Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: It’s so good I’m thinking of ditching my iPhone

Here’s the most ironic thing about the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The moment it launched, lots of people were calling out Samsung for copying the iPhone’s design.

But after testing this device I actually think the S25 Ultra is the closest Samsung has come to convincing me to ditch my iPhone.

The 6.9-inch display on the latest Ultra is brighter; the cameras are more versatile and arguably just better; and the S25 Ultra is packed with smarter AI features I wish the iPhone 16 Pro Max had, like the ability to perform multiple actions at once across apps using just your voice. And it’s all wrapped up in a design that — while Phone-like — is lighter than its main rival.

Samsung did cut some corners with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The S Pen no longer has Bluetooth. And the newly added Qi2 charging support forces you to buy a compatible case. No magnets here.

But overall the performance, battery life and AI smarts on the Galaxy S25 Ultra add up to the best Android phone I’ve tested and possibly the best phone period.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra specs

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: Release date and price

The Galaxy S25 Ultra has a release date of February 7, and it still starts at the same “yikes”- inducing starting price of $1,299 / £1,249 for 256GB of storage. You can upgrade to 512GB for $1,419 or 1TB for $1,659 but while pre-orders are still happening you can get 512GB for the same price as 256GB and 1TB for the usual 512GB price.

Samsung is also offering up to $1,200 off, which includes up to $900 in instant trade-in credits and up to $300 in Samsung credits. Check out our Galaxy S25 Ultra deals page for the best discounts available.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: Design

• Rounded corners feel better
• Lighter than S24 Ultra
• No S Pen or Qi2 magnets

As they say, haters are gonna hate. But I think some of the criticism around the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s design being too iPhone-like is warranted. The sides are flat now just like the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and the corners are rounded, which means the Samsung digs into your hand less than the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

But I actually blame Samsung for not copying the iPhone enough. I’m talking about the left and right edges of the design. They’re too sharp for my taste and make the phone less comfortable to hold and use. Apple does a better job of beveling these edges so they’re smoothed out.

The titanium frame feels as sturdy as ever, and the thinner bezels allowed Samsung to increase the screen size slightly from 6.8 to 6.9 inches. I also like the floating camera design on the back. It looks better than the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s unsightly patch.

Measuring 6.41 x 3.06 x 0.32 inches and weighing 7.69 ounces, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has nearly the same dimensions of the iPhone 16 Pro Max while being noticeably lighter than Apple’s 7.99-ounce handset when I was holding both phones. The S24 Ultra weighed in at 8.22 ounces while being a slightly thicker 0.34 inches.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra color options are not exactly wild. There’s Titanium Black, Titanium Gray, Titanium Silverblue and Titanium Whitesilver. I tested the Silverblue hue and I think it has just enough pop without being too in your face.

If you’re feeling more adventurous, Samsung.com is also offering online exclusive colors like Jadegreen, Jetblack and Pinkgold.

There’s two design trade-offs I need to talk about here. One way Samsung cut down on the weight is a notable downgrade to the S25 Ultra that removes the Bluetooth radio from the S Pen. That means you can’t perform air gestures like taking photos remotely, though Samsung says it removed Bluetooth because not enough people were using the features.

The second trade-off is that the S25 Ultra has half-assed Qi2 charging support. I say that because the magnets are not built into the phone itself. So if you want to easily attach to magnetic Qi accessories like docks and car mounts you’re going to have to spring for a special case.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: Display

• Brighter than iPhone 16 Pro Max and more colorful
• New Gorilla Armor 2 for drop and scratch protection

The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s display is the closest to perfect we’ve tested yet, and that’s saying something because the S24 Ultra was frickin’ good.

The size has grown from 6.8 to 6.9 inches, thanks to slimmer bezels. And that makes this an even more immersive canvas for movies, games and more.

When watching the trailer for “Superman” side by side with its predecessor, the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s display was a bit more vivid and brighter than the S24 Ultra when viewed outdoors. I then watched the same trailer on the S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max indoors, and I’d say they were neck and neck with the Samsung doing slightly better in darker scenes like those with stars.

In our lab testing, the Galaxy S25 Ultra turned in a max brightness of 1,860 nits. That doesn’t eclipse the insane score the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL turned in (2,469 nits), but it does beat the iPhone 16 Pro Max (1,553 nits) by a fair margin.

* lower is better

The Galaxy S25 Ultra also turned in better scores for color saturation, covering 128.1% of the sRGB color gamut and 90.8% of the DCI-P3 color space. The iPhone 16 Pro Max hit 114.1% and 80.9%, respectively.

Samsung even won out in terms of color accuracy with a Delta-E score of 0.24 (where 0 is perfect). Apple’s flagship scored 0.26. You can get even richer colors if you set the Samsung display to Vivid mode.

The S25 Ultra’s screen promises better durability, too, though we have not been able to test it. It’s made of Corning Gorilla Armor 2, which is designed to provide better drop protection and better scratch resistance.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: AI features

• Cross-app actions is very impressive
• Deep Gemini integration; improved Circle to Search
• Now Brief needs work

There’s always that one feature that you want to show your family and friends when checking out a new phone, and with the Galaxy S25 Ultra that’s cross-app actions. With Google Gemini now deeply integrated into Samsung’s flagship, you can accomplish multiple things at once using just your voice.

There’s always that one feature that you want to show your family and friends when checking out a new phone, and with the Galaxy S25 Ultra that’s cross-app actions.

For example, I pressed the side button on the S25 Ultra and said “Look up the date and time of the Oscars and add it to my calendar and then text it to Mike.” The phone then looked up the info, and I could see it connecting to Google Workplace to make the addition to my calendar. It then sent the text to my brother with the relevant info.

That’s pretty impressive, and it shows the potential of agentic AI on your phone.

I also asked Gemini to look up the top 5 rooftop bars near me in New York City and then output the list to Samsung Notes, making sure to include the phone number and address for each one. Within several seconds, I had my list.

Cross-app actions work with Samsung’s apps, Google’s apps and third-party apps like WhatsApp and Spotify. And I’d certainly like to see this list expand.

Another helpful new AI feature is AI Select, a key part of Samsung’s One UI 7 software that can look at the content on your screen and provide contextually relevant suggestions. For example, I could easily turn a portion of a YouTube Short video into a GIF with a couple of taps.

Note that this feature is different from the popular Circle to Search, which gains new powers with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. You still long press the home button to activate Circle to Search, but it can now recognize emails, phone numbers and URLs on your screen; you just tap and go. Plus, Circle to Search can now recognize sounds or music in things like videos.

Personalization is another big theme with the Galaxy S25 Ultra and One UI 7, and that comes with two major AI features. The first is Now Brief, which can give you a quick summary to start your day. You’ll be able to see the latest weather, your upcoming appointments and the latest news at a glance, as well as suggested Spotify playlists.

The idea is that Now Brief will get smarter over time as it learns more about you via what’s called the Personal Data Engine. Think of it as a personalized large language model. The Now Brief can also summarize things like the Energy Score from your Galaxy Watch, as well as show highlight photos from your day out.

I’d like to give Now Brief more time to see if it lives up to its actionable insights promise, but at least during my testing it was a bit too barebones. Plus, some of the news it suggested was click-bait fodder like “Conservative Crusader Played Secret Role in Spread of ‘Anti-Woke’ Schooling.”

The Now Bar is a handy tool that’s designed to give you timely info on your lock screen, from sports scores and reminders to timers and directions. It’s very similar to Live Activities on the iPhone, and I like how you can easily flip between multiple alert boxes on your home screen, which are stacked on top of each other like cards. However, I’d like to see Samsung add more partners, such as Uber for seeing your rideshare status at a glance or DoorDash for your delivery updates.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra has lots of other AI powers that are worth trying out. With the help of Google Gemini, I can ask about a video I’m watching on YouTube and get quick answers to questions. For example, I asked Gemini to summarize the top 25 AI features announced during Unpacked and the AI analyzed the video and came back with a list. That’s pretty amazing.

You can also ask questions about any photos on your screen. I pressed the side button and asked about a church I saw in San Jose and found out that it’s the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, which is an example of Romanesque Revival architecture. So the S25 Ultra can easily be your tour guide.

Last but not least, the Galaxy S25 Ultra makes searching for images in your library easier with natural language. I could just type “flower close-up” and instantly see macro shots I took with the ultra-wide camera, though it strangely left some out. And you can get super specific with your searches, such as “fountain with icicles around it.”

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: Cameras

• Sharper 50MP ultrawide
• Excellent low-light results
• Macros could be better

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The Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn’t offer much in the way of camera hardware changes. The key upgrade involves the ultrawide sensor, which gets a boost from 12MP on the S24 Ultra to 50MP. This means better detail in your shots, as well as the promise of sharper macro photos.

Otherwise, you get the same 200MP main sensor, 50MP 5x telephoto, 10MP 3x telephoto and 12MP front shooter found on Samsung’s previous Ultra model.

To test out the S25 Ultra’s ultrawide camera I pointed it at this creek. Comparing the image to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, I preferred the detail in the water and snow from the Samsung shot. The iPhone’s pic is brighter but it offers less contrast in the sunny part of the frame and looks a bit blown out.

In macro mode, the S25 Ultra fell behind the iPhone 16 Pro Max in this close-up of a crystal. There’s a lot more definition in the iPhone’s pic while the Samsung looks a bit blurry.

When it comes to capturing colors, the S25 Ultra’s 200MP main camera is fantastic. The blues, greens, purples and oranges really pop in this Samsung photo of a mural, and there’s more gradation in the hues versus the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s shot, even if the iPhone’s image is brighter overall.

There’s more dimension and depth to some of the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s photos as well. Take this image of the San Jose Museum of Art with a sculpture in front of it. There’s more definition in the brick and the pic feels more 3D.

So how about low light? This photo of some plants and a small thinking person sculpture taken in almost complete darkness is a bit brighter through the iPhone than the Samsung, but if you zoom in there’s less noise in the S25 Ultra’s shot.

Outdoors in low light, I took this photo of a street with colorful strings of lights hanging down at 5x zoom. I prefer the S25 Ultra’s photo because the lights are more distinct and you can make out more detail at the top of the lamp posts.

The funny thing about this portrait shot from the S25 Ultra is that I like it because it does some of the things I generally prefer the iPhone for. My face has a warmer tone to it and my blue shirt pops a bit more off of a more artfully blurred background.

It’s a similar story with this selfie. The iPhone 16 Pro Max offers more detail in my hair and wayward eyebrow hairs but the S25 Ultra pulls in more light, especially on my face and eyes.

With this 10x zoom shot of a clock, the iPhone 16 Pro Max produces the more inviting, share-worthy shot with its brighter sun bouncing off the bricks and lighter blue sky. But the S25 Ultra wins on details when you look at the bricks themselves and metal around the clock.

For more samples, see our dedicated Galaxy S25 Ultra vs iPhone 16 Pro Max photo shoot-out, but overall I think the Galaxy S25 Ultra is easily one of the best camera phones we’ve tested.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Galaxy S25 Ultra picks up some new AI photo editing tricks. The most notable features include an improved Generative AI edit that does a better job of removing unwanted subjects from your images (including their shadows).

In addition, the S25 Ultra gets one of my favorite Galaxy Z Fold 6 features: Sketch to Image. I drew a very crude looking bee on top of a flower with the S Pen, and this phone turned it into a realistic looking bee in seconds.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: Video

• Log video support built in
• Brilliant and colorful HDR footage
• Audio Eraser works well

The Galaxy S25 Ultra steps up its video recording game with 10-bit HDR support for more colorful results, as well as the ability to shoot in Log format for pros who want more creative control over their footage.

I put the S25 Ultra up against the iPhone 16 Pro Max in this first clip of the Bryant Park fountain, and both phones deliver crisp video. However, as I zoom in to 5x, the Galaxy S25 Ultra delivers a brighter stone in the fountain and crisper looking water. Bonus points for the Samsung offering louder sound with its zoom mic.

Samsung also recorded better looking video when I used both phones to record skaters in Bryant Park. As I pan around, the iPhone’s footage looks softer with more of a haze. You can make out more details in the signs around vendor booths as well as in the windows above the rink through the Samsung.

The S25 Ultra steals a trick from the iPhone 16 Pro Max and improves upon it with a new Audio Eraser feature. While the iPhone lets you remove unwanted background noise with its Audio Mix, Samsung goes further on the S25 Ultra by letting you fine tune certain sounds, such as wind, voices, music and crowd.

In this video you can hear the before and after results with Audio Eraser, which works remarkably well. My voice sounds a bit computerized but overall the Audio Eraser-treated version is a major improvement over the original.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: Performance

• Powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chip
• Excellent benchmark scores

The Galaxy S25 Ultra is powered by an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip along with 12GB of RAM, and it’s definitely one of the fastest phones we’ve tested.

I flipped between over a dozen open apps — constantly dipping in and out of Chrome, Spotify, Photos and more — and the S25 Ultra remained silky smooth under pressure.

The S25 Ultra is also a gaming beast. I enjoyed rock solid frame rates when playing “Diabolo Immortal” even with over a dozen enemies on screen. When I unleashed my undead minions on some overgrown spiders while also brandishing my thresher, the gameplay remained fluid.

The S25 Ultra beat the iPhone 16 Pro Max in some key benchmarks but not all. On Geekbench, which tests a phone’s CPU, the S25 Ultra turned in a higher multi-core score but lower single-core score.

But when it came to graphics performance, the S25 Ultra blew away the iPhone with a much higher frame rate in the 3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited test.

If you’re transcoding video, though, the Samsung was a good 30 seconds behind Apple in our Adobe Premiere Rush test.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: Battery life and charging

• Superb endurance with over 17 hours on a charge
• Still 45W charging but faster than iPhone

It’s not quite the longest lasting phone we’ve tested, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra certainly earns a spot on our best phone battery life list.

On the Tom’s Guide Battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over 5G at 150 nits of screen brightness, the S25 Ultra’s 5000 mAh battery lasted an epic 17 hours and 14 minutes. That’s about 30 minutes better than the Galaxy S24 Ultra but about 20 minutes behind the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

However, when we enabled the lower power 60Hz screen mode on the S25 Ultra, this handset lasted an even longer 18:35.

The OnePlus 13 is the champ among current flagship as it endured for 19:45 in auto mode with its 6,000 mAh battery.

In terms of charging speed, the S25 Ultra remains at 45W, which is faster than the iPhone’s 30W speed but slower than the 80W supported by the OnePlus 13. A drained S25 Ultra reached 71% after 30 minutes of charging, compared to 55% for the iPhone 16 Pro Max and 92% for the OnePlus.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: One UI 7 software and updates

• One UI 7 is more streamlined with dedicated Quick Settings
• Call transcripts is pretty handy

The One UI 7 update is mostly about sprinkling more AI throughout the system, but there’s some other welcome upgrades outside of that. For example, the notifications and quick settings are now split up, and you access the former with a swipe from the top left and the latter from the top right.

I personally like the look of the new quick settings menu. It’s very Control Center-like, but it’s super intuitive.

In terms of AI features, I like the new call transcript feature. You can see the contents of your call after you hang up, and if it’s a longer call, you can ask for an AI summary.

Lastly, I like that Samsung has simplified and streamlined the controls in the camera app, so it’s easier to find the various buttons while freeing up more room for your live view.

Samsung backs up the S25 Ultra with 7 years of software and security updates. Along with Google’s matching software support for its Pixel phones, that’s the longest period available to any current phone.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: Verdict

Sure, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is an iterative update, but Samsung has made big improvements where it matters most, including introducing AI features that will save you time and make your life easier. The ability to perform actions across multiple apps at once using your voice has the potential to change how we interact with our phones forever.

But it’s clear that Samsung needs to add more partners, both for this AI agent feature and for things like Now Bar. I’m less impressed with the Now Brief (at least until I spend more time with the phone), and I wish Samsung had included Qi2 magnets in the phone itself so you didn’t have to buy a case to connect to magnetic accessories.

But overall, I really like the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Its AI smarts, vivid display, mostly top-notch cameras, super smooth performance and long battery life add up to a very impressive flagship — so impressive that I’m tempted to switch to Android myself.