Since our review of the Samsung Galaxy A56, we’ve been eager to test Samsung’s true flagship lineup to see how it stacks up against the competition, and even against its own mid-range offerings. And the truth is, it hasn’t disappointed . Samsung’s flagship feels fantastic in the hand, and the answer is immediate: this Galaxy S25 Ultra is exactly the top-of-the-line device you expect when you pay what it’s worth.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, a top-level refinement
The specifications leave no room for doubt. We’re looking at a sublime device , with a quality in both components and materials that’s evident in both appearance and feel. Samsung has further refined the Ultra line with this straightforward and well-designed phone. It boasts a clean, almost industrial design, where the only standout feature is the prominent rear camera, which makes it clear that we’re in for exceptional photos.
Our only criticism of the design is how excessively protruding the cameras are and the angularity of the overall shape. Such a boxy design is less comfortable in a pocket and even less ergonomic in the hand. Yes, it’s true that it won’t slip out of your hand, but… it’s a rectangular prism without any curves . In return, we have a titanium and glass chassis with an outstanding level of finish and a weight of 218 grams , slightly lighter than the previous generation without sacrificing the 5,000 mAh battery.
On the front, we find its screen, sublime and interesting to look at even when not in use. The speed, refresh rate, and colors are a delight. Both the touch and the oleophobic coating work wonderfully, and the anti-glare treatment helps make it very visible in sunlight. We’re looking at a 6.9-inch LTPO AMOLED panel with Quad HD+ resolution and a refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz , capable of delivering a peak brightness of around 2,600 nits , more than enough for outdoor use and surpassing many rivals that are still at Full HD+.
Performance and hardware
As expected, the Galaxy S25 Ultra ‘s performance is flawless in everyday use. We haven’t experienced any lag, glitches, or other issues while working with it. The subtle modifications Samsung offers on top of Android make working with this device incredibly fast.
The only aspect I personally haven’t found useful is the S Pen . The lack of responsiveness I experience when writing, and perhaps my own clumsiness, makes the stylus more of an accessory than a truly useful tool in daily use. It’s convenient for taking notes and making occasional selections, but it feels underutilized compared to more advanced writing experiences on tablets or convertibles. Furthermore, this year it loses Bluetooth functionality and is relegated to tasks such as drawing, screen cropping, and little else.
That said, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor performs wonderfully for everything we’ve thrown at it. It’s a fantastic processor, and it handles even the most demanding tasks very well. It seems that Qualcomm is getting closer every day to being able to compete with Apple’s processors, which still maintain their raw power advantage, but the gap is narrowing here.
Add to that its 12GB of RAM , and multitasking on Android is incredibly fast and efficient. Playing games, browsing the web, or working on photo and video editing is a delight, demonstrating that this device can handle any task that comes up on a daily basis. There’s just one caveat: during long gaming sessions or demanding benchmarks, the device gets hotter than expected , and a slight performance drop due to throttling is noticeable when really pushing it. It’s not alarming, but it does lag behind some competitors in thermal management.
Battery and autonomy
Here comes one of the pleasant surprises of the S25 Ultra. On paper, it has the same 5,000 mAh battery and 45W fast charging (plus 15W wireless charging), but the combination of this hardware with the Snapdragon 8 Elite and the optimizations of One UI 7 makes for excellent battery life .
On a typical day—WhatsApp, social media, camera, some multimedia, and browsing—it’s easy to end the day with more than 50–60% battery remaining, easily lasting a day and a half if you’re not particularly heavy user. It consumes very little power in standby mode, and only in extreme scenarios (benchmarks, prolonged 4K or 8K recording, heavy AI use) do we see higher than desired battery drain. It’s not the fastest-charging high-end phone, but in return, it ranks among the best in real-time battery life when away from a power outlet .
Camera system
Here, Samsung excels with its cameras, both in terms of quantity and quality. The Korean giant has opted for the following camera configuration:
Technical specifications of rear cameras
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Main (wide-angle) : 200 MP , f/1.7, approx. 23 mm, ISOCELL HP2 sensor , OIS, laser focus and multi-directional PDAF.
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Ultra wide angle : 50 MP , f/1.9, 13 mm, 120º field of view, renewed sensor for improved macro and night photography.
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Telephoto lens 1 (3x optical zoom) : 10 MP , f/2.4, 69 mm, OIS, Dual Pixel PDAF.
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Telephoto 2 (5x periscope optical zoom) : 50 MP , f/3.4, 115 mm, OIS, with up to 100x «space» zoom combining optics and AI cropping.
Front camera
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Selfie : 12 MP , f/2.2, 26 mm, Dual Pixel PDAF and Auto-HDR.
Key features and Galaxy AI in the camera
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ProVisual Engine : a new AI-powered image processing engine that improves noise reduction and dynamic range, especially in low light.
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Nightography Video : Night video with a dedicated ISP to clean up noise and preserve detail.
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Recording up to 8K/30fps on the main camera and 5x telephoto lens, with Super HDR to preview and capture high dynamic range scenes in real time.
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Generative Edit and Sketch to Image : generative editing tools that allow you to move, resize or delete objects, fill backgrounds and draw with the S Pen so that AI can generate realistic elements from the sketch.
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Instant Slow-Mo : Turn any normal video into slow motion thanks to AI frame interpolation.
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Director mode and LOG recording : simultaneous recording with front and rear cameras, and a LOG profile for those who want to take their videos directly to professional editing tools.
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Expert RAW : now allows capturing up to 50 MP in «advanced» RAW and playing with 200 MP files for those who want to push the detail to the limit, although giant RAW files are still more of a testimonial than a practical one.
Everyday photographic quality
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s camera system redefines what we expect from mobile photography, establishing itself as a near-perfect tool for content creators and advanced users .
Its 200-megapixel main sensor captures an amazing level of detail, allowing aggressive cropping without losing sharpness, while the upgrade of its 50MP ultra-wide-angle lens completely transforms landscape and macro photography, offering clarity rarely seen in this type of lens.
But the real magic lies in its versatility : the combination of the two optical telephoto lenses (3x and 5x) along with the new ProVisual Engine guarantees very good portraits and a long-range zoom that maintains texture and color even in challenging conditions. Up to 10x the result is very solid; beyond that, the AI comes into play more and a slightly more watercolor-like effect is noticeable, although it remains usable for social media.
The zoom tests only encourage us to experiment further and demonstrate the potential of the lenses chosen by Samsung. From home, with distant subjects, we can go from 1x to 30x zoom with very little loss of quality, thanks to that 200MP sensor that allows image interpolation without any apparent loss of quality.
In daytime photography, the key word is balance : good sharpness, excellent white balance, and colorimetry that remains somewhat saturated, but without falling into a «drafted» effect. At night, it lags slightly behind some rivals that take more risks with processing, but in return, the scenes are somewhat more realistic, less «washed out» by AI.
Another interesting point is the camera filters and extensions . Samsung has opened up more to third parties, and we have countless downloadable filters, so we’ll always have a style that fits what we’re looking for on social media.
Software: One UI has reached a very interesting level of maturity.
With the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Samsung continues to rely on One UI 7 based on Android 15 , a skin that has evolved into one of the most complete and polished on the market. The key lies in two pillars: design and artificial intelligence .
Visually, the system is much more coherent, with a lock screen that displays real-time information, a clearer quick settings panel, and the new Now Brief , which summarizes your day with appointments, reminders, and contextual cards. The result is a very mature experience, packed with features, but without the chaotic feel of the early TouchWiz versions.
The AI component relies on Galaxy AI and integration with Gemini for tasks such as:
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Call assistant with transcription and recording (with prior notice).
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Writing assistant in any text field.
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Split-screen interpreter for conversations in another language.
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Audio note-taking and transcription assistant.
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Audio eraser to clean noise in videos.
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Photo and drawing assistant that integrates directly with the camera app.
Some features, such as automatic call transcription, are still not perfect and occasionally make up words, but overall the feeling is that Galaxy AI is no longer just a demo , but a set of tools that can actually be used on a daily basis.
Finally, we mustn’t forget one of the biggest selling points of the S25 Ultra: 7 years of system and security updates , matching Google’s promise with its Pixel phones and guaranteeing that this phone will continue to receive Android and One UI until 2032. It’s probably one of the phones with the best long-term lifespan that you can buy right now.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is, in almost every way, the Ultra we expected: a very premium design (although somewhat too rectangular), one of the best screens on the market, more than enough performance for years, surprisingly good battery life, and a camera system that’s at the top of the charts, with unparalleled zoom and increasingly useful AI.
It has room for improvement in thermal management under heavy load, in fast charging (45W feels insufficient compared to what the competition offers), and in an S Pen that desperately needs more prominence. But all in all, it’s a well-rounded device and, above all, boasts an exceptionally long lifespan thanks to its 7 years of support.
