The Ultra line is Samsung’s flagship conventional smartphone product. It’s the vessel through which they can show off their most advanced tech with fewer concerns over space, or price, than their other models, even in the S-Series. It’s also the choice of those who need the most capable mobile device that money can buy. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra can therefore be forgiven for adhering to a ‘more is more’ philosophy.
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Make no mistake, there are some new features, and AI has grown more integral to the user experience. But, by and large, Samsung Galaxy S25 raises the bar in increments, and across most of its facets, more than leaning into one area of innovation in particular. The result speaks for itself – an all-round better device than Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra inside a smaller, lighter and wieldier chassis.
Stylish Slab
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra features a change in visual design to bring it closer to Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus. Gone are longitudinal bulging curves, in comes the ‘friendly box’ with it’s six flat sides softened by tightly curved corners that are visible front on.
Our Titanium Silverblue wears a subtle blue tone on its rear frosted glass cover. The frosted titanium frame is in a silver that offers an elegant two-tone look. The rear frosted glass cover is only interrupted by the five lenses boldly emerging from the chassis, and a stylised glossy ‘Samsung’ logo that only reveals itself when observed from the right angle.
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Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra combines a professional minimalism with some subtle, elegant details to bolster its aesthetic charms. The high-quality materials are also allowed to shine through in the this muted design. The device looks like the hyper-functional mobile business machine that it is, but it’s far from boring.
Smallest Biggest Phone
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is, undeniably, a large device, but much work has gone into reducing its heft and dimensions. The screen bezel is tiny, but, thanks to the flat display and sharply defined edges around the display, you won’t accidentally touch the screen with your palm while manipulating it in one hand.
When compared to its predecessor, Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra offers 0.1 inch more diagonal display real estate in a smaller package. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is 0.6mm less deep, 1.4mm less wide, and 0.1mm less tall – and this all adds up to a far more pocketable device than predecessor Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
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And Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is lighter than its predecessor, too. Samsung has shaved around 15 grams from the previous device. Again, this sounds like a small improvement, but, when added to the reduced dimensions, it brings the 6.9″ S25 Ultra closer and closer to smaller display competitors in terms of pocketability and one-handed utility.
Dynamic, Smooth, Colourful, Deep
The display of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is outstanding by any metric, and, likely, the very best available at any price at this moment in time. The expansive flat display almost fills the entire visage of the device.
The Dynamic AMOLED is capable of hitting 2,600nits at its peak, and offers searing brightness in all conditions. The display is incredibly capable outdoors. 10-bit colour and a huge contrast ratio meet to bring juicy, vibrant colour that only pops all the more next to the abyssal blacks that the display is capable of producing.
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LTPO tech saves on juice while giving a luxurious smoothness to scrolling and compatible media and games. The 1440p resolution looks all the more crisp and detailed when spread across that huge 6.9-inch screen thanks to the display’s depth of colour and contrast.
One UI 7 for the Masses
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, like all S25 series devices, features Samsung One UI 7 from the box. One UI 7 introduces a refreshed look, centred around a new notification system. The new system is intended to simplify communication, and is easily accessible from the device’s lock screen. The ‘Now Bar’ highlights pertinent activities across features such as Interpreter, Music, Recording, Stopwatch, and more.
‘Now Bar’ also provides immediate access to crucial notifications, minimising the need to unlock the device. The new ‘Now Bar’ offers essential information and allows interaction with it more smoothly.
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Samsung said it wanted to ‘revolutionise the lock screen experience’, but it’s more of an evolution from the user’s perspective. The new look offers bold, yet familiar, design elements. The home screen has been simplified, One UI widgets and the lock screen have been redesigned, among other features. One UI 7 minimises visual clutter by prioritising urgent and useful information based off the user’s habits.
The One UI 7 beta programme was first available for Galaxy S24 series devices in Germany, India, Korea, Poland, the UK, and the U.S., from 5th December 2024. Galaxy S24 series users can apply to join the beta program via Samsung Members. The beta rollout covered Samsung Galaxy S24 devices, including Galaxy S24 FE, with One UI 7’s official rollout beginning in Q1 2025.
Natural Language Goals
One UI 7 also introduces enhancements to Galaxy AI features, including more sophisticated writing assist tools. These tools are integrated into the AI OS to a greater degrees and allow users to set the AI to work on text or other elements more easily across a greater number of contexts. Practically every long press comes with an AI prompt, sometimes several.
TechStomper was impressed by the first full implementation of AI into Samsung’s One UI as seen with Galaxy S24 series. One UI 7 builds upon the robust writing assist tools already accessible to Galaxy users. For one, summarising content is much better, with greater flexibility in how you want your notes compiled.
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Functions like checking spelling and grammar, and converting notes into formatted bullet points are, in many cases, flawless. Outputs and corrections sound a lot more natural. And, the intermittent use of unprompted colloquialisms and casualisms help sell the style.
One Camera UI
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra also benefits from One UI 7’s overhauled camera app. Beyond the addition and greater integration of AI image and video trickery, Samsung have remixed their UI to offer a larger suite of ‘Pro’ mode features in the regular shooting modes.
For years, camera apps have been stripping manual inputs from their non-‘Pro’ modes, leaning into AI-selected settings to deliver great shots and videos with minimal effort. However, some of the fun and art to casual photography was lost along the way. One UI puts quite a few features front and centre, encouraging you to unleash your inner Liebowitz.
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The viewfinder was been shrunk to allow all controls to be manipulated without covering or otherwise obscuring the image you are about to take. This sounds like nano spuds, but with the return of so many user controls, this was a great choice. And, with a giant 6.9″ display to work with, you still get plenty of view in your viewfinder.
Finally, there is a zoom select to go with the revised zoom adjustment slider. Zoom select allows you to switch between predetermined zoom levels from a list. Selecting the zoom will cause a swift-but-kinda-smooth transition. The revised zoom slider allows you to adjust your zoom with a pleasantly professional smoothness.
Camera Superior
The marriage of imaging hardware and camera software is a very happy one with Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. You’ll spot three large lenses, and two smaller lens-like protrusions on the rear. The heavy lifting is done by the 200MP wide sensor, and it’s more than capable. Daylight images are vibrant and detailed with excellent contrast. There is a professional quality to images that lean on the 200MP sensor, as well as some artistic depth to be plumbed with that revised UI calling you to mess around.
There are two zoom lenses on the device. One tackles closer objects with a 10MP sensor, the other matches a 50MP with a 5x telephoto lens. While the smaller sensor with its weaker zoom seems redundant, it must be doing something. The optical zoom shots are outstanding, and hybrid zoom results beyond the 5x periscope lens are very impressive.
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Out to around 15x, shots are well above the standard required for social media. With a steady hand and favourable lighting you can blast a 25x image to Instagram and most will be none the wiser.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra allows you to zoom all the way to 100x – images are noticeably grainy, even with a tripod, and need a lot of light to give any detail or clarity. However, as a novelty, in a pinch, or as an impromptu telescope, it’s surprisingly usable.
AI Power Boost
The Snapdragon 8 Elite that powers Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra offers the incremental power and efficiency buffs you would expect from a flagship upgrade. However, it also delivers a substantial buff to Neural Processing Unit power. Snapdragon and Samsung say the new chipset is 40% more powerful when it comes to AI tasks.
Galaxy S25 series uses Samsung’s proprietary Pro Scaler to offer up to a 40% improvement in image scaler, all while using less power. The GPU’s Vulkan Engine offers improved ray tracing on top of added raw graphics power to tackle the most demanding 3D games at 60+ FPS without breaking a sweat.
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And helping it not break a sweat is a larger vapour chamber with improved heat dissipation. During our time with Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, the device stayed notable cool, even under the heavier loads. The UI has that premium flawless feel in operation, and is as smooth, snappy and responsive as you would expect from a flagship device.
Charging Time
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra sports a 5,000mAh battery, which sounds a little small for a 6.9-inch device with pretensions of all-day stamina. However, in practice, the 3nm chipset, LTPO display and a host of AI-powered efficiency tricks squeeze a strong run-time from the battery.
Our moderate workload saw us make it to bed on day two with umpteen percent left in the tank. Power users should be able to make it through the hardest of workdays without needing the charger.
When it comes time to charge, a maximum wired speed of 45W is a little disappointing with competitors upping their game in this respect. 45W wired is the same as Galaxy S24 Ultra, but 0-60% in 30 minutes is still a flagship-worthy figure. 15W wireless charging remains, but it now runs the Qi2 standard.
Specifications – Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
| Chipset: | Qualcomm SM8750-AB Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm) CPU – Octa-core (2×4.47 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix L + 6×3.53 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix M) GPU – Adreno 830 |
| RAM: | 12GB, up to 8GB added with RAM Plus |
| Storage: | 256GB (reviewed), 512GB, 1TB |
| Display: | Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 2600 nits (peak) 6.9-inch, 1440 x 3120 pixels |
| Camera: | – 200 MP, f/1.7, 24mm (wide), 1/1.3″, 0.6µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS – 10 MP, f/2.4, 67mm (telephoto), 1/3.52″, 1.12µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom – 50 MP, f/3.4, 111mm (periscope telephoto), 1/2.52″, 0.7µm, PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom – 50 MP, f/1.9, 120˚ (ultrawide), 0.7µm, dual pixel PDAF, Super Steady video Video: 8K@24/30fps, 4K@30/60/120fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, 10-bit HDR, HDR10+, gyro-EIS |
| Selfie Cam: | Photo: 12 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/3.2″, 1.12µm, dual pixel PDAF Video: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps, HDR, HDR10+ |
| OS: | Android 15, One UI 7 |
| Battery: | Li-Po 5,000mAh |
| Charging: | – 45W wired, PD 3.0, 0-60% in 30 minutes – 15W wireless |
| Connectivity: | – Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7, tri-band, Wi-Fi Direct – Bluetooth 5.4, A2DP, LE – GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS |
| Dimensions: | 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm |
| Weight: | 218 grams |
| Colours: | Titanium Silverblue (reviewed), Titanium Black, Titanium Whitesilver |
Galaxy S25 Ultra is available in Ireland in Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Black, Titanium Whitesilver and Titanium Grey.
All Galaxy S25 devices offer customers a six-month trial of Gemini Advanced and 2TB of cloud storage at no extra cost.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra RRP
- 256GB – €1,469
- 512GB – €1,589
- 1TB – €1,849
