Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: A Powerful Yet Frustratingly Unambitious Upgrade

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra has left me reeling for a number of reasons this year. The latest high-end smartphone from the company releases alongside the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+, rounding out the family of Samsung’s new flagship devices. The Galaxy S25 Ultra builds off the foundation established last year with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. This includes a heavy focus on Galaxy AI integrations.

In a bubble, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is probably the best smartphone on the market currently. Running off of the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, the device is incredibly powerful and efficient to handle day-to-day tasks and leverage Galaxy AI. It also sports a fantastic camera array, capable of edging out both Apple and Google, respectively in this class. Unfortunately, I can say the same thing about the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Aside from nominal new AI features like the Now Brief and an upgraded 50-megapixel ultra-wide shooter, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is more or less the same device that’s been available for the past 12 months. If you’ve already upgraded last year, there’s little reason to invest $1,918 in another upgrade. However, if you’re coming from an older Galaxy device, the upgrade will be a lot more impressive.

Out of the box

Looking at the design of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, I’ve become a big fan of the slightly adjusted frame of the smartphone. Samsung has opted for more rounded corners and in my opinion, the device looks much better and is more comfortable to hold. Galaxy S25 Ultra launches in ‘Titanium Black’, ‘Titanium Grey’, Titanium Whitesilver’, and ‘Titanium Silverblue’ colourways. The device features a 6.9-inch AMOLED 2X display with a 3120 x 1440 QHD+ resolution. Throughout my experiences, I was consistently impressed by how fluid navigation was between apps. The high 120Hz support made scrolling look buttery smooth. I’ll continue to attest that Samsung’s use of the AMOLED display makes everything pop. Whether I’m watching YouTube videos or scrolling through TikTok, visuals on the Galaxy S25 Ultra are just as vibrant as its predecessor, with excellent contrast.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra continues to rely on its competitive camera array. This year, Samsung largely uses the same four-camera setup. This year’s offering includes the same 200-megapixel f/1.7 wide camera as last year’s model alongside the 10-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and 50MP f/3.4 periscope camera with 5x optical zoom. None of these are discernably different or improved from the Galaxy S24 Ultra. However, Samsung has replaced the 12MP ultra-wide lens with a 50MP f/1.9 camera with a 120-degree field of view. More on this in a bit but this upgrade is one of the few notable changes to the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Looking at internal specs, Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra leverages Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. This is an upgrade from the base Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip that was used last year. The processor runs concurrently with One UI 7 software to optimize performance as well as power Galaxy AI. This year’s model carries over many of the same stock Galaxy AI features but adds One Brief, the marquee new feature. The device also comes with 12GB of RAM and supports 256GB and 512GB storage options. Finally, for the battery, you’re looking at the same 5,000mAh battery with 45W fast charging. Samsung’s S Pen for the Galaxy S25 Ultra ditches Bluetooth support. While not a widely used feature (I barely utilized it myself), it’s an odd omission.

Galaxy AI underserves this year

Samsung has been putting a lot of stock into Galaxy AI this past calendar year. Building integrations across smartphones, laptops, etc., Samsung is investing a lot into convincing users that Galaxy AI features are worth the annual upgrade. Galaxy S25 Ultra touts improvements to existing features. For instance, Galaxy AI’s Live Translate feature is getting support for Swedish, Romanian, Turkish, and Dutch. The device also has a very novel Audio Eraser feature. This lets you remove unwanted noise from videos and audio tracks. It works phenomenally well and drowns out background voices from recorded video. You can also remove music and other noises and isolate the focal audio. It’s certainly not a feature I’ve been using daily but like Live Translate, it’s been one I’m glad exists when I need it.

The more interesting and perhaps ambitious new Galaxy AI feature to arrive with Galaxy S25 Ultra is the Now Brief and subsequently the Now Bar. Powered by Galaxy AI, Now Brief is designed to give contextual updates to your day and assist in your lifestyle and use of the device. It’s accessible through a widget on the home screen. The Now Bar is a stripped-down version found on the lock screen. Investigating the Now Brief, Samsung envisioned the widget to deliver up-to-date weather information, calendar reminders, and other pieces of curated information based on your use of the device. If you have a commute to and from work, Now Brief may feed you traffic updates in the morning and evening. Now Brief is also designed to feed you Spotify playlists, smart home controls, YouTube Shorts and more. Unfortunately, two weeks into my testing period, Now Brief is underbaked and barely functions as intended.

The entire purpose of Now Brief is that the feed is curated to my use of the device. After spending time listening to my Spotify playlists, looking up video games and tech news on Chrome, and padding out my calendar with all sorts of reminders and appointments, Now Brief barely gave me more than the daily weather. It took nearly seven days for Now Brief to add a Spotify playlist to the feed. I did notice that during my travels to the US, Now Brief would more consistently fold in news and YouTube Shorts. But once I returned home to Toronto, Now Brief was barebones again, despite my continual use of the device. A part of me wonders if Now Brief is a long-term investment in time. Perhaps two months of testing would garner far more different results. Another part of me wonders if Samsung was far too ambitious and Galaxy AI just isn’t ready to analyze and curate this sort of personalized feature for users. Either way, a feature I was genuinely excited to try fell flat for me.

My favourite camera array has been improved

I’ve never been an avid shutterbug but I’ve always consistently appreciated the camera array of the Ultra series. Amongst the goliaths of the North American market, Samsung has consistently impressed. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is no different. I’ve always enjoyed the loud and vibrant results of Samsung’s take on photography. Maybe it’s because I’m an avid iPhone user, so a different approach and photography style stands out to me. For the most part, if you’re familiar with the state of photography from the Galaxy S24 Ultra, you’ll find similar results from this year’s model. The difference is the new 50-megapixel ultra-wide upgrade. This is one of the first times I’ve found myself shooting on an ultra-wide lens more often than the standard shooter. The results I’ve found have been quite impressive.

Generally, I’ve found that the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s new lens is able to capture a lot of visual definition, up close or far away. For Instagram shots of brunch, the new lens is fantastic at shooting a meal and retaining a lot of the details. I was actively surprised by how great the shooter was in exterior settings, dealing with a lot of shadows from buildings and other landscapes. However, beyond else, the upgrade from the 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens proved to be exceptional in low-light settings like a concert. I’ve often been critical of many smartphones and their inability to capture action in low-light environments. The Galaxy S25 Ultra isn’t perfect but it’s the first time in a long time that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the results.

Video recording on the Galaxy S25 Ultra also supports robust pieces of work. With the Pro mode, you can adjust the zoom without the video stuttering while flipping between the camera lenses. Samsung is also supporting Log. With this, you can shoot a flat video. In the editing process, you can then tweak the video while retaining the highlights of colours or darkness of shadows. Much like with Apple’s ProRes video format, everyday users probably won’t be shooting with Log. Especially if you’re simply capturing videos for an Instagram Story or video for a friend.

Final Thoughts

After using the Galaxy S25 Ultra for the past two weeks, I genuinely wish the Galaxy S24 Ultra didn’t exist. It would make me consider this year’s model a slam dunk in comparison to many other smartphones on the market. The device is truly remarkable when we look at it within a vacuum. The battery life is outstanding, lasting over a full day of intensive use between social apps, streaming content, plus video and photo capture. The display is gorgeous and vivid, with smooth navigation and fluid performance.

However, I simply can’t ignore the fact that it exists right alongside the Galaxy S24 Ultra. For nearly $2,000, I would have wanted to see more than a slight redesign and a single improved camera lens. We’re reaching a point now where smartphones are becoming so powerful and proficient, that engineers are now looking well beyond camera, display, and battery improvements. Samsung, for instance, certainly believes that new Galaxy AI innovations are worth the annual upgrade. However, when the marquee Now Brief feature barely functions as intended, I can’t justify the purchase. This is, unless you’re coming from an older Galaxy device and jumping straight to a modern device and are okay purchasing a device at a premium.