7.6
Score

This is the easiest and the toughest review we have done to date because not only does the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra share a lot of similarities with the S24 Ultra (which is boring, but the good kind of boring) but also at the same time, the downgrades with this makes the S24 Ultra look like a better phone. So with this sentiment, should you purchase this new “Ultra”? Let’s share in this Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review.+

What do you mean by “Good-kind-of-Boring?”

Now there are two kinds of boring in the tech space for us: the bad kind, where a brand just changes the hardware, can’t take feedback, and does not have a single software improvement, which spans for few generations. And then there’s the good kind, where the brand has perfected the formula that it has an “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” policy.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra gives off more of a good-kind-of-boring – where One UI gives a safe and awesome experience from the get-go, their consistency with updates (although it took 2 months for Samsung to patch the update for the S25 Series, and delay OneUI 7 for everyone else – which we will call it a “Twilight Zone” effect) – they have more good thing going on than any other phones in the Android space.

Although Samsung wouldn’t admit it they are now the iPhones of the Android world where everything feels the same for the past few generations with minor changes here and there. So, from this standpoint – the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra looks like a great phone to opt for, which it is. However, what Samsung did to the S25 Ultra this year particularly, is downright disappointing – and many in our circle opted for the S24 Ultra despite being a year old. You know why but we are going to talk about it.

For Starters, The S Pen lost its Magic

The biggest b*tch slap to every Note/Ultra fan out there who loved the S Pen for this ultimate one-tool for everything is now dead. From Note 9, we saw the S Pen be more than a writing tool. You could use it as a remote for photography, gesture controls and so much more. There was a time I used it as a remote for a presentation in my medical school – that’s how amazing the tool was.

But now, downgrading the S Pen to just a writing tool makes the S25 Ultra look a lot inferior to the S24 Ultra. Now, sure – if you are in the “I’ve never used those features, so it doesn’t concern me” camp like me, sure. But you’d be surprised that a lot of people use the feature on a day-to-day basis. Then again, it’s weird to hear from Samsung that based on the feedback they received, these features weren’t being used – which is why they removed it. Again, the backlash says otherwise. This is truly a huge bummer.

You still have the best stylus experience on Android but sadly, it’s no longer the cutting-edge stylus experience Samsung was known for.

Secondly, there are only 3 upgrades to take note of

It’s 2025 and of course, the processor is the first thing to get refreshed – and we see the Snapdragon 8 Elite under the hood. What’s there to say? It’s a capable processor, hits impressive performance scores in benchmarks, more importantly – performs the way it should in the real world.

And just like any Snapdragon flagship processor, thermal issues are inevitable despite the bigger Vapor Chamber cooling system Samsung has opted in for the phone. During our time gaming on the phone, the phone does get toasty in just 8 minutes and over 30 minutes it does get a little uncomfortable to hold. A casing would help with holding the phone but it is still going to get toasty.

Throughout our testing, games were running at the highest settings possible – and with the help of the Game Booster, we could scale however we want, and we did crank it up to the fullest. This also consumes the battery a lot. But our goal is just to find out how the thermals are and this is what you are signing up for.

The temperature rise is expected, as games can get demanding and you need all the resources to keep things going. What I do like about the performance, is the scalability – you can choose between Performance, Balanced or Energy Saver modes depending on your situation. On top of that, those who like to connect their charger whilst playing can even pause the charging and that way the battery thermals don’t affect the performance and the battery health.

The second upgrade is in the camera department: specifically just one sensor, the Ultrawide. It gets an upgrade to 50MP vs the 12MP sensor we saw with the S24 Ultra. Now, initially, I wasn’t too hyped about this because the 12MP sensor was already doing a fantastic job until I shot with the 50MP.

The quality and the clarity it brings to the table and retaining the same colour science as the main sensor is a great improvement. Usually, when you have a higher Megapixel primary sensor and a lower MP secondary sensor, you can see the obvious colour shifts and quality. So, yes, the 50MP is a welcoming improvement for me – as I love to shoot with Ultrawide a lot. Take a look at the sample shots below.

The other camera sensor performs okay and the 3x optical zoom sensor is still the same 10MP which I hope to see improved in the next generation. With the camera system, more software improvements are going on – like default 10-bit recording, LOG support which is a first on a Samsung and all that – but we will dissect this in the camera-centric review.

Finally, the third improvement – the design and the new Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 with the improved anti-reflection coating. I am a fan of this, more flatter frame finish because it’s easier to grip and use. Since this is a big phone, you need that grip so that it doesn’t slip from your hands.

The matte finish on the frame and the back glass is still as same as its predecessor. I am still not a fan of the Titanium frame because titanium as a metal is best used in other tech products where it’s necessary and in healthcare than on a phone. But what I am a fan of is the new Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

Corning has been on the winning streak for a long time now and despite all the challengers, they have a better product in their hands after all. The new one has a better anti-reflective coating which works too well. Under bright sunny situations, to be able to see your display is a huge advantage and I wish to see this coating on other smartphone display – once you get used to it, its hard to part ways with.

Other than these three improvements…

Choosing the best face for your photos

Samsung is still heavily focusing on the AI features, which is the Galaxy AI. But this year, out of the three features they have introduced and improved, one of them is a huge bust. Let’s start with the good ones. The Image editing is much better – and despite it being a cloud-based AI feature, it works too well.

Too good – by now I am sure y’all have seen the videos of people hiding their faces and the AI doing its thing to regenerate those details. And then there’s the Audio Eraser – an amazing tool, especially for those who record at places with other noise problems.

The biggest Bust: the Now Brief

Samsung hyped this “pill-shaped” notification to be the best thing they have made for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (and other S25 as well) and it’s based on your behaviour – on how you use the phone. The reason why it took us a month to do this review is to see if it picks up my pattern.

But I am happy to report that, this is a huge bust. Not only it doesn’t give you useful updates based on the limited app support they have but some of the design choices for this are so weird. For instance, the weather update is neat but when you tap it, why is it opening a browser when the phone has a pre-installed weather app?

The routines do go well with this but the Now brief shows little to no information I need, no information on the sports I follow, no scorecards to be seen but the music control is okay. Other than that – this is overhyped and a dud.

Because of this…

Samsung needs to really re-think their strategy on banking on “AI” and think that it’s going to miraculously improve the phone. Rest of the Galaxy AI features are features we have seen in the past. Not much to say but sure there’s some slight improvement as the NPU on the new 8 Elite is capable of handling more tasks.

There’s nothing else to talk about on the phone – to give a TL; DR on the rest of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra:

  • The battery capacity is the same, with the same charging speeds. Although, Samsung has confirmed that the Samsung Galsupports Qi2 Charging, which is good.
  • The rest of the camera performs a wee bit better but its not a generational leap from its predecessor.
  • The QHD+ display is slightly bigger and looks great, so, if you choose to watch shows or series, you will be happy with the colours and such.
  • The speakers sound okay, you get this stereo effect, despite the one bottom-positioned speaker.

Conclusion

The thing with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is that – for the most part, it is a good phone that does what it is supposed to do. But the bigger problem is, that this phone does a lot less than its predecessors – which makes me want to question Samsung’s thought process and direction. Not to forget, despite the phone doing a lot less, the SRP of this phone isn’t cheap either.

So, here’s my final verdict: get the S25 Ultra, if you stumble upon great savings (trust us, the price will drop soon) and you don’t care about the nuked S Pen, and you are okay with what it is. But if the super tool S Pen is what you need, go for the S24 Ultra. Safe to say that, we will see the LOG feature and other camera-centric features come to the S24 Ultra as it is a OneUI feature after all. We don’t see a reason why the S24 Ultra shouldn’t have.

For more tech, gaming, and lifestyle content, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Better yet, stay tuned to The Adventures of Vesper.