The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is Google’s Pixel for global for the second year in a row. On the plus side, this is the Pixel device that Google should have made because it combines a variety of unique software features that are not offered on Android or iOS devices on the market today.
On the downside, once again, the over-emphasis on software has made the S25 Ultra’s hardware a bit stale. But can I still recommend it to readers? Here’s the full review of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Specifications
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
6.9″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen, LTPO
WQHD+, 120Hz, HDR10+
Corning Gorilla Armor 2
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor (3nm)
2x Oryon V2 Phoenix L 4.47 GHz chips
6 x Oryon V2 Phoenix M 3.53 GHz
Adreno 830 GPU
RAM 12GB LPDDR5x
8GB of virtual Memory
Storage 256/512/1000 GB UFS 4.0
Main Camera 200MP f/1.7, OIS (Wide Angle)
50MP f/1.9 (Ultra Wide Angle)
10MP f/2.4, OIS (3X Telephoto)
50MP f/3.4, OIS (5X Telephoto)
Front Camera 12 MP f/2.2
5000 mAh battery
Charging wired 45W
Wireless charging 15W
Reverse 4.5W
Dual SIM/Telephony/5G
NFC Yes
Audio jack No
Waterproof IP68
Ultrasonic under-screen fingerprint scanning system
Face scanning
Price RM 5999 (12/256GB)
RM 6599 (12/512GB)
RM 7799 (12/512GB)
Screen
The screen is a 6.9″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X with a 120Hz LTPO refresh rate. This is only 0.1″ larger than the S24 Ultra. This is done with thinner bezels and therefore the body size of the S25 Ultra is unchanged. Therefore, the S24 Ultra frame can be reused on the S25 Ultra.
The screen still only supports HDR10+ displays unlike other Android manufacturers who also offer Dolby Vision support. The likelihood of Dolby Vision being supported in the near future is bleak because HDR10+ is a format developed by Samsung together with Panasonic and 20th Century Fox. Like last year, the screen has an anti-glare layer that makes the screen reflect light better. Hopefully this layer will last longer than on the S24 Ultra which started to disappear after 6 months of use.
S Pen support is also still included, but this year the stylus is no longer present with bluetooth support. A rather disappointing decision because only Samsung offers a feature that allows the stylus to control the camera. Even more disappointing is that Samsung now says the bluetooth feature is not supported at all on the S25 Ultra even if you buy an S Pen Pro.
Another thing I can say is that the haptic system also feels the same as last year. I can say that at the moment the best Android screen is the one used on the Oppo Find X8 series which feels more realistic than that enjoyed on the iPhone.
Biometrics
An ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is also maintained under the screen. Its position is still the same and is still easy to access with the finger you want to scan. Scanning can be done quickly even with the screen turned on first like the system on other Android devices.
The face scanning system is also provided but it only operates well in situations that are not too dark. Although the screen lights up brightly to scan the face, I realize that in dark conditions the probability of it failing is quite high.
Similar Three-Stone Design
Only two changes have been made to the external design of the S25 Ultra. First, the sides are now completely flat which makes it look more similar to the S25 and S25+. The device looks more solid and feels more comfortable in the hand because the side surfaces are now wider than the curved sides used so far. The body of the S25 Ultra retains the durable titanium construction material. However, I did not dare to do a drop test to see if it is really as durable as advertised.
Then the corners are also rounded. This is a change that I personally do not like because the screen with sharp corners before looks more “handsome”. Full-screen content is also not cropped because the screen should be square instead of rectangular with rounded corners like old CRT TVs.
The position of all the buttons, SIM tray, S Pen storage, audio grille and microphone holes are still the same. On the back there is a row of four cameras and a flash this time with a black ring around the lens and no longer a silver ring like the S24 Ultra. The Z Fold6 aesthetic is now carried over to the entire S25 series. The bump is not too big and tall when compared to other Android and iPhone devices on the market. The back panel is also made of glass to allow Qi wireless charging to be supported.
The rear camera consists of a 200MP wide-angle lens, a 50MP ultra-wide-angle, a 50MP periscope telephoto and a 10MP 3X telephoto. On the front, a 12MP sensor is used again. The only improvement is made to the ultra-wide lens which was previously only 12MP. As far as I know, the same sensor is used as last year with any changes only made to the software.
The body of the device also passes the IP68 dust and water resistance standard. It is awkward to see Samsung only offering IP68 while Oppo, Vivo and Honor have been offering IP69 devices since the end of last year.
Usage and Software
The One UI 7 operating system is used and it is based on Android 15 with visible changes to the icons, menu arrangement on the application tray, quick shortcut tray design and various other iconography that are now getting closer to Google Pixel. As a hardcore Samsung user since the TouchWiz era, I have to admit that the decision to get closer to stock Android is not something I like. Samsung's interface has its own design that I have been using for over a decade. Changes like this make me feel like I'm using the Pixel 9 Pro XL which I feel is one of the most disappointing devices of 2024.
So again I can label the S25 Ultra as a Pixel for the global because Google is still marketing their smartphones to all countries in the world. The experience of using the S25 Ultra is now more like the Pixel but much smoother. With the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, there is enough power to run various applications quickly without being blocked like the Pixel 9 Pro XL which only uses Tensor G4.
Various new features such as more advanced Google Gemini integration and can open more applications arrive on the S25 Ultra first before being given to the Pixel. I need to touch on the level of smoothness because One UI 7 is their smoothest operating system so far. I can put it on par with the iPhone 16 Pro Max but slightly behind the Oppo Find X8. This difference in smoothness can be felt when I returned to using the S24 Ultra during this review.
The new AI feature introduced is Now Brief which provides daily summaries in the morning, afternoon, evening and late night. It provides a daily agenda, weather forecast, health summary and sleep patterns. Samsung says it can provide morning commute recommendations before going to the office and news summaries.
But after a week of using the S25 Ultra, these two features did not appear at all even though I had enabled them on the phone. It is not known how to display the hottest news and various other promised features because Samsung did not inform them.
There is also a Now Bar that displays real-time information such as football scores directly from the lock screen. It can be seen as Dynamic Island but with an oval balloon at the bottom of the screen. It is simply Google Chrome notifications that are now larger and more noticeable. Now Bar can also control streaming music. It is still not 100% like Dynamic Island because there is no real-time Grab notification feature like there is on iPhone and Oppo devices. The Now Bar implementation feels undercooked.
In my Pixel 9 Pro review last year, I criticized Gemini for still not being capable enough to do tasks like telling me the daily agenda. With the S25 Ultra, Gemini support has been expanded to several Google, Meta and Spotify apps to resolve issues that existed on the Pixel 9 Pro.
For example, I can tell Gemini to find a good restaurant in Kuantan (where I was on holiday during Chinese New Year) and then send the list to my wife via SMS. I still hope that more app integration can be done because I still can't tell Gemini to send this list via email and WhatsApp as promised.
Samsung continues its promise of offering 7 Android version updates and 7 years of security patches on the S24 Ultra. This is the same as last year. At the moment, only Google and Samsung provide seven years of long-term support for their devices.
New features are noteworthy, but old features introduced last year are back with some improvements. There is Call Assist, which performs real-time language translation during phone calls.
Chat Assist can still automatically convert typed text to the selected language before it is sent via WhatsApp and Messages. Note Assist can automatically summarize documents for those who don't have enough time to read.
AI-powered photo and video editing has also been improved. The images generated in Photo Studio look more realistic than last year with a wider selection of styles. In video recording, AI Eraser can automatically remove background noise. This is especially useful if you're recording outdoors and don't want the video to be deleted by the platform for violating the copyright of a song that's playing.
All of the Galaxy AI features mentioned above are free until December 31, 2025. Samsung has yet to share information about what will happen on January 1, 2026 and what features will continue to be available after this date.|
Benchmarks
As usual, I used four benchmark apps to see how the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy performs on the S25 Ultra. The scores were then compared to phones with chips like the list below. I understand that the 8 Elite for Galaxy is a chip that is only offered to Samsung for their devices with changes to the CPU speed.
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy – Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Snapdragon 8 Elite (Gaming) – Redmagic 10 Pro
Snapdragon 8 Elite (Regular) – Realme GT7 Pro
Dimensity 9400 – Oppo Find X8 Pro
Apple A18 Pro – Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Apple A17 Pro – Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Tensor G4 – Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
AnTuTu 3D
Chip Score
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 1,946,864
Snapdragon 8 Elite (Gaming) 2,279,886
Snapdragon 8 Elite (Regular) 2,642,097
Dimensity 9400 2,629,017
Apple A18 Pro 1,720,751
Apple A17 Pro 1,542,050
Tensor G4 1,016,712
Geekbench 6
Single Core Multi Core Chip
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 2957 9435
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy (Gaming) 3009 9295
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy (Regular) 2789 9002
Dimensity 9400 2663 8959
Apple A18 Pro 3359 8129
Apple A17 pro 2793 6925
Tensor G4 1916 4644
Geekbench AI
Chip Single Accuracy Score Half Accuracy Score Quantized Score
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 2727 2703 4580
Snapdragon 8 Elite (Gaming) 2277 2356 4132
Snapdragon 8 Elite (Regular) 2307 2323 3027
Dimensity 9400 1728 1740 2147
Apple A18 Pro 3975 7744 6204
Apple A17 Pro 3705 6515 5696
Tensor G4 2058 2017 3129
3DMark Wildlife Extreme
Chip Score
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 6135
Snapdragon 8 Elite (Gaming) 6647
Snapdragon 8 Elite (Normal) 5922
Dimensity 9400 6251
Apple A18 Pro 4560
Apple A17 Pro 3746
Tensor G4 2567
The scores recorded are quite high when compared to the regular A18 Pro and Snapdragon 8 Elite. Do you want performance? The S25 Ultra does not disappoint. All video games that can be downloaded from the Play Store can be run at the highest settings. The best thing is that all the above can be run without the device feeling hot.
COD Mobile sessions can be played smoothly with just lukewarm body. This is due to the 8 Elite for Galaxy chip which is better in terms of power consumption and also the new larger cooling chamber this year. I can’t say anything negative about the performance of the S25 Ultra as it is truly ultra!
Camera
The main camera consists of a 200MP f/1.7 wide-angle lens (OIS), a 50MP f/1.9 ultra-wide-angle, a 10MP f/2.4 3X telephoto (OIS) and a 50MP f/3.4 periscope telephoto (OIS). This is paired with a 12MP front camera. As I said above, only the ultra-wide-angle lens is enhanced with another sensor, the same as the S24 Ultra.
Let’s start with the positives first. The camera has a very stable zoom mode and is the easiest to use on Android. The photos taken are beautiful in a variety of situations and regardless of lighting levels. The HDR mode is excellent at balancing dark and bright areas. In terms of portrait mode, it is getting smarter at differentiating subjects from the background. The camera is fast and very useful as it has four different lenses.
The negative is that I can't see any difference with last year's camera except for the improved portrait mode. It's hard to tell the difference between the photos taken with the S25 Ultra and the S24 Ultra. In blind tests at our office, the majority couldn't tell the difference between the photos taken unless they started zooming in on the ultra-wide angle photos. The increase from 12MP to 50MP is only noticeable on this lens. The conclusion is that there are no significant changes this year but the photos taken are still very good when compared to flagship devices in the same class.
Here are the photos taken at 1x, 3x, 10x, and 30x zoom settings. The photos taken still have a satisfactory level of sharpness up to 10X only. At 30X the image starts to break up and at 100X alone I feel the image quality is unacceptable.
Battery
The battery is still only 5000 mAh with charging still only 45W. Again, there is not a single change compared to the S24 Ultra. The good news is that the battery life is very good. In moderate use, there is no problem with the device lasting all day. If the charger is unplugged at 7 am, the device still has 30% battery at 10 pm.
In heavier use, SOT up to 8-9 hours can be achieved consistently. This makes me even more disappointed that the battery is still 5000 mAh. If the S25 Ultra is equipped with a 6000 mAh battery like the Realme GT7 Pro, there is no doubt that the owner can enjoy a longer battery life. Because the charging is only 45W, the battery is charged from 0-100% in 70 minutes.
In the Box
Here's what you get in the box with your purchase.
1x Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
1x USB-C to USB-C charging cable.
1x Manual.
1x SIM Pin.
Conclusion
The truth is that this year's S25 Ultra might be more apt to go by the name S24 Ultra Remastered as Samsung is starting to resemble Apple by offering smaller upgrades every year. The changes made to the hardware are so minimal that I can see it causing complaints from die-hard fans.
Is the S25 Ultra a failure? No. Is it a bad device? No? Does it bring noticeable changes to the software? Yes. Am I satisfied with using the S25 Ultra for two weeks? Yes, absolutely. Is it still worth it? Probably not because I think the S24 Ultra with One UI 7 will most likely have the same Galaxy AI capabilities but at a more affordable price point.
In conclusion, this is the last year Samsung can offer a device with 90% recycled hardware. Their “laziness” to make significant changes year after year will put Samsung Galaxy at risk of being given the new backup name Samsung GaLAZY.
Oppo, Honor, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme, Xiaomi and Redmi have been increasingly aggressive with offering products with stronger specifications but at more reasonable prices. Samsung’s strength now still lies in the best software suite on Android with 7 years of support. But if the price is not compatible with the economic situation of Malaysian consumers and the hardware is clearly not up to par with their competitors, they will shed tears when the coffin is carried.
In Malaysia, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is sold at a starting price of RM5999 for 12/256GB.
Pros
The body design makes it more comfortable in the hand and looks more robust.
One UI 7 is very smooth.
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy offers elite processing power.
AI features that have further enhanced its capabilities.
IP68 waterproof and dustproof.
Android 7 update support and 7 years of security patches
Improved battery life.
Cons
Minimal specification changes.
S Pen no longer supports Bluetooth.
Small battery capacity and slow charging compared to competitors.
Galaxy AI is only free until December 31, 2025.
No drastic changes to camera capabilities.