generation of Gorilla Glass Armor glass already had higher scratch resistance.
The anti-reflective coating, which, in my opinion, was one of the main innovations of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, has not gone away either. It really does significantly improve the readability of the screen in any lighting conditions, and it's a shame that this feature hasn't become widespread in more smartphones.
As for the available body colors, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will be more neutral than its predecessor. Customers will be able to choose Titanium Gray and Titanium Black again, but the brighter purple and yellow colors have been replaced by Titanium Silver White and Titanium Silver Blue. In some countries, Samsung will also offer exclusive colors available in its online store. This year, it will be "titanium pink-green", "titanium charcoal-black", and "titanium green". It is not yet known whether they will be available in Ukraine.
Display and S Pen
I've already mentioned the slightly larger display in the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but otherwise its characteristics have not changed, it's a Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display with QHD+ resolution and a refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz. Traditionally for this series, the screen is very bright, with excellent viewing angles and color reproduction, which can be adjusted in the settings, choosing between natural and saturated. In addition, the color tone of the display automatically adapts to the ambient light.
The Ultra series smartphones traditionally feature the S Pen, which is located on the left side of the case. Over the past few years, this tool has undergone significant improvements: input latency has been reduced from 9 ms to 2.8 ms, and a new Wacom chip has provided increased accuracy in determining the coordinates of the pen - from 360 to 480 cycles per second.
This makes the S Pen even more convenient for drawing and creating quick handwritten notes. In the Galaxy S25 Ultra model, the pen remains unchanged: it retains lower latency, more precise positioning on the screen and supports 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity.
Platform
The smartphone uses a new platform from Qualcomm with a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and Adreno 830 graphics. This chip is presented in a Galaxy version, so it has slightly higher than standard frequencies. Compared to last year's flagship Qualcomm processor, the new one, even in the basic version, demonstrates a performance boost of up to 45%, up to 30% faster graphics, and up to 40% faster processing of artificial intelligence tasks. So it will be interesting to try the overclocked platform in tests and real-world use.
Otherwise, the Galaxy S25 Ultra platform also offers 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a fast UFS 4.0 storage of 256, 512 GB or 1 TB, depending on the version. There are no options to expand the internal memory, but even the basic 256 GB should be enough for most users.
Other features of the platform include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, UWB, and NFC wireless modules and support for GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, and QZSS global positioning systems.
One UI 7 and AI capabilities
If the hardware changes don't seem like much, the Galaxy S25 Ultra also gets a major UI update with One UI 7, which is based on Android 15. In addition to updated icons and a generally fresher design for the built-in apps, Samsung has further developed the integration of artificial intelligence with One UI 7, thanks to its own development and close partnership with Google.
The deep integration of the Gemini chatbot has enabled the Galaxy S25 Ultra to implement a set of AI capabilities that can really speed up certain tasks. Users can chat with the chatbot or ask it to perform certain tasks by voice, and since Gemini has access to both Google apps on the smartphone and Samsung's built-in apps, it can act as an AI agent. For example, it can be asked to find the nearest cafe, create an event in the calendar, and send invitations with the location to the right participants. And you can do all of this in one go, rather than splitting the task into several commands. The AI agent will take care of the rest.
Another good example of such an experience is when you don't have time to watch a long video, but you want to know what it's about or get the information you need from it. And it works especially well with recipe videos: Gemini can pull out the recipe you need, a list of products to cook, and even create step-by-step instructions. And all this works in Ukrainian.
In fact, there are much more scenarios for using Gemini in a smartphone, and the integration of the chatbot in One UI 7 allows to transfer some tasks to it. At the same time, Samsung says that the AI agent's capabilities will be expanded over time, as only Spotify and WhatsApp will support it from third-party applications at first, but the list of them should be expanded.
In addition to the Gemini integration, Samsung has slightly expanded its own AI functions, which include conversational search in the settings and gallery, so now you don't have to enter the exact name of the file or option. Also, AI selection is a new feature that allows you to quickly select something in a photo or video, draw or generate a new image based on it, share a picture, simply cut it out, or save a part of the video as a GIF.
Another major innovation in One UI 7 will be the updated lock screen, which will now display a new Now Bar at the bottom of the screen, which will display real-time notifications from applications. For example, navigation tips in Google Maps, or the score of your favorite football team. Third-party apps will also be able to integrate into Now Bar, so at the very least, I expect to see the arrival time of the driver in Uklon and the arrival time of the courier from Nova Poshta. I hope they integrate their apps with this feature.
Users should also be interested in the Now Brief notifications that will appear in One UI 7. Every morning, you can get information about your sleep quality pulled from your Samsung watch, bracelet, or ring, weather forecast, schedule reminders, daily routine suggestions, and news from the sources you read. In the evening, the smartphone will also offer a summary of the day's events, view photos taken, travel reminders, and more. I hope that in the future, Now Brief will also include information from third-party applications.
In general, there are many more innovations in One UI 7, but we will take a closer look at them after the release of new Samsung smartphones.
Cameras
The number of modules in the Galaxy S25 Ultra hasn't changed, but their capabilities have expanded slightly, not least due to the introduction of a new 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera and some software updates. Thus, the full set of modules now looks like this:
- 200-megapixel wide-angle camera with 1/1.3-inch sensor, 24 mm focal length, f/1.7 aperture, laser autofocus and optical stabilization;
- 50-megapixel periscopic telephoto camera with a focal length of 115 mm, f/3.4 aperture, phase detection autofocus, optical stabilization and 5x zoom;
- 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 1/3.52-inch sensor, 69 mm focal length, f/2.4 aperture, phase detection autofocus, optical stabilization and 3x zoom;
- 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with f/1.9 aperture, 120˚ angle of view, phase detection autofocus and electronic stabilization.
As you can see, Samsung is gradually updating the main cameras in its Ultra flagship, so we can expect a certain increase in quality compared to last year's model, not only because of the update of one of the modules, but also because of the new processor, which should also speed up and improve the quality of image processing. So let's wait for the opportunity to test the Galaxy S25 Ultra cameras in action.
It's also worth noting that the smartphone now supports video recording in the Log format, which captures video with more detail but requires further processing and color correction. However, it is precisely because of the higher quality and the ability to make color correction to your liking that Log is popular among professionals. So it will be interesting to see if Galaxy S25 Ultra will be able to win the favor of this audience.
Battery and charging speed
The battery capacity of the Galaxy S25 Ultra has not changed and reaches 5000 mAh, which, according to Samsung, should be enough for 31 hours of continuous video playback. I plan to check how the smartphone behaves in real-world conditions as soon as I receive a test sample. In the meantime, I can add that it also has support for fast charging up to 45 W (PowerDelivery 3.0), which allows you to replenish the battery up to 65% in 30 minutes. In addition, there is wireless charging up to 15 W and the ability to reverse charge accessories from the smartphone itself with a power of up to 4.5 W.
What prices will be in Ukraine
The Galaxy S25 Ultra will start at UAH 63,999 for the 256 GB version with a further price increase to UAH 67,999 for 512 GB and up to UAH 75,999 for 1 TB.