Months of speculation have brought us to the official launch of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Samsung unveiled the device at its Unpacked event in San Jose, California, today. This is the most powerful Ultra model that brings a wealth of AI innovations.
Samsung always reserves the best camera hardware for its Ultra models. The Galaxy S25 Ultra also pairs that up with new AI enhancements for photography. Everything is wrapped up in a beautifully designed device that stays true to its Ultra heritage.
Samsung presents the Android flagship to beat in 2025
The Galaxy S25 Ultra's design is slightly different than its predecessors. It's not quite as boxy or industrial as its predecessors that aimed to capture the essence of the beloved Galaxy Note series. There are more subtle curves and rounded edges that are much more representative of earlier Galaxy S flagships before the Note was absorbed into the lineup.
Despite the 6.9-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display with 1~120Hz adaptive refresh rate, the device feels as bit more compact in the hand compared to outgoing model. It measures 77.6 X 162.8 X 8.2mm and weighs 218g, a full 14g lighter than the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The S Pen is present but it has lost its Bluetooth features.
Samsung has elevated the durability of its latest Ultra device with Corning's Armor 2 cover glass that also has an anti-reflective surface treatment. Grade 3 Titanium is being used for the shell, an improvement over the previous model. Samsung has also revamped the manufacturing process whereby the shell now has a higher concentration of Titanium for robust protection.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite powers the device, paired with 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. The Galaxy S25 Ultra has a 40% larger vapor chamber which should alleviate any concerns of the chipset running a bit too hot on the device.
Samsung claims a 40% NPU, 37% in CPU, and 30% GPU performance bump over the previous generation. The 5,000mAh battery supports 45W fast charging and Qi2 wireless charging support has also been added. Connectivity options include 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi Direct, and Bluetooth v5.4.
Google's Gemini AI enables many context-aware interactions. Press and hold the side button to bring up Gemini. It can perform various functions in Samsung and Google apps, in addition to third-party apps like Spotify, with a single command.
Some upgrades have also been made to the camera setup. There's the 200-megapixel primary sensor as you'd expect, while the ultra-wide camera has been upgraded to a 50-megapixel sensor. You also get the 50-megapixel periscope telephoto sensor with 5x optical zoom and a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom. There's also a 12-megapixel selfie camera.
Camera software improvements include 10-bit HDR recording being enabled by default for more accurate color expression. Low-light performance has been improved as well. Audio Eraser is a useful new feature that lets you remove unwanted noise such as wind, crowd, and voices from videos.
Expert Raw's capabilities have been enhanced with a Virtual Aperture feature that provides more depth-of-field control for DSLR-like shots. The device also supports LOG video recording which is useful for advanced post processing. Portrait Studio has become more true-to-life with the ability for users to create personalized avatars.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra runs Android 15 and One UI 7.0 straight from the factory. This means you can experience everything One UI 7.0 has to offer, including the Now Bar and various new Galaxy Ai features, the moment you take the device out of the box. The Galaxy S25 Ultra will receive seven years of both security and Android OS upgrades.
With prices starting at $1,299, pre-orders for the Galaxy S25 Ultra are open today and the devices will be released on February 7, 2025. You can buy the device in Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Black, Titanium Whitesilver and Titanium Gray colors.
