The S25 keeps what’s good about Galaxy and bolts on some impressive AI. For top-end buyers, it’s an easy choice.
(Credit: Eric Zeman/PCMag)
I’ve spent a lot of time lately using Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, the high-end version of Samsung’s latest flagship line. The phone comes packed with a lot of positives, but what stands out to me are the AI features. Not only are they often handy and helpful, but Samsung has managed to add those enhancements while keeping the old Galaxy feel.
Like last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, the S25 Ultra has basically every high-end feature you can think of, including an S Pen stylus, a holdover from the Galaxy Note years. The screen—a 6.9-inch AMOLED display (3,120 by 1,440 pixels)—is slightly larger than last year’s, even though the handset overall is smaller. At 6.40 by 3.11 by 0.34 inches (HWD) and 7.69 ounces, the S25 Ultra is still a large phone, but it’s a bit thinner and lighter than the S24 Ultra.
The new model also has a titanium frame and more rounded corners, which I like more than the very square corners on the earlier one. The cover glass also got a rethink: It’s now Corning Gorilla Armor 2, which Samsung says is even better at resisting fractures. The phone can also resist a quick dip: Like other premium phones, it has an IP68 rating, meaning, in theory, it can handle up to 30 minutes in water as deep as about 5 feet.
(Credit: Eric Zeman/PCMag)
Finishing up our tour of the exterior, the S25 Ultra provides a volume key and a power button on the right side, with microphones on the top of the phone. The bottom of the phone has a dock for the S Pen stylus (more on this later), along with speakers, a USB-C port for the charger, and a SIM card tray. Like most current phones, it lacks expandable storage or a headphone jack, features I would like but don’t expect these days.
Under the hood, the processor has been upgraded to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, the better to support the AI features. In PCMag’s tests, the phone handily beat others in most benchmarks, although the iPhone 15 Pro Max did a little bit better in single-core performance.
Moving on to the battery, the S25 Ultra has a 5,000mAh unit capable of charging at 45W via cable or 15W wirelessly, just like the S24 Ultra. In PCMag’s tests, it lasted about as long as the one in the S24 Ultra; it was notably better than the Pixel 9 Pro XL, but not nearly as good as the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Samsung continues to set the default screen to FHD+ (2,340 by 1,080 pixels) to preserve battery life.
As for the rest of the hardware, the S25 Ultra follows its forerunner with the integrated S Pen stylus that docks into the bottom of the unit. I know people who have been fans of styli in phones going back to the early days of the Galaxy Note, and the S25 Ultra remains the top choice in this arena. The new pen is good for sketching or taking notes. It doesn’t seem to have changed much from the previous version, except for one nuance: The device no longer supports Bluetooth, which enabled “Air Actions” tasks, like remote control of the camera. But as far as I’m concerned, this is a relatively minor feature.
(Credit: Eric Zeman/PCMag)
The camera setup hasn’t changed much from last year’s model, either. The main camera is a 200-megapixel (MP) camera sensor with an aperture of f/1.7, optical image stabilization, and an 85-degree field of view. The setup also has what Samsung calls “adaptive pixel,” which supports multiple layers of binning. In most situations, when you use the main camera, the system will combine 16 pixels into one, creating a 12MP image. In the Pro mode, you can switch to capturing 50MP photos, where four pixels are combined into one. If you download the Expert Raw control, you can also set it for 24MP or even 200MP photos, which take up a lot more storage. My guess is that almost everyone will be happy with the 12MP option.
Like the S24 Ultra, the S25 Ultra includes a 50-megapixel f/3.4 telephoto camera with OIS, 5x optical zoom, and a 22-degree field of view; on the back, you’ll find a 10-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera with OIS, 3x optical zoom, and a 36-degree field of view. Like last year, there’s a 12-megapixel f/2.2 front-facing camera with an 80-degree field of view; that also worked well.
The ultra-wide camera on the S25 Ultra is a 50-megapixel f/1.9 with a 120-degree field of view, a significant improvement over the S24 Ultra’s 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera. Not only do you get higher-resolution shots, but also a high-resolution macro mode for detailed close-ups that look quite good.
In general, I’ve found the high-end Galaxy phones to take terrific photos, and the S25 Ultra is no exception. I got very detailed images with good colors, though the Samsung pictures are sometimes more saturated than those from other phones.
DATE . Apr/24/2025