Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: The best of Android

Hardware-wise, there isn’t anything drastically new or groundbreaking on the S25 Ultra. There are some changes, but they are minimal and customary. The switch to Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile platform is one. The ultrawide camera getting a rejigged higher-resolution 50-megapixel sensor is another. And the build materials have been upgraded to include a more durable version of Corning’s Gorilla Glass called Armour 2. One change, which is probably the only big surprise, is the slight increase in screen real estate from 6.8- to 6.9-inch.

It might seem like a small change on paper, but Samsung—also—took the effort to make the S25 Ultra’s overall footprint smaller. The “cover” of the tape’s as important—if not more—as the song selection and Samsung has made the right choices, doing away with most of the bulk these devices have long been associated with, for a more user-friendly look and feel. This extends to both weight and thickness as well as how the chassis is designed. The sides are—now—flat and corners are rounded, a trait the Ultra shares with the regular S25 and S25 Plus, bringing a sense of consistency to the line-up for the first time. The S25 Ultra, as a result, is easier to hold and operate, than all its predecessors.

Inside the S25 Ultra, there is AI, lots of it. It is impossible to talk about it without mentioning One UI. This is version 7.0. Samsung says it has redesigned the whole software from framework to the UX (short for user experience) to make it “AI first.” That explains why Samsung hasn’t released it for the S24 series yet, perhaps. But I digress.

A lot of the “newness” that you would be expecting from a phone in its class, is coming this way. But since there is no benchmark to measure software and AI on phones, your mileage on what’s good and what could be better, can be anything from wow to meh. With Galaxy AI, Samsung is promising a future where most—if not all—interactions with your phone will be through voice. It’s not a new concept but modern-day LLMs (large language models) and Generative AI are helping us achieve what the assistants of yore couldn’t. The S25 series is the first from Samsung to do it at scale and it does all this, well enough.

AI is sprinkled everywhere across the UI. It can quickly find photos from the gallery and change phone settings. It can source information from multiple apps to answer your queries—and get some things done—without opening any of them. Think Google Search, but one that is deeply integrated into your phone and is deeply personalised. An AI Select feature gives you relevant prompts basis of what’s on the screen and lets you do all sorts of things from taking screenshots to creating GIFs on the fly. Now Brief gives you a quick summary of the weather, sleep, and scheduled reminders on the Home Screen. Now Bar takes some of this functionality to the Lock Screen. Samsung, like most brands, is advocating on-device AI and it’s nice to see many of these conveniences work on the phone itself which makes these things both fast and secure. These things have always been pocket computers. They are playing the part flawlessly now.

Qualcomm’s fastest chip on the market coupled with 12GB of RAM ensure all this flies on the S25 Ultra without breaking a sweat. We’re way past the point where high-end gaming is an “issue” but Samsung deserves all the credit for making sure—and I bet it was hard—not one spec or feature feels out of place or, below par, in terms of ease of use. One expects no less from an Ultra flagship phone, but One UI 7 is the most mature version of One UI launched to date, offering a level of form and function we’ve not seen from Samsung before. The phone is eligible for seven years of OS and security updates.

The S25 Ultra continues Samsung’s sheer dominance in birdwatching tech and while it doesn’t have the most powerful telephoto on the market anymore, Samsung’s years of experience in the field gives it an edge over peers when it comes to pulling consistently good performance, across most light scenarios despite using the same setup—10MP, f/2.4 OIS, 3x, 50MP, f/3.4, periscope OIS, 5x—for over two generations of the Ultra now. The 200MP primary (f/1.7, OIS) has also remained unchanged for about the same time and has started to show its age. With Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, and even OnePlus, becoming competitive—and even better in some cases—Samsung must really pull up its socks now. The 50MP ultrawide—which is new—is good, not great.

Samsung isn’t scoring any big points in battery and charging tech either. The 5,000mAh, 45W wired and 15W wireless combination is reliable, but not best in class.

Should you buy it?

So, should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra? If you’re looking for the absolute best of Android in a polished, user-friendly package, then yes. It’s a “best of” compilation, as I said, refining existing strengths rather than radically reinventing the wheel. You get top-tier performance, a more comfortable design, and a truly impressive suite of AI features that genuinely enhance your daily interactions.

While the camera system, though reliable, isn’t breaking new ground, and the charging speeds are merely adequate, the S25 Ultra excels in delivering a seamless and powerful experience. The OnePlus 13 is tad faster (and lighter on the pocket, too), the Vivo X200 Pro has more compelling cameras, and virtually every other Chinese brand is beating the pants off Samsung in battery technology, but none offers a cohesive mix of hardware and software, quite like the S25 Ultra. In other words, if you value a phone that’s both a powerhouse and a pleasure to use, and are willing to invest in the premium price, the Galaxy S25 Ultra—still—is a compelling choice.