Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra made its grand entrance in January, met with both excitement and scrutiny. For the most part, it looks like just another annual refresh. However, having used the phone for a month now, we can tell there’s more to the story. While some longtime fans may be disappointed by the downgraded S Pen or largely unchanged camera hardware, the S25 Ultra still delivers where it matters most.
Whether you’re a loyal Galaxy user or considering making the switch, Samsung’s latest flagship brings plenty to the table. But is it the right phone for you? In this in-depth Galaxy S25 Ultra review, we’ll break down everything — from its refined design and camera system to its AI-driven software, battery life, and real-world performance. Let’s dive in. But before that, here’s a quick summary of what we like and what we don’t.
What we like:
– Premium design with improved handling
– Excellent anti-reflective display
– Improved speakers
– Top-tier performance
– Amazing software experience
– Meaningful AI upgrades
– Solid battery life
– Fast charging no longer requires a 5A cable
What we don’t like:
– S Pen loses remote gesture support
– Camera performance could have been better
– Still the same IP68 dust and water resistance
– 45W charging feels a bit slow
Table of contents
- Unboxing
- Hardware and Design
- Display
- S Pen and Speakers
- Rear Cameras
- Front Camera
- Performance
- Software
- Galaxy AI
- Battery Life and Charging
- Verdict
Disclaimer: We used the Galaxy S25 Ultra (12GB+512GB model) as a daily driver for one month before writing this review. Samsung had no involvement in the creation of this review and did not see the review before it went live on our site. Our findings and opinions are entirely independent.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Unboxing
Samsung phones typically offer a minimalist unboxing experience, and it’s no different with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. You get a boring black box featuring a silhouette of the phone on the front — even the S24 Ultra’s box had a bit more flair. However, while the box may feel nothing special, it is made from 100% recycled paper materials. So you are helping Samsung’s sustainability drive in some way.
The back side of the box has pull tabs that let you quickly get into the main thing. As usual, the phone sits at the top, with its screen facing down. Further below, you’ll find a USB C-to-C cable, a SIM ejection pin, and some paperwork. That’s it. No in-box charger, case, or any other accessories — Samsung stopped providing those a long time back. It calls this a sustainability move, but we know cost-cutting is the primary reason.
Existing S Ultra users might be disappointed to read that Samsung still provides a 3A cable with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. However, there’s good news. You no longer need to separately buy a 5A cable to charge your phone at its full speed of 45W. The 3A cable Samsung supplies in the box does the job this time. It wasn’t the case with earlier models. We will discuss this in detail in the Battery Life and Charging section below. But first, let’s talk about the new Samsung flagship’s hardware and design.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Hardware and Design
The Galaxy S25 Ultra deviates from the boxy, slab-like aesthetic that has defined Samsung’s Ultra flagships. It no longer has sharp corners or edges, with the company opting for a flat frame and rounded corners, similar to the rest of the lineup. And I think that’s great. While the Ultra’s unique design identity is gone, it’s gone for good. The new design philosophy enhances the phone’s grip and handling experience. All the while improving the overall appearance, though that’s subjective.
The overall size is slightly more compact than the S24 Ultra — its dimensions are 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm while the S24 Ultra measures 162.3 x 79 x 8.6 mm. However, the Galaxy S25 Ultra still has a marginally larger screen thanks to slimmer bezels. It is also lighter by 14 grams, weighing only 218 grams. In my opinion, this redesign helped Samsung strike a perfect balance between form and function.
Coming to the build quality, the Galaxy S25 Ultra feels solid in hand. The frame is made of titanium (grade 5) and is completely flat, unlike the S24 Ultra, which has a slightly bulged frame. We hope the grade 5 titanium is more scratch resistant. The power and volume buttons are at the same height but don’t feel as much clicky. It shouldn’t be a dealbreaker to anyone, but I find the buttons a bit less premium. Maybe it’s because of a redesigned frame, but those buttons certainly don’t feel the same.
The bottom edge houses the S Pen at the extreme left, with the speaker slit, USB-C port, microphone hole, and SIM tray sitting next to it, in that order. For a change, Samsung has moved the SIM tray ejection hole to the other side. This is a well-thought-after change, as it reduces the risk of people accidentally poking into the microphone hole with the ejector. Not that it does any damage, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Redesigned camera rings offer a familiar yet unique look
The Galaxy S25 Ultra keeps the minimalist rear camera design but Samsung has reworked the camera rings. They are now larger and protrude out more, likely because the phone got slimmer. This is, again, a subjective thing, but the camera redesign doesn’t look bad. The new rings have a floating design and are quite likeable. The only downside I see is the floating design allows room for dust to accumulate quickly.
While we are unsure, this redesign may have also allowed Samsung to add flash support to the ultrawide camera finally — older models lack it. The larger rings could help prevent the flash from directly illuminating the lens, reducing glare and improving photo quality. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has smaller camera rings and likely don’t block the flash from illuminating the ultrawide lens, which has a wider field of view than the rest of the cameras.
Enhanced screen durability and visibility with Gorilla Armor 2
Last year, Samsung introduced a revolutionary anti-reflective screen with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It’s a glass panel with anti-reflective properties, making the screen more legible in bright environments. The so-called Gorilla Armor glass is strong and more resistant to scratches. It is also more shock-absorbent than Corning’s regular Grolla glasses.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra features the second-gen Gorilla Armor panel for enhanced anti-reflective properties and durability. While it isn’t a massive leap over the first-gen solution, Gorilla Armor 2 dramatically reduces the screen glare and reflections compared to standard smartphone displays. The gap is particularly huge when viewing the phone under direct sunlight. On top of this, Samsung touts enhanced shock-absorption. That said, it’s still glass, so you shouldn’t be throwing your phone around.
On the back, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which is pretty strong too. You get an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance here, which is great but not the absolute best. Overall, the phone retains a signature Samsung style despite it no longer featuring a boxy look. It feels premium to the hand, and is more comfortable to hold and use. The latest Samsung flagship certainly impressed us with its look and feel.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Display
The Galaxy S25 Ultr sports a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. It’s an LTPO panel with a 120Hz variable refresh rate and a QHD+ resolution (1440 x 3120 pixels). The bezels around the display are slim and symmetric, thinner than any other Samsung smartphone. In fact, the S25 Ultra’s bezels are thinner than most competing smartphones in the market, including the latest iPhones and Pixels. The screen has a minimalist punch-hole for the 12MP front-facing camera, while the earpiece grille above the display is almost unnoticeable.
If you look at the specs, it’s the same screen as the S24 Ultra — of course, it’s slightly bigger and has curved corners, but the underlying panel tech is the same. However, Samsung appears to have optimized some things, allowing for enhanced visuals. The graininess of the display at low brightness is gone, while the ProScaler technology optimizes colors and contrast to deliver more lifelike images.
Coming to the brightness, the spec sheet tells us the Galaxy S25 Ultra boasts a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, the same as the S24 Ultra. Some competing phones offer a higher peak brightness. However, Samsung’s anti-reflective Gorilla Armor 2 is just magical. When outdoors, the screen is more legible than devices with a much higher brightness. This ensures that colors don’t look washed out under direct light.
Samsung offers an ultrasonic under-display fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and it is snappy. Fingerprint unlocking is faster than the S24 Ultra. Face unlocking also looks to be more accurate, likely because Samsung now requires you to tilt your head up while registering a face. It may also make face unlocking more secure.
No Dolby Vision as Samsung offers HDR10+
The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s screen is an 8-bit panel rather than 10-bit. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice slight banding in gradients, while a 10-bit screen offers smoother gradients. However, it shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for anyone. This hardly makes any difference in everyday usage. The colors are still accurate and vibrant, while a 120Hz variable refresh rate ensures smooth visuals while gaming or video streaming.
The new Samsung flagship also lacks Dolby Vision, and that’s because it offers HDR10+. With ProScaler technology and L1 Widevine certification, we could stream FullHD videos in HDR across several apps, including YouTube and Netflix. Android Ultra HDR and Super HDR enhance images and videos, making them pop. This works in Samsung’s Gallery app, Google Photos, and several other third-party social media apps like Instagram.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra has a great display for content consumption and gaming. It’s big, bright and highly responsive, and offers smooth and vibrant visuals. Over a month of regular usage, not once did we feel that the screen could have been better. The slim and symmetric bezels with rounded corners ensure a premium appearance alongside top-notch functionality.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: S Pen and Speakers
The S Pen has been a staple of Samsung’s Ultra flagships. While the Galaxy S25 Ultra retains it, the iconic accessory is no longer as powerful as it was. Samsung has removed Bluetooth connectivity, which effectively kills Air Actions. The highly convenient stylus gestures for controlling apps are no longer supported. This also means you cannot use the S Pen as a remote shutter button for the camera.
Samsung claims that less than 1% of customers used the S Pen’s Bluetooth features, so it decided to remove those for a more lightweight design — no Bluetooth connectivity means the S Pen doesn’t require a built-in battery or power source. For regular S Pen users, this might be a massive letdown, but Samsung had to make a choice, and it did at the cost of Air Actions.
The good news: all other S Pen features remain intact. It is still a powerful tool for drawing, handwriting, and navigation. The stylus has a fine tip with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, so you can use it like a real pen on your phone’s screen. The S Pen makes it easier to use Sketch to Image, a Galaxy AI tool for creating artistic images from rough sketches.
However, with no battery inside it, the S Pen feels lighter and more hollow, though it shouldn’t affect its usability — at least it doesn’t for me. Note that older Bluetooth-enabled S Pens do not fit inside the Galaxy S25 Ultra, nor can they be manually connected to restore Air Actions or remote gestures. Moreover, Samsung is unlikely to release a separate Bluetooth-enabled S Pen for the S25 Ultra.
Another thing to note is that a curved design means the S Pen sits too close to the corner compared to the S24 Ultra. This increases the chances of you accidentally popping out the S Pen when removing or applying a case. This has happened to us several times with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but hardly ever with the S24 Ultra. Maybe it’s only us, but we did notice this. Not a big deal though.
Audio performance has seen a noticeable improvement on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The dual stereo speakers deliver amazing sound quality, possibly the best on any Samsung flagship to date. The sound is clearer and louder than before, with enhanced bass enabling a richer listening experience. Low frequencies have been refined, making subtle audio details—such as footsteps in games—more distinct.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Rear Cameras
The Galaxy S25 Ultra has four cameras on the back, and only one of them is a new sensor. Samsung has upgraded the aging 12MP ultrawide lens to a new 50MP unit. But the rest of the sensors are unchanged. We are talking about a 200MP primary shooter, 10MP 3x zoom camera, and 50MP 5x zoom camera. The good news is that the image quality has been substantially improved across the board, thanks to enhanced software processing and optimizations.
Before we get into that, let’s check out the hardware specs:
- Primary camera: Samsung’s 200MP ISOCELL HP2 sensor with a 1/1.3-inch optical format, 0.6µm pixel size (up to 2.4µm with pixel binning, letting you capture 12MP and 50MP shots), 23mm focal length, f/1.7 aperture, multi-directional PDAF (phase-detection autofocus), and OIS (optical image stabilization). It can record 8K videos at 30fps (frames per second).
- Ultrawide lens: Samsung’s 50MP ISOCELL JN3 sensor with 1/2.5-inch optical format, 0.7µm-1.4µm mixel size, 13mm focal length, f/1.9 aperture, and PDAF. It can also record 8K videos at 30fps with flash support.
- 3x zoom camera: Sony’s 10MP IMX754 sensor with 1/3.5-inch optical format, 1.12µm pixel size, 69mm focal length, f/2.4 aperture, PDAF, OIS. It cannot record 8K videos but supports 4K@60fps.
- 5x zoom camera: Sony’s 50MP IMX854 sensor with 1/2.5-inch optical format, 0.7µm-1.4µm focal length, 115mm focal length, f/3.4 aperture, PDAF, and OIS. it also supports 8K@30fps.
Excellent image quality in daylight conditions
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra delivers impressive daylight photography across all four cameras. The 200MP main camera produces highly-detailed images with great dynamic range and natural colors. There’s no oversharpening or high saturation, ensuring accurate colors that add character to photos. Portrait shots are also good with natural skin tones. Samsung lets you adjust the bokeh/blur effect to your liking.
By default, the galaxy S25 Ultra captures photos at 12MP resolution, but you can manually switch to 50MP or 200MP shots. However, this hardly makes a difference in terms of the image quality, certainly not when viewing the photos on your phone itself. Higher resolution should help retain the details on big screens, but not much of a difference compared to the default 12MP shots.
Primary camera samples:
The in-sensor zoom from the main camera retains all the details in 2x zoom shots. Facial details drop a little, but you still get quality images. There’s a 3x zoom camera on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, so if you don’t like 2x shots, you can switch to the 3x camera for optical zoom. While this sensor is aging, Samsung has done well to improve the image quality over the S24 Ultra. You get great details with excellent white balance and contrast.
2x zoom camera samples:
3x zoom camera samples:
I find the 5x zoom camera better than the 3x one though. Images are more likable to my eyes, so much so I’d move back a little and capture a 5x shot rather than 3x if I have enough room. However, Samsung’s so-called optical quality 10x magnification doesn’t actually have optical quality. Images look washed out a little and a bit oversharpened too. Not completely unusable, but not as good as Samsung claims.
5x zoom camera samples:
10x zoom camera samples:
30x zoom camera sample:
Does the new ultrawide camera make a difference?
Yes, it does. The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 50MP ultrawide lens produces better photos than the S24 Ultra’s 12MP unit. By default, it produces 12MP shots, but we particularly liked images captured in 50MP mode. Perhaps it’s a processing thing, but higher resolution shots from this camera have more details than the default ones. Yoy get excellent exposure and dynamic range with natural colors.
Ultrawide camera samples:
What about videos?
The Galaxy S25 Ultra lets you record 8K videos with its primary camera, ultrawide lens, and 5x zoom camera. This makes it a versatile camera phone if you record a lot of videos. OIS works incredibly well, stabilizing the footage even when your hands are shaking or moving. The new Pro features such as Galaxy Log and 10-bit HDR make it a great choice for content creators, while casual users will appreciate its excellent auto mode and AI audio tools.
Good details in low-light photos
All four rear cameras on the Galaxy S25 Ultra produce likable low-light photos. Nothing extraordinary, but satisfactory results. There’s some noise in dark areas, but Samsung balances exposure well to ensure you get enough details. Ironically, the images look better if you don’t use Night Mode in low-light environments. Using Night Mode appears to reduce the noise but oversharpen images, making them look less appealing.
The same can be said for the zoom cameras and ultrawide lens. Enough details in images at all magnification levels up to 5x, with good stability and focusing on videos too. Overall speaking, the S25 Ultra’s low-light performance is good but not groundbreaking. Could it have been better? Yes, there’s room for improvement. In fact, Samsung needs to work more on its flagship camera performance.
Low-light camera samples:
Samsung needs to work more on the camera performance
For most users, the Galaxy S25 Ultra delivers amazing camera performance. The images come out great in all lighting conditions. However, if you look at some Chinese flagships, you know Samsung has work to do. It is no longer the “zoom king”. Its quest for a slimmer design appears to have limited the scope for hardware advancements, and it shows.
Samsung is starting to lose in the smartphone camera race. It’s still towards the top, but moving at a slower pace compared to its Chinese rivals. The company may say that it’s competing against Apple rather than Chinese vendors. However, it shouldn’t overlook what Xiaomi and Vivo are doing with their top-tier flagship cameras. We hope Samsung soon realizes that it needs to step up its camera game.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Front Cameras
Like most of the rear cameras, Samsung kept the front camera unchanged on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. You get a 12MP unit featuring Samsung’s ISOCELL 3LU sensor with a 1/3.2-inch optical format, 1.12µm pixel size, 26mm focal length, f/2.2 aperture, and dual pixel PDAF. This camera can record 4K videos at 60fps but can’t produce 8K videos.
The overall performance of the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s selfie camera is satisfactory. Details are amazing, with natural skin tones and colors. The phone does well to balance the exposure and contrast under direct sunlight, ensuring the facial details are well-preserved. Low-light selfie performance is also great, though you lose a substantial amount of details if there isn’t enough natural light around.
Selfie camera samples:
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Performance
The Galaxy S25 Ultra features Qualcomm’s 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite “for Galaxy” chipset. This octa-core processor uses custom Oryon cores rather than stock ARM Cortex cores found in competing solutions from other brands like MediaTek. Qualcomm previously used Oryon cores in its Snapdragon X series PC processors.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite has two Prime cores clocked at 4.32GHz. However, the Samsung-exclusive “for Galaxy” version has its prime cores running at 4.47GHz. The remaining six performance cores operate at a peak frequency of 3.53GHz. It also has an improved Adreno 830 GPU clocked at up to 1.2GHz and a powerful NPU. This is easily the most powerful chipset on any Android phone.
Samsung pairs the chip with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage — we used the 512GB model for this review. The device delivered a buttery smooth performance every single day, even during prolonged gaming sessions. It never got uncomfortably warm, nor did we notice any frame drops or lags while playing COD or BGMI (PUBG Mobile).
The Snapdragon 8 Elite processor handles it all very smoothly. The device can get a bit warm if you continuously use the camera for several hours or play graphics-intense games, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra is great at thermal management. Give it a rest for a while and it cools down pretty quickly. Performance-wise, there’s no way you’ll find any fault or shortcoming here. This Samsung flagship is a top performer.
Benchmarks and tests
We run several benchmarks and tests on the devices we review to quantify their performance. We ran the Geekbench v6, 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme, and 3D Mark Solar Bay tests on the Galaxy S25 Ultra and achieved stellar results. On Geekbench, the phone achieved a single-core CPU score of 2,997 and a multi-core CPU score of 9,520. The GPU score came in at 18,341.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra scored 6,292 in 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme and 11,659 on 3D Mark Solar Bay tests. These scores are better than many competing phones but not the absolute best, as the app itself tells us that users have achieved higher scores. This is likely because we ran these tests back-to-back, immediately after a gaming session. The phone was starting to get a little warm, so some performance throttling may have come into play.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Software
Samsung ships the Galaxy S25 Ultra with Android 15-based One UI 7.0. The latest version of Samsung’s custom Android skin brings a massive and functional overhaul. While the core UI design remains unchanged, the company has introduced more vibrant colors, new app icons, updated UI elements, and smoother system animations that go a long way in enhancing your user experience.
The Quick Panel is now more customizable, while the lock screen and home screen also get additional customization options. The notification tray also gets a visual upgrade, with users getting an option to merge it with the Quick Panel. Samsung also now lets you switch between vertical and horizontal app drawer, though you can only use an alphabetical order if you set it to vertical. Future updates could introduce more options there.
Some notable new software features include call recording and AI transcription (call recording wasn’t available in some regions earlier, including the US), detailed battery stats with charging cycle count and battery health (this feature isn’t available globally yet), enhanced built-in photo and video editor, Samsung Health improvements, alarm groups, storage share, camera share, advanced routines, drag and drop for calendar, and recommended devices for Quick Share.
Overall, One UI 7.0 breathes a new life into Samsung’s custom software. It’s more fluid, visually appealing, and intuitive to use, enhanced by AI integration across several apps (more on this below). Samsung has completely turned things around this time. The UI no longer feels laggy or lacking options. The real gem, Galaxy AI, makes your everyday phone usage smarter.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Galaxy AI
Samsung has made Galaxy AI the cornerstone of its flagship smartphone marketing strategy, and it’s no different for the Galaxy S25 series. Galaxy AI is a permanent fixture on almost every document, slide, photo, and video the company uses to promote the new flagships. And we totally understand Samsung here — its AI tools are more mature than anything else on the market.
You can now use Galaxy AI to search for important moments from your meetings and add them to Google Calendar, RSVP to a party without jumping between your email and calendar, or get a recipe based on a photo of what’s in your fridge. Likewise, you can get a summarized shopping list for an upcoming trip based on a travel vlog or find more information about a video you are watching.
Samsung has infused AI into various mobile experiences, making our everyday phone usage more intuitive and seamless. However, Google deserves a lot of credit for these AI experiences on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Samsung and Google have worked closely to integrate Gemini into several apps. You can even replace Bixby with Gemini on the power button/ side button.
New and improved Galaxy AI tools
Apart from AI-driven mobile experiences, the Galaxy S25 Ultra boasts several AI tools with dedicated functions. Sketch to Image, for example, lets you turn your creative imaginations into beautiful works of art. In addition to drawing sketches on existing images to enhance them or add a fun element, you can generate fresh images from rough sketches. You can also provide text descriptions to guide the AI’s interpretation of your drawing.
Moreover, Samsung lets you adjust the intensity of AI in your drawings. If your drawing skills are great, you can use AI to simply refine your art. But if you are a rookie, AI can help erase your imperfections. Samsung has also improved other aspects of Sketch to Image, ensuring smoother and more reliable performance.
Generative Edit, which lets you move or remove objects from images, also sees a big performance boost. Its object erase tool is more accurate, filling in scenes with striking perfection, so much so it gets scary at times. It can regenerate an entire human face. If you are holding something in your hand, Galaxy AI can erase and accurately fill the space to recreate your hand.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra also offers an audio eraser feature. It uses AI to remove unwanted sound from your videos. Galaxy AI can detect various types of sounds, including human voices, music, wind, and general background noise. While not flawless, this tool worked amazingly for us in most cases. It could accurately detect unwanted noises and lower their intensity for clear audio.
Additionally, Samsung’s AI-powered grammar and writing assistant tool sees notable functional improvements and enhanced accuracy. Writing Assist now works across several apps, letting you instantly summarize, translate, and organize any selected text. Other existing AI features also get functional and stability upgrades in One UI 7.0.
Now Bar and Now Brief
Now Bar is a dynamic information center on the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s lock screen. It offers real-time information from various apps, including ongoing timer, voice recording, music playback, Google Maps navigation, live match scorecard, call, etc. The pill-shaped housing at the bottom of your lock screen ensures the most relevant information is always at your fingertips. Now Bar also appears on the top left corner of the screen when the phone is unlocked.
Now Brief is an extension of Now Bar, using Samsung’s personal data engine to deliver personalized information based on your activities and time of the day. For example, you get insights into your sleep patterns in the morning, followed by a snapshot of your schedule. It can be of great help if you use your phone to keep a record of all your meetings, your favorite team’s matches, and more.
Note that most of these AI tools and other software features will be available on older Galaxy flagships with the One UI 7.0 update. However, the likes of the Galaxy S24 Ultra might miss out on a few due to hardware limitations. Samsung has yet to confirm which features will roll out to other devices. One UI 7.0 beta for the Galaxy S24 series lacks Now Brief, among other things.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Battery Life and Charging
Samsung’s Ultra flagships have packed a 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging for the past several years, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn’t add to that. However, the new model offers a longer battery life and slightly faster charging than its predecessors. We have been using the phone as our daily driver for a month, and it takes us through the day without fail.
Even on days with heavy usage, like some gaming sessions, photography, and streaming, the Galaxy S25 Ultra refuses to die. We often went to bed with a substantial amount of battery left, having charged it fully in the morning. On most days, we got over eight hours of screen-on time. If you don’t play games on your phone or use the camera much, you may not need to charge your phone every day.
Regarding the charging speed, the Galaxy S25 Ultra still only charges up to 45W. However, it now supports the 15V/3A charging profile, which theoretically boosts the charging speed by lowering the power loss in transmission. This also means you no longer require a 5A cable to get the maximum speed — a 3A cable does the job.
In our tests, we did get near-45W speeds with a 3A cable. The charging speed fluctuated at times, but we often got a 0-100 charge within an hour. We got close to 70% charge in half an hour. The Galaxy S25 Ultra also supports 15W wireless charging, but you get faster speeds if you use a Qi2-compatible magnetic case. The phone doesn’t have built-in Qi2 magnets for perfect alignment.
Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Verdict
With solid build quality, powerful chipset, and seven years of feature and security updates, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is built to last long. Wi-Fi 7 and multi-band 5G support ensures you get to enjoy top-tier wireless connectivity for years to come. Of course, smartphone cameras are evolving fast, and the S25 Ultra is already starting to lag the competition, so it’s an area of concern.
However, for the next few years, these cameras will remain highly competitive if not absolute best. The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s image output should be top tier even three or four years down the line. It will receive most of the new camera and AI features Samsung introduces in the coming years, so that front is covered too.
The main question remains — is the Galaxy S25 Ultra worth your money? In short, Yes. There are some areas where Samsung could have done better, cameras being one, but this phone is an absolute top performer. It excels in almost all areas, making it a great all-round package. There are better camera phones in the market, but some don’t get the same level of software support, while others lack in AI features. The Galaxy S25 Ultra delivers a feature-packed Android experience.
