Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Good AI Smartphone or Waste of Money?

This Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review should have come earlier, as it was launched several months ago. The delay was because I planned to buy the Galaxy S26 Ultra and not the S25. This last-minute change was necessary as I won’t be getting the S26 lines but the Google Pixel 10 Pro.

In this review, I’ll share my experiences with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra after using it for a month and a half.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Quick Overview

Every newer smartphone model is supposed to be “an upgrade” to the existing one, and Samsung has come a long way in this industry, so we should expect nothing short of splendid architecture and higher-end mobile phone engineering.

Now, back to the device, yes, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is truly a masterpiece. From the sleek design to the never-before-seen advanced AI features it packs, the smartphone is an ideal functional, utility device for any professional or tech enthusiast. However, the phone is wider than most smartphones you’ve ever used, both Androids and iPhones.

It’s got the most impressive zoom so far for a smartphone in this era, and the stylus just works fine. But, while this device seems to have a lot of good “perks” to make you want to buy and use it. My first impression was good, and the response rate is out of this world. The AI and multi-tasking capabilities are what round it up as a great smartphone for bloggers and Vloggers alike.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Unboxing

Inside the box lies the:

• The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Smartphone
• USB-C charging cable
• S-pen
• User Manuel

Unfortunately, these brands no longer offer chargers, earphones, and pouches inside the box as they used to, but that’s the new trend we all have to deal with.

First Impressions of the Samsung S25 Ultra

Firstly, you will be marveled at the big display offered by this device, with the tiny bezels that surround the screen.

This is a clear phablet device, giving the feel of a tablet, but designed as a mobile device. Also, the S25 Ultra is made lighter than the S24 Ultra by up to 14g. Design-wise, there are no special fancies on the S25 Ultra, aside from the gigantic size. There aren’t any bad first impressions about the S25 Ultra, except for the lack of Bluetooth support for the S-Pen.

Full Specifications

Price and Availability

At the moment, you can buy the S25 from anywhere in the world as it’s available across online stores that offer worldwide delivery. The price starts at £1,249 (€1,449/$1,299.99) for the 256GB variant and increases further if you’re going for the 512GB or 1TB variants. All variants are equipped with 12GB of RAM.

How’s the Samsung S25 Ultra?

Powered by a 5,000mAh battery and driven to function by the bleeding-edge Qualcomm SM8750-AB Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra starts on a good foot. Its camera array is one of the most intense, literally the best at the moment, and the Galaxy AI tech delivers a plethora of AI-powered possibilities that make the device a lot more fun to use.

For sure, there are things to love about the device; from the 100x digital zoom, 5x optical zoom, and peerless AI image editing to the impeccable seamless multitasking, strong aluminum body build, and formidable Corning Gorilla Armor 2 display glass. The 3.5mm jack has disappeared in modern high-end devices; apparently, these manufacturers are pushing everyone to love wireless earphones and USB-based earphones like the iPhones.

The display is fluid-like, and the 120Hz refresh rate is evident; you can literally feel it, especially when gaming. Whatever it is you wish to do with this device, it’s going to turn out great for the purpose.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra and Rugged Defender Case

Well, I opted for the 3-layer Galaxy S25 defender casing because of my wonderful experience with them in the past. This premium TPU and polycarbonate (PC) made case is durable and has its upper lips extended over the front and sides, protecting the screen and camera from scratches and damage, even if it were to fall from a tolerable height.

While the big case made it bulky and difficult to use the smartphone productively with one hand, the benefit of preventing dents and scratches far outweighs this little inconvenience. Especially, when I plan to give out the device or resell it in the secondary market as soon as I get the “soon-to-be-launched” Google Pixel X Pro smartphone.

Exploring the S25 Ultra’s Features and Techs

Right now, there is no smartphone, including the latest iPhone 16 series, with better specs and tech than the S25 Ultra. Let’s have a look at these techs and features.

Screen and Display

Coming at a 6.9-inch display size, you already know this is a phablet and would feel big in your palms. If you’ve got small palms, this probably won’t fit perfectly into your palms – yeah, that’s the sad part.

But then, away from the gigantic size, the S25 Ultra display offers Quad HD+ resolution in 3120 x 1440 pixels, supporting Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X at a 120Hz refresh rate.

This display specification is crazy! Everything on the S25 Ultra appears in stunning clarity and with great detail. You can watch an 8K movie with this device and feel the cinematic experience, thanks to the Dolby Atmos-standard speakers.

Design and Build

There are tiny bezels around the screen; you get a front fingerprint sensor embedded into the screen, and on the rear, you’ll clearly feel the bulge camera sensors. Now, those are the immediate aesthetics you will spot.

At the bottom is where the charging port lies, and sitting side-by-side to it are the loudspeaker grille (on the left) and the SIM tray (on the right). As usual, the power and volume buttons sit on the right side, while at the top, you have a small speaker grille for your calls.

The build material is titanium (grade 5) for all the colors, while the front screen glass is Corning Gorilla Armor 2. The shiny, glassy back is made of Gorilla Glass Victus 2. Honestly, the build looks and feels solid – something you can rely on.

Chipset and Processing Power

When 12GB RAM gets paired to a 256GB ROM, even an ordinary user would expect blazing speed performance from the device. Well, in the case of the S25 Ultra, not only are you getting a beastly memory capacity, but you can opt for up to 1TB of onboard storage.

The processing on all variants of the S25 Ultra is handled by the monstrous Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform, and this one used on the Galaxy S25 Ultra is customized to offer improved real-time ray tracing and Vulkan optimization—you can imagine gaming on this guy, one word—seamless.

Multi-tasking, video editing, online gaming, professional image editing, and other heavy tasks can run swiftly on the S25 Ultra at incredibly high speeds.

Camera and RAW Videos

There’s a lot to be discussed about the S25 Ultra camera, while I’m going to break it down below, in one simple sentence, the S25 Ultra’s camera is “Superb.”

First, the main 200MP camera delivers amazing pictures, not such that we haven’t seen before, but the clarity is outstanding. Then the 10MP telephoto sensor, 50MP periscope telephoto sensor, and the 50MP ultrawide sensor complete the Quad camera setup at the rear.

On the front, you have just a single 12MP sensor which integrates auto focusing and optical image stabilization at f2.2. Both the rear and front cameras have the same features, but the rear setup offers better quality shots due to the higher resolutions and more megapixels.

From daylight shots to nighttime shots, the Galaxy S25 Ultra delivers amazing RAW images and videos with vivid details. What’s more impressive is the inclusion of several image and video editing tools, including AI tools to help you fine-tune your shots.

AI Features

Somehow, the buzz of the moment regarding high-end smartphones is the inclusion of AI features and tools. The S25 Ultra didn’t slack on this, it actually packed a plethora into the Galaxy AI tech. But I must be sincere, most of the AI features are needless, you’ll probably never use them; however, they could be very useful for some users.

Samsung added a Now Brief and Now Bar that provides you with a personalized briefing for your day and shows you the latest updates on the Now Bar widget that sits at the center-bottom of the display.

The new Galaxy AI offers features such as Call Transcripts, Circle to Search (using the S-Pen), Generative Edit, Audio Trim, and much more. Like I said, you will find out you may never need most of its features, but they are there for whenever you may happen to need them. But the Circle to Search is definitely coming in handy for many of us, users.

If you’re the picture freak, the AI object eraser on the image editor interface is definitely the best in the industry at the moment. For the video editor, there’s an audio eraser tool for denoising and other purposes.

Battery Performance

The 5000mAh battery charges up pretty quickly, thanks to the 45W Rapid Charging technology, and it supports 15W inductive (wireless) charging using Qi2 technology. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra would stay on for more than 24 hours, for normal use. However, if you engage in intense gaming, you could get around 12-14 hours of uptime, depending on various factors. Overall, the battery performance is solid, and the actual hours you can get from it after a full charge depend on the device’s usage—it’s long-lasting, that, I can assure you.

Platform and Operating System

The S25 Ultra is built on the brand’s One UI 7 OS, which is a fine-tuned version of the Android 15 OS. One UI 7 brings fluid-like animations, swift navigation, and more beautiful widgets compared to the stock Android 15 offering (as seen on the Google Pixel). Samsung guarantees the S25 Ultra will continue to receive software updates until 2032.

Features and Tech Summary

The price is a good one, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a great device overall—just don’t buy it because of the overhyped “AI features,” which you may end up never utilizing. Whether you’re an ardent mobile gamer or a professional needing a somewhat mini PC to carry everywhere you go, this device is a handy choice. You will love the pictures and videos you take with this, plus, the One UI 7 lets you enjoy the fluid-like AMOLED display. Pretty recommended.

My Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review and Verdict

Moving from Google Pixel 8 Pro to Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra was a bit of an upgrade, as the device feels sleek and better spec’d. Ordinarily, I’d have continued using the device without a casing, since there’s a 1-year free screen replacement warranty with my Galaxy S25 Ultra purchase, but I’m already aware of the other benefits we get from such functional phone cases.

So, I used the device for two weeks before adding a defender case and a screen guard to it. The experience has been nothing short of awesome. From the feel to the performance and battery durability, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra checks all the boxes you can imagine for a flagship device. However, it kind of suffers from over-sophistication as most of its features are utterly unnecessary. The AI tasks are not yet “perfected”—you miss a letter in a word, and the AI won’t carry out your task efficiently.

I had a better AI experience with my Google Pixel 8 Pro device than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. This is one of the reasons I’ll be ordering the Google Pixel 10 Pro Phone as soon as it’s out on shelves. Overall, the device is great and met my expectations for a flagship device.