Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

GSMTechTok analysis

Who it's for

The S25 Ultra is for a buyer who wants Samsung's most capable all-rounder — AI features, S Pen support, and genuinely long battery life — without needing the very best camera on the market. Tom's Guide's review is enthusiastic overall, praising superb cameras and very long battery life alongside strong Snapdragon 8 Elite performance. GSMArena's own assessment is more mixed: its competition write-up is candid that this generation's advances are real but incremental, closing with a pointed question about whether the phone lives up to the Ultra name the way past generations did. It's a weaker fit for anyone specifically chasing best-in-class camera performance — GSMArena's own comparison found rivals like the Oppo Find X8 Pro and vivo X200 Pro turn in better low-light and zoom results.

Standout features

AI is the clearest area of genuine advancement this generation — Tom's Guide highlights the ability to perform actions across multiple apps at once as a real, usable upgrade rather than a gimmick. The display grew to 6.9 inches without meaningfully increasing the phone's footprint, and the titanium frame with flat sides and rounded corners is a genuine ergonomics improvement GSMArena's design testing found more comfortable to grip and handle than the outgoing S24 Ultra. Performance from the Snapdragon 8 Elite is class-leading at launch, and Samsung's seven-year OS and security update commitment remains a real, differentiating promise few rivals match. Selfie camera quality is also a genuine strength GSMArena calls out specifically, ahead of most Chinese Ultra-tier rivals in that one respect.

Trade-offs

Camera performance outside selfies is the most consistent, specific criticism — GSMArena's own comparison against the Oppo Find X8 Pro, vivo X200 Pro, and Xiaomi's Ultra line found rivals produce more expressive daytime shots, better low-light results, and stronger zoom across the board. The S Pen lost Bluetooth connectivity this generation, a real and disclosed downgrade that removes air-gesture controls and remote shutter functionality Tom's Guide flags directly as a con. Sustained performance under heavy load is a genuine, measured weakness too — GSMArena's testing found it behaves like most flagships under thermal stress, only slightly worse. Wireless charging is capped at 15W and, per Tom's Guide, needs a case to work with Qi2 magnetic accessories since the alignment magnets aren't built in. And GSMArena's own closing verdict is blunt that the generational gains, while real, aren't the leap the Ultra name has represented in the past.