Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review – A Safe Bet

Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Kicking off our Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with the unboxing, it comes in a similar packaging as its predecessor last year. If anything, the difference is only in the picture of the device, this time with a 45° angled side profile with the S Pen right beside it. It’s minimalistic in design as usual and there seems to be no changes in its dimensions. Inside the box, we found the following items:

• USB-C to USB-C cable
• SIM ejector pin
• Documentations
• The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra itself

Specifications

SoC	Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, 3nm
RAM	12GB
Storage	256GB / 512GB / 1TB UFS 4.0
Display	6.9″ QHD+ (3080 x 1440) Dynamic AMOLED 2X display Corning Gorilla Armor 2 3,000 nits peak brightness Vision Booster, HDR10+ Adaptive color tone 1Hz to 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate
Rear Camera	200MP f/1.7 wide-angle, PDAF, Laser AF, OIS 50MP f/3.4 telephoto, 5x optical zoom, dual pixel PDAF, OIS 10MP f/2.4 telephoto, 3x optical zoom, dual pixel PDAF, OIS 50MP f/1.9 ultra-wide, 120˚, dual pixel PDAFSuper Steady video LED flash, auto-HDR, panorama 8K@24/30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+, stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS
Selfie Camera	12MP f/2.2 wide-angle, PDAF Dual video call, Auto HDR, HDR10+ 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps
	Tri-band Wi-Fi 7 with Wi-Fi Direct 5G, LTE Bluetooth 5.4 with A2DP and LE GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS NFC USB-C 3.2 with DisplayPort 1.2 and OTG
Battery	5000mAh 45W fast charging USB-PD 3.0 fast charging 25W wireless Qi2 charging 4.5W reverse wireless charging
Dimensions	162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm 218g
Ingress Protection	IP68
Software	One UI 7 based on Android 15
Colors	Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Gray, Titanium Whitesilver, Titanium Black (Titanium Jadegreen, Titanium Pinkgold and Titanium Jetblack are online-exclusive colors)

Performance

Starting off our benchmark suite with Antutu v10, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra performed pretty much up to par with this year’s flagship offerings. I’m personally surprised that a Dimensity 9400 chip is still ahead, with the only chance of a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip beating it is if it gets overclocked, but that would unsurprisingly lead to bigger thermal issues. Regardless, Samsung’s new top-of-the-line flagship certainly packs a big punch as it scored close to 20% more than last year’s S24 Ultra in this benchmark.

Moving on to Geekbench 6, a similar pattern can be seen here, though I’m surprised it came close very close to an overclocked ROG Phone 9 in both single and multi core scores. It’s noticeably better than the S24 Ultra and given how it managed to score 800-ish more points than HONOR’s flagship with the same chip for multi core performance, I suppose this could be where the “For Galaxy” moniker brings some noticeable benefits.

In 3DMark, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra took the top spot in Wild Life Extreme, Solar Bay, and Steel Nomad Light, which is a big surprise for me since it managed to even outdo the overclocked ROG Phone 9. This means that this smartphone can run games extremely well by today’s standards, but like every other Snapdragon 8 Elite device, it does suffer from heat. In fact, it has a stability rating of 56.3%, which means that thermal throttling occurs rather frequently.

Its 3D graphical prowess is echoed in GPUScore Sacred Path, losing only to the vivo X200 Pro in the VRS portion of the test. Otherwise, it would have easily taken the top spot overall here. It’s worth noting that in the Native test, it managed to score noticeably higher as it was running in FHD+ resolution by default, and I expect it to be lower if you intentionally set the resolution to QHD+.

Lastly in PCMark’s Work 3.0 benchmark, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra showed admirable performance as it took the second runner up spot in our list of benchmarked devices thus far. It’s virtually identical to the first runner up, and it might be a bit unfair when you consider that the top spot is running in overclocked mode. This should be a clear indicator that it’s a very strong device for a daily driver.

For those of you who are wondering about its battery life, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra had an amazing showing in PCMark’s Work 3.0 endurance test. It lasted 15 hours and 23 minutes (923 minutes) in HD+, 14 hours and 26 minutes (866 minutes) in FHD+, and 13 hours and 7 minutes (787 minutes) in QHD+. Depending on how heavy your use case is, you can stretch out its use to two full days with this.

As for charging speed, this is what we got using a 100W GaN charger starting from 2% battery life:

• 15 minutes = 40%
• 30 minutes = 70%
• 45 minutes = 89%
• 60 minutes = 98%
• 63 minutes = 100%

Do note that it only supports up to 45W charging speed at most.

Camera

Use the arrows to see all the sample shots from the camera.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra brings minor camera upgrades, with the most notable change being the new 50MP ultrawide sensor (S5KJN3), replacing the old 12MP one. However, the main 200MP camera and telephoto lenses remain unchanged from the S23 Ultra. The front camera is also the same, continuing to deliver strong selfie performance. It’s worth noting that the Camera app has been revamped with OneUI 7, improving usability.

In daylight and with good lighting, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is capable of capturing excellent detail, dynamic range, and colors across all cameras. The new ultrawide camera in particular delivers sharper results than before, especially with small / far away objects not having that oil painting look anymore. Portraits are good, though facial details could be sharper. The 5x telephoto excels for tighter shots but beyond that, it loses its sharpness and gets a more processed look in an attempt to make it look better.

In lowlight scenarios on the other hand, you typically get balanced exposures but with visible noise in darker areas. Night mode smooths noise but the results can feel a tad bit artificial. Ultrawide and telephotos perform decently but don’t feel like a major upgrade from its predecessor. Arguably the biggest downfall here is that the S Pen has lost its Bluetooth functionalities, so you can no longer use it as a remote shutter.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s camera evolution remains slow, with incremental improvements rather than groundbreaking upgrades. While it still delivers high quality images, it doesn’t feel like a major leap forward from its predecessor.

AI Features

Normally, I wouldn’t have a specific section just for AI but given how extensive it gets with Galaxy AI and Google Gemini, there’s a lot to talk about. From seamless multitasking to intelligent automation, the combination of both AI platforms is a game-changer. For instance, while planning for an upcoming event, I simply held down the side button and said, “Create a calendar entry for 12PM at Ampang”. It then asked me what was the occasion and I simply said “launch event” and it labeled the new entry accordingly. I followed up with, “Send calendar entry to Mama,” and Gemini drafted the text for me with the right intended person, making the entire process seamless.

Another useful feature is summarizing YouTube videos. Ever get those videos that seems way too long but you want to get quick rundown of the whole thing? I pressed the side button and asked Gemini to “Summarize this YouTube video.” While it can’t seem to detect the video automatically and instead asks for the URL, it does summarize with decent accuracy within seconds after pasting the video’s URL. I could even ask it to save the summary into Samsung Notes for later reference.

The AI Select feature understands context better than before. While browsing my gallery, I can long press any picture and easily convert any of the subjects I want into stickers along with the ability to choose the final look. It seems to do a much better job of separating the subject from its surroundings, even when darker tones are in play. If you have videos, you can even use the long press to immediately transform into a high-quality animated GIF, saving you the hassled of using 3rd party apps. If the picture has important details like travel information on a bus or plane ticket, it can even help organize this info into a calendar entry for an easy reminder.

One of my favorite AI-powered features is the improved Circle to Search. Let’s say you have a song stuck in your head but you have no idea what’s the title nor who the artist is. Just hold the side button, tell Gemini that you need help identifying a song and it will ask you to play, sing, or hum the song. I randomly hummed Gym Class Heroes’ Stereo Hearts and it managed to identify it with ease, along with other similar tunes displayed in a lower entry. No more Shazam with this around.

Searching for content is practically effortless. Instead of manually scrolling through my photo albums, you can type a description, like “food” in my instance, and it will list all the relevant photos related to the word. Even in Settings, as seen in the picture above, you can easily find what you need by writing descriptions like “change clock format” or “adjust display resolution”. Of course, you’d have to be more specific if you want better results as I used a general term to get an idea of how well it defines it. With “food”, it seems to also include results of me and other subjects in a restaurant as well, so do keep that in mind.

The AI capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra have truly redefined how I use my smartphone. The combination of seamless multitasking, context-aware assistance, and intuitive interactions makes everyday tasks smoother and more efficient. There’s definitely plenty of room for improvement, especially in terms of context and the AI’s capabilities in accessing certain apps / data, but I’m quite pleased with its current state. Whether I’m planning a trip, managing my schedule, or searching for information, it feels like a true AI-powered companion, and I do expect this pop up for its siblings as well as predecessors like the S24 series.

The Good

There are a number of good reasons to consider getting the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. For starters, the design has seen a notable change as the rounded corners now make it more in line with its other siblings. Moreover, it’s slightly narrower and is about 14g lighter, making it easier to hold. It still maintains its titanium build and IP68 rating, so it’s still as premium as durable as ever.

With this new flagship, we get a new Gorilla Armor 2 for the display, which is said to withstand drops unto concrete from as high as 2.2 meters, and has improved anti-reflective properties. From what we can see, it’s hard to tell if it truly is less glaring / reflective compared to the S24 Ultra but a huge difference when compared to its flagship competition out there so far. It’s also worth noting that the screen did get bumped up to 6.9-inches, but this is because the bezels have become even slimmer.

The new One UI 7 seems to have been simplified to some degree, and I personally enjoy it as it looks cleaner and with superb fluidity. We’ve seen some good improvements in Galaxy AI here as well, especially for picture editing as it has a better understanding of the subject and elements in every picture now. It’s not perfect by any means, like the daily recap that Galaxy AI offers (Now Brief) can be a hit or miss affair, but there’s no denying how much it has improved since its launch. It will continue to get better and it’s something other Galaxy devices will be able to enjoy as well.

Lastly, the stereo speakers on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra sounds great. It’s practically on par with its predecessor but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing as you get to enjoy pleasing audio quality (along with a tiny bit of bass) at loud volumes without it sounding like it’s going to break.

The Bad

Of course, it has its share of drawbacks. For starters, while a lot of flagships in 2025 are finding ways to become more durable, such as with IP69 rating, this one seems to be playing it safe and sticking to IP68. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good figure and it’s generally quite durable still but if you want something more cutting edge, this will be one area you’ll be missing out on.

As mentioned earlier, the S Pen has also been effectively dumbed down as it no longer has Bluetooth. Samsung cited a lack of usage based on their customer data as the reasoning behind it but to me, I feel like it’s an odd move given how useful it can be with gestures and remote functionalities. It’s still useful as you can write and draw with ease while the lack of Bluetooth can also help improve the S25 Ultra’s battery life but it’s a step backwards that would personally make me opt for an S24 Ultra instead, especially since the S Pen is a major attraction factor.

While the battery life is great, it’s unfortunate that Samsung isn’t implementing any new technology for its battery. It’s still the same 5,000mAh lithium ion battery that you’ve seen for several years while the competition has started to embrace new battery technologies like Silicon Carbon battery with larger capacities. Again, it seems like Samsung is playing it safe here, which is understandable as they might risk a familiar disaster if they’re too gung ho in this department.

Lastly, and this is arguably the most baffling drawback for me, is that the display seems to be blander in terms of color. When compared to the S24 Ultra, it’s no longer as vivid or punchy as before, appearing dull in practically every use case. I’m not sure if this is due to the new Gorilla Armor 2 or not but it’s supposed to be a great quality display with a tried and true panel that the Korean giant is famous for.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra can be described as a safe evolution for the Korean giant. It has improved in some ways like the design and a new chip but it also seems to be taking a step back with matters like the removal of Bluetooth for its S Pen. With prices starting from RM5,999, it may only be worth jumping to if you’re coming from a much older device like the S22 series or prior given how pricey it is but if you’re still using the S23 Ultra or the S24 Ultra, it might be best to wait another year for it. It’s not a bad device, just that we expected more from it given how good its predecessor was.

At the end of our Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review, I award this flagship smartphone with our Bronze Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Samsung Malaysia for sending us this smartphone for the purpose of this review.