Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: A year later, is it still worth it?

Samsung is in a good place with smartphones. It’s not only one of the two top phone manufacturers (the other being Apple), but it’s a biggest player in Android and that gives the brand some advantages. That’s why we’ve seen Samsung debut some Google AI features – Circle to Search – as well getting its own Snapdragon hardware to power its S25 phones.

But the message coming from Samsung has shifted dramatically over the past two years. With the introduction of Galaxy AI in 2024, Samsung has repeatedly hammered home the message of how artificial intelligence is here to take your smartphone experience to the next level. I don’t agree: I don’t currently find AI changing how I use my phone, with standout AI features still lacking.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is now a year old, so is it still worth it?

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The Disconnekt Downlow

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is every inch the flagship smartphone experience. There’s loads of power, a great display and a comprehensive set of cameras on this phone. The slight tweak to the design is subtle, but it feels totally different to the Galaxy S24 Ultra when you’re holding it – and it’s better for it. The quality feel of this phone transfers into the daily experience: One UI 8 is slick and smooth, and the promise of software support until 2032 means that this phone will be updated longer than you’re likely to use it. But for everything that’s right with this phone it has its downsides too: the battery life isn’t great, the charging speeds don’t match rivals, there’s duplication in the software and the AI – apart from in the camera – doesn’t seem to add much. I can overlook those things, however, because as a package, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a hugely enjoyable phone.

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The reasons you should choose the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Given the dominance of Samsung in the smartphone space, setting out to justify why you might want it might not seem necessary. But there’s no shortage of competition out there. Success has painted a target on Samsung’s back – it’s the brand to beat, and this, the Galaxy S Ultra, is the phone to beat.

Samsung’s attention to build quality in the Galaxy S25 Ultra is probably more important as a deflection of that hostility than the boost it’s given in strength: this phone saw the debut of Corning Gorilla Armor 2 to protect the display while also incorporating an anti-glare finish, while the frame is stronger and lighter. The squared edges frame a phone that’s slimmer than before, but there’s a larger display too.

Thanks to the bezels that have shrunk a little, the display is 6.9-inches and wonderfully flat. On the rear of the phone, the lenses have additional lens surrounds – they’re purely decorative – and I think they look great in making this phone stand apart from both the Galaxy S25+ and the older Galaxy S24 Ultra.

The display is big, flat and vibrant: it’s everything you expect from a Samsung display and I’ve loved gaming on this phone. The feel of the phone, that perfectly flat panel, the performance from the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy all comes together for a sublime experience. Let’s not overlook that the speakers also offer huge volume, so it’s a really immersive experience.

That hardware – and there’s 12GB of RAM backed by up to 1TB of storage – sits under a 40 per cent larger vapour chamber to keep everything cool, as the “for Galaxy” part of that chip name means it’s clocked slightly higher than rival devices. Does that mean it’s a faster phone? Not really – it doesn’t feel much different to other Snapdragon 8 Elite phones that I’ve used.

That might come down to the fact that it’s fast and fluid, just as its competitors are. That’s not to take anything away from Samsung, but the “for Galaxy” upgrade doesn’t really bring any real world advantages.

But this hardware is now a generation old, with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 now the talk of the town. But there’s only a marginal difference between old and new: buying the Galaxy S25 Ultra in 2026 doesn’t leave you with a phone that feels slow – and could save you some money.

There’s also a lot packed into the camera on the rear of this phone. The headlines are taken by the 200-megapxiel main camera, supported by a new sensor for the ultrawide. The new ultrawide camera’s biggest strength is that it allows closer macro images, while there are two telephoto cameras on the rear.

Why two, you might ask? Well, I suspect that some of the reasoning comes down to wanting to have the most comprehensive camera system. There’s a dab of marketing here, with both a 3x and 5x optical zoom camera. Both are welcomed, the 5x for its longer range, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that it has quite a narrow aperture, so as soon as it gets dark, the S25 Ultra defaults to the 3x instead.

I’ve taken hundreds of photos with the Galaxy S25 Ultra while I’ve been living with it and I’ve found it to be generally very good. I can’t imagine anyone getting this phone and being unhappy with the results from the camera. Is it as good as the Pixel 10 Pro? I don’t think it is, I think Google has an advantage in processing, producing cleaner images. As a smartphone package, there’s a huge amount that the Galaxy S25 Ultra does right and I could leave it there and tell you to rush out and buy it, but there’s another side to this story when you start digging into it.

What the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra could do better

I’ve not mentioned the fact that the Galaxy S25 Ultra still carries the S Pen, a hangover from the halcyon days of the Galaxy Note. There’s undoubtedly a subset of owners who love the S Pen, who will now be peeved that it no longer supports the remote Bluetooth trigger that it used to offer. I also suspect there’s a large number of Galaxy S Ultra owners who’ve never used the S Pen.

I’d be in favour of removing the S Pen from the chassis (as neat as it is) and filling the space with battery, because if there’s one thing that doesn’t impress me about the Galaxy S25 Ultra, it’s the battery life. I’ve found this phone wanting a recharge every night, as it powers through the charge that it has. That’s probably not going to change for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but rivals like the OnePlus 15 or Honor Magic 8 Pro now vastly outstrip the S25 Ultra in terms of capacity.

To compound things, Samsung sticks to its slower charging rates at 45W. Now, it’s not as straight forward as saying that 45W is bad, because this charging rate is fast enough unless you’re in a rush. Slower charging is also better for long-term battery life and it’s no slower than Apple or Google. Samsung manages the charge, so the charging rate is faster for slightly longer than it was on the old phone.

Now let’s talk about the display. I love the display on the S25 Ultra, but there’s one thing it doesn’t do well enough – and that’s peak brightness. I’m not talking about how bright it gets in bright sunshine, because it’s perfectly bright with the anti-glare finish working harder to kill reflections than rival displays. Instead, I’m talking about HDR performance.

This is a bit of a niche problem, but it’s an area where the Google Pixel knocks it out of the park. Why to the Pixel phones have such high peak brightness? Because it makes your HDR photos look so much better. Look at the same photo on the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Pixel 10 Pro XL and you’ll find it looks better on the Google phone – regardless of the camera that took it.

Why? Because the display offers higher peak brightness, so it can push those highlights brighter for better results. The 2600 nits of the Galaxy S25 Ultra pales compared to the 3000 nits of the Pixel, or even the 4500 nits of the OnePlus 13.

Finally we have software: Samsung has been slowly moving its software towards Google. It’s been a slightly reluctant move, but dropping some of its own apps has reduced duplication and confusion for users – and let’s face it, the Google apps offer a better experience within the Android environment.

That’s where we do full circle back to AI, because most of Samsung’s AI is only available through its own apps – in its keyboard or its browser for example. If you swallow the Galaxy AI message, you’re then more likely to use Samsung’s apps over Google’s, so it’s something of a Trojan Horse. I can’t blame Samsung for this: it’s long wanted to maintain its independence from other big tech brands, whether that’s through Exynos (which isn’t in any of the Galaxy S25 models, but is said to return for the Galaxy S26) or Tizen, Samsung doesn’t like putting its eggs in someone else’s basket – and that’s what Galaxy AI is doing – it’s giving Samsung some ownership of the user experience back.

What Galaxy AI needs, however, is something ground-breaking – and sadly the Now Bar and Now Brief isn’t it. Get me something that really understands me, really surfaces information I need (I don’t need the weather; I know what’s in my calendar) and I’ll sit up a pay attention. Until then, Galaxy AI doesn’t do much for me, which is why I think Samsung’s focus on it is slightly misplaced.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: What’s the difference?

At first glance you might think that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is just a minor refresh of the Galaxy S24 Ultra from 2024. To a certain extent that’s true and looking at the spec sheet, that’s what you might find – but once you spend a little time with these two phones, you’ll find that’s not the case.

The squared design of the Galaxy S25 Ultra is definitely better than the slightly softer curves of the S24 Ultra frame. It feels better in the hand, more premium, more sumptuous. It’s 14g lighter and 0.4mm slimmer, while also being 1.4mm narrower – small margins, but enough to make a difference.

Talking about margins, the expanded display moves from 6.8-inches to 6.9-inches and looks better in the frame. I already mentioned that the frame is more solid and the display is stronger too.

Then you have the ultrawide camera moving to a new 50-megapixel sensor over the 12-megapixel of the S24 Ultra, but it’s the closer macro function where you really benefit. The camera is slightly better overall, but it’s a close call, I don’t see a massive difference in use.

Naturally there’s more power in the Galaxy S25 Ultra thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy that powers it. On paper this reads out as quite a big difference, but when you’re reading your emails or browsing Instagram it makes no difference at all.

Finally I’m going to spring back to design: the corners on the S25 Ultra are rounded and they look so much better than the squared corners of the S24 Ultra. It’s personal opinion, sure, but just take a look for yourself.

The only thing that the older Galaxy S24 Ultra has over the new model is Bluetooth in the S Pen and that you might be able to find it cheaper.

Should you buy the the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra?

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra was Samsung’s flagship phone for 2025 and it’s packed with performance and features. It has a comprehensive camera offering, loads of power and I love the premium design. I won’t hesitate to recommend this phone to anyone who wants a flagship Android phone experience – this is it, right here. It’s just about to be replaced by the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but by all accounts, not much is set to change.

But the sharks are circling. Everyone wants to be better than Samsung and you can pick at the experience and find better aspects in other devices if you look for them. I still prefer the Pixel camera and the brightness of that display on the Pixel 10 Pro, the battery life of the OnePlus 13 is much better while Samsung’s drive towards AI feels a little lost.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a great phone, but not for the reasons that Samsung is talking about. It’s great because Samsung has been at top of the Android game for many years and offers a slick experience.

Buy from £1,249 on Amazon.co.uk

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