Galaxy S25 Ultra
Reviewers widely agree the S25 Ultra excels in display quality, performance, camera improvements, and battery endurance, with praise for the rounded design's comfort and titanium durability.
However, consensus splits on software execution—Samsung's AI features are praised as comprehensive but criticized as unreliable and gimmicky, and nearly universal frustration emerges over the controversial S Pen Bluetooth removal, unchanged charging speeds, and lack of bold upgrades justifying the $1,300 price.
The phone is consistently positioned as competent and refined but uninspired, with growing competition from iPhone and Vivo catching up in key areas.
[+] Strengths
- +Display excels with bright, vibrant screen and exceptional anti-reflective coating that dramatically reduces glare outdoors.
- +Performance is outstanding with Snapdragon 8 Elite chip delivering fast, smooth operation and superior thermal management via larger vapor chamber.
- +Camera system delivers sharp, detailed images with improved ultra-wide resolution at 50MP, better low-light performance, and professional video log support.
- +Design benefits from rounded corners for improved comfort, lighter weight, thinner profile, and premium titanium frame with stronger glass.
- +Battery life is excellent, easily lasting a full day with improved efficiency from the new chip and larger vapor chamber.
[-] Drawbacks
- -S Pen lost Bluetooth functionality, eliminating air gestures and remote camera shutter capability from previous generations.
- -Several AI features remain inconsistent or gimmicky, including unreliable AI Select, underwhelming daily briefs, and limited practical utility for many users.
- -Limited hardware upgrades for a $1,300 flagship—no new battery capacity, charging speeds unchanged, and missing features like IP69 rating or built-in magnetic charging.
- -Galaxy AI features uncertain future pricing—free only until end of 2025, with no clarity on paid tier costs after that period.
[~] Debates
- ~ design+Rounded corners and lighter weight significantly improve comfort compared to previous sharp designs-Design has become generic and lost the distinctive Ultra phone identity that made it premium
- ~ software+One UI 7 brings genuine improvements with powerful AI tools like Generative Edit that work reliably-Many AI features are underbaked, unreliable, or provide marginal benefit despite marketing focus
- ~ camera+50MP ultra-wide is a major upgrade delivering significantly more detail and better corner sharpness-Other phones now match or exceed S25 Ultra's camera performance, particularly iPhone and Vivo X200 Pro
- ~ battery+Battery life has improved significantly thanks to more efficient chip and larger vapor chamber-Battery capacity and charging speeds unchanged for years despite $1,300 price, lagging competitors significantly
[+]The Consensus
ID_GRP: POSITIVE_FEEDBACK// Display excels with bright, vibrant screen and exceptional anti-reflective coating that dramatically reduces glare outdoors.
"this is still absolutely one of the best displays. Super crisp, very bright, high refresh rate LTPO"
"I absolutely adore this screen... particularly with this anti-reflective coating... it makes such a difference to the usability of this phone outdoors in bright sunlight"
"this almost borderless display that's so vibrant so crisp and almost immune to Reflections"
"Screen, probably the best display in the business. Incredibly bright and vibrant"
"anti-reflective coating make the s25 Ultra screen my favorite on any phone"
// Performance is outstanding with Snapdragon 8 Elite chip delivering fast, smooth operation and superior thermal management via larger vapor chamber.
"The phone is fast as hell. ... And using this phone, it's just so smooth, it's smoother and more efficient than ever before."
"it turns out the new phone with its 8 Elite for Galaxy chip and 40% bigger Vapor chamber cooler is actually about 1 to 2° C cooler"
"This new phone has an even faster chip than last year like significantly faster... even its lowest performance is still about 25% faster than the lowest of the other two phones"
"Performance is a real highlight. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is absolutely badass... and you can feel it in just the general snappiness."
// Camera system delivers sharp, detailed images with improved ultra-wide resolution at 50MP, better low-light performance, and professional video log support.
"the new 50 megapixel ultra wide camera? That's also, it's been a genuinely nice upgrade."
"the biggest upgrade by far is the ability to shoot video in log now"
"there are large improvements to the cameras this year the s25 ultra does take better zoom photos... better ultra wide shots it's got better skin tones"
"new 50 megapixel ultrawide camera is simply amazing for a phone"
// Battery life is excellent, easily lasting a full day with improved efficiency from the new chip and larger vapor chamber.
"battery life has been awesome on this phone. I've ended days with 30, 40% left"
"the battery life is noticeably better"
"the battery life is even better than last year it's just under 9 hours of Total screen on time per charge"
"Battery life, absolutely terrific. Easily a full day. Honestly, close to a day and a half for me."
[-]The Drawbacks
ID_GRP: NEGATIVE_FEEDBACK// S Pen lost Bluetooth functionality, eliminating air gestures and remote camera shutter capability from previous generations.
"Samsung removed the Bluetooth functionality from the S Pen, which means it can no longer be used as a remote control shutter for the camera"
"they removed bluetooth support from our precious S Pen"
"they have silently removed the Bluetooth functionality of the S Pen so you can't use it anymore to control your music using air gestures or your camera shutter"
"The only genuine downgrade is the S Pen. They've removed Bluetooth functionality... It does feel like an odd step backward"
"the S Pen because it's somehow got worse. Samsung removed all the Bluetooth features"
// Several AI features remain inconsistent or gimmicky, including unreliable AI Select, underwhelming daily briefs, and limited practical utility for many users.
"AI select is decent. I was hoping it would be a little more responsive and like react more obviously to different contexts on my screen."
"The daily briefs though, honestly, not that good. ... It's barely AI"
"Samsung seemed to have done is focus on gimmicky AI features that you might use a couple of times and then never again"
"some of these AI features are not so good like all of these briefs that it keeps giving me on my lock screen... if I want my weather it is also on my home screen"
// Limited hardware upgrades for a $1,300 flagship—no new battery capacity, charging speeds unchanged, and missing features like IP69 rating or built-in magnetic charging.
"They have just played it incredibly safe with this phone. ... and did the bare minimum, a spec bump."
"it's what hasn't changed that really bothers me same 5,000 mAh battery same 45 W charging"
"unfortunately there is no ip69 rating which some of its Rivals do offer"
"this is a $1,300 phone it's like 60% more expensive"
// Galaxy AI features uncertain future pricing—free only until end of 2025, with no clarity on paid tier costs after that period.
"worst of all is actually the unknown cost. ... free until the end of 2025, which, but then what? They haven't said."
"Galaxy AI is only going to be free till the end of 2025... still don't know what we will be charged for... leaves most of the best AI features locked behind a pay wall"
[~]The Great Debates
ID_GRP: CONTESTED_POINTSdesign
Reviewers split on whether the rounded, flat-sided design is a welcome ergonomic upgrade or a loss of distinctive personality. Some praise the comfort and lightweight improvements, while others argue it looks generic and abandoned the premium aesthetic Samsung once had.
[+] For
"these rounded Corners may be more generic but they are also positively more comfortable"
"the flatness does give the phone a very clean futuristic silhouette when you look from the front"
[-] Against
"the hardware, in general, I think it feels a little more generic, yes"
"process of chopping off the corners they've also chopped off the slightly rounded sides... so those are now flat and sharp... does come at the cost of it still not being close to as comfy to hold"
"it's lost the iconic design to me the ultra phones have always had this round shape and it is a little strange to me that they got rid of it just to go to a more almost generic looking phone"
software
Mixed reception on Samsung's AI implementation and One UI 7. Supporters highlight genuinely useful features like Generative Edit, AI Select, and natural language search, while critics find many AI features unreliable, gimmicky, or practically useless in daily use.
[+] For
"somehow I feel like they've made another similarly massive jump again this year the s25 is Will Shi with Samsung's latest one ui7 and I freaking love it"
"this is by far the biggest thumbs up of all the Galaxy AI stuff... it understands the context on my screen, like this is actually powerful stuff."
[-] Against
"cross app action... also needs a couple of years in the oven... practically useless"
"Samsung now bar... feels kind of like Apple's Dynamic Island... but without enough functionality or supported apps"
"it's very confusing having two different assistants on the same smartphone... to me, as a user, this experience is very disjointed."
camera
Reviewers largely praise the 50MP ultra-wide and overall camera improvements, but diverge on whether it remains best-in-class. Some call it excellent and competitive, while others note rivals like iPhone and Vivo have caught or surpassed it in certain areas, particularly zoom and video processing.
[+] For
"all of my ultra wide shots now are much sharper corner to corner."
"I think it has a great allround camera package."
[-] Against
"I wouldn't say this is the best phone camera ever I'd say the iPhone is a little ahead the Vivo X200 Pro is quite away ahead"
"one area where I would say that the S25 Ultra has been overtaken subjectively and that is with extended zoom."
battery
Most reviewers praise improved battery life and all-day endurance from efficiency gains, but some note charging speeds remain unchanged and capacity hasn't grown—positioning the gains as optimization rather than fundamental improvement.
[+] For
"The biggest difference is Just Energy Efficiency the battery life... closer to 30% Improvement in just regular battery life testing compared to previous gen"
[-] Against
"when we put this up against the competition, it really does fall behind. With the likes of the OnePlus 15 or the OPPO Find X9 Pro, which using silicon carbon technology, those devices can easily give me one and a half or even up to 2 days of usage."
"wireless charging is a bit more of a downer it supports what Samsung calls their fast wireless charging 2.0 which is limited to 15 watts"