9.2/ 10
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Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Pros

• Best screen on any phone
• Versatile cameras
• Most powerful phone I’ve tested
• Good battery life

Cons

• $1,300 price
• Design is almost too minimal
• AI features are hit-or-miss
• S25/S25 Plus have similar features and cost less

With the new Galaxy S25 Ultra in my hand, I stand in the lobby of the LinkedIn building in San Francisco, which happens to be a POPOS: a privately owned public open space. It’s a gorgeous hall, with long running panels of blonde wood on the ceiling and back wall. I use Samsung’s new ultrawide camera to capture a dramatic photo of the lobby, and I’m pleased with how it turns out. The ultrawide’s lens makes the space’s long lines look like they go on for eternity, and I can even make out details in the wood grain. To keep the positive vibes flowing, I decide to add the photo to the S25 Ultra’s new Gemini AI assistant, and test the “Talk Live about this” feature. That’s when things go sideways.

With the confidence of a 6-year-old telling a lie, Gemini explains that my photo is of the Miner Auditorium at the de Young Museum. Fun fact: The de Young Museum doesn’t have a Miner Auditorium. Even more fun fact: There’s a Miner Auditorium at SFJazz, but my photo was taken in LinkedIn’s lobby. To quote Charlie Brown, “Good grief!”

This is our AI future.

At a time when companies push AI as the main appeal of their products, Samsung launches the $1,300 Galaxy S25 Ultra and touts the hell out of its AI features, the best of which are interesting and the worst of which, well, see above. Luckily, Samsung gets a lot of other things right on the S25 Ultra, which has a new processor, high-resolution ultrawide camera, and some sweet pro video tools that rival the iPhone 16 Pro. Samsung wisely kept all the best parts of last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra (basically the entire phone) but some of its worst parts, too, like the $1,300 price tag.

Notably, the S25 Ultra marks another step away from the Galaxy Note influenced design that Samsung has embraced since the S22 Ultra. Samsung’s refinements to the Galaxy S25 Ultra feel a bit like Pete Davidson getting all his tattoos removed: I miss those chaotic, wild days from them both a few years ago. Where’s the Samsung that actually printed “Space Zoom 100x” on the S20 Ultra’s camera bump? Or the Samsung that made a nearly three-minute video explaining how black the Phantom Black Galaxy S21 Ultra was?

The result is that the S25 Ultra is lighter and more comfortable to hold, but also about as exciting to look at as someone wearing a pair of Dockers and a polo shirt. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is undoubtedly a wonderful phone — its performance is jaw-dropping and it offers the most versatile phone camera you can find today. But before you buy one, consider why you’d want to.

Galaxy S25 Ultra: Should you buy it?

If you want to get the S25 Ultra for its AI features, don’t. While Samsung and Google’s AI does offer you squint-your-eyes glimpses at what could be, they aren’t the reason you buy an Ultra – at least this year.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s appeal is muddied by its $1,300, £1,249 and AU$2,149 price. The regular Galaxy S25 has the same functionality, power and longevity, and it costs $500 less. Want a bigger screen? Consider the Galaxy S25 Plus. For the majority of people, the regular Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus will be a better fit.

The reason to get the Ultra over its S25 siblings is its screen, which is truly the best I’ve seen on any phone, and the cameras, which are a step above what the S25 and S25 Plus have. Added video features like ability to record in Log format gets the Ultra as close as it’s ever been to the iPhone in terms of professional video capture.

But $1,300 is a lot, and this phone doesn’t even fold in half.

If you have a Galaxy S22 Ultra or older, the S25 Ultra will seem like a significant upgrade. It’s harder to make that case for S23 Ultra owners, who, unless their phone’s battery is ailing or they can score an incredible discount, should otherwise sit this one out. And for you S24 Ultra owners, you don’t need this phone. Save your money and treat yourself to a nice steak dinner and a movie.

S25 Ultra software and Galaxy AI

When I wake the phone, I’m greeted with the new Now Bar at the bottom of the lock screen. I like the carousel interface, which shows a shortcut to my Now Brief and information from other background apps like directions from Google Maps or the live score of an NBA game. But unlike the iPhone and its Live Activities, the Now Bar is limited and can’t track a rideshare.

Now Brief is a new interface/widget that lives on the home screen and is all about you. It uses data from your phone including your calendar, email and photos, as well as connected devices like a Galaxy Watch, to give you a snapshot at the start of your day or as your day progresses. In theory, it should get to know you better over time, but after two weeks of testing, it largely just shows me the weather, my calendar, photos I took and a random news story which more often than not is tied to politics. I don’t want to read about Mike Lindell when I first wake up – or ever, really.

But it’s the Ultra’s cross-app functionality through Gemini that has the most potential. I can ask Gemini in a single prompt to search for upcoming Air Jordan 1 sneaker drops and add them to a note, and it works. I had Gemini search my email for a list of upcoming soccer practices and add each practice to my calendar. Again, no problemo.

All three Galaxy S25 models have the same AI features. This is one area where Samsung could have helped the Ultra stand out from its siblings by having a unique AI feature that the others don’t. Side note: You can do a lot of this on other Android phones by just using Gemini and Google apps. But the issue, like with a lot of AI, is when things go haywire.

I asked Gemini to find a GIF of Homer Simpson walking backward into bushes and send it to a friend. It found a link to the GIF online and sent it to my friend, but it forgot to include the actual link. So my friend received a message that read, “Here is a link to a GIF online of Homer Simpson walking back into bushes.”

Beyond reliability, another obstacle to this hybrid online/on-device assistant is us. We’re used to the one-step-at-a-time reality that our phones have had for nearly two decades. So having a digital assistant that’s capable of more complex queries is going to take some rewiring in our brains before we can fully take advantage of it. 

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra design

The S25 Ultra now has flat sides, which makes me feel more confident that it won’t slip out of my hand. Samsung reduced the overall mass compared to previous versions, too. The phone is 15 grams lighter than the S24 Ultra, which makes the S25 Ultra seem less like I’m carrying a tech-infused brick around with me.

Samsung increased the screen real estate an extra tenth of an inch to 6.9 inches, thanks to thinner bezels. This, along with an antireflective coating, make the S25 Ultra’s screen my favorite on any phone. Content looks immersive even with something as mundane as a news or social feed. Using it outdoors to take a picture is fantastic because it’s bright, and the lack of glare doesn’t interfere with seeing what the photos I’m taking are going to look like, even in direct sunlight.

The S Pen no longer has Bluetooth connectivity, and as a consequence doesn’t have the Air Actions found on previous S Pens for the Ultra and Note series. If you don’t know what Air Actions are, you’re not alone, as apparently less than 1% of Ultra owners ever used them. The lack of Bluetooth means that the S Pen cannot be used as a remote camera shutter either. 

Galaxy S25 Ultra: New ultrawide camera, who dis?

The Galaxy S25 Ultra has four lenses on the back: a wide, an ultrawide, a 3X telephoto and a 5X telephoto. On the front is a 12-megapixel selfie camera. All of the cameras, except the ultrawide, are the same as what the S24 Ultra has and take just as amazing photos.

I want to focus on what’s new, and at the top of that list is the S25 Ultra’s 50-megapixel ultrawide camera. It’s simply amazing for a phone. The lens hits that sweet spot between distorting things in-frame enough to look dramatic without giving photos that warped-edge fisheye look. The higher resolution sensor captures a lot of detail. The dynamic range is good, but still a step down from the 200-megapixel main camera.

Here are a few of my favorite ultrawide snaps:

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Take a look at the photo below of Peebles the cat that I took with the ultrawide. Despite Peebles dashing to his window bed, the phone caught a ton of detail in his fur and whiskers. This image has some challenging lighting, with sunshine pouring through the window at the left into an otherwise dark room. Notice the image noise in the shadows on the right side. Perfect? No, but the detail and lens dramatic distortion make up for it.

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Below is an image I took with the ultrawide of a water sculpture early in the morning. The flowing water looks like glass contrasted against the stone. This image is over-sharpened, but I like how the sun flare looks in the top right corner.

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The S25 Ultra’s ultrawide doubles as a macro lens, allowing it to get close to a subject while keeping things in focus – it even crops the image’s frame to match that of the main camera. In the photo below of a Godzilla toy on a window sill, the monster’s plastic texture shows up well. Also the S25 Ultra balanced exposing the image of Godzilla without blowing out the highlights of the sky and cityscape in the window.

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Galaxy S25 Ultra video recording, Log support

Samsung nailed the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s video features. There’s a new zoom slider built for video recording, which makes doing a long steady zoom feel more controlled than the previous zoom dial.

There’s the Audio Eraser tool that helps you minimize background noise, like music or wind, and makes your subject’s voice stand out more. I tried this tool at several different places and was impressed with the results every time. But don’t get me wrong, this won’t remove all background noises. I mean, it can, but that usually results in the subject’s voice sounding odd and digitized.

Samsung improved night time video capture on the S25 Ultra, and it’s noticeable, especially compared to the S24 Ultra. Though phone video recorded in low-light on any phone is still OK at best.

The S25 Ultra can record video in Log format – this is aimed at filmmakers and creative types, and most people will likely skip trying it out. Log video looks flat and desaturated but it retains more image information for highlights and shadows, allowing for greater flexibility to edit colors and retain dynamic range after recording.

S25 Ultra battery and performance

At the heart of the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a custom version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and 12GB of RAM. In everyday use, animations look smooth, video games look incredible and AI runs quickly. Samsung actually made improvements to its photo AI tools by having them run on-device, instead of in the cloud and the increased speed is definitely noticeable.

But in terms of absolute power, the S25 Ultra, its custom chip and its larger cooling system lead to some absolutely wild performance. In the Geekbench 6 benchmark test for the CPU, the S25 Ultra scored higher than any phone we’ve ever tested, including the OnePlus 13 and iPhone 16 Pro. The same is true when it comes to the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark test for graphics.

Keep in mind, you won’t take advantage of all of this power right now. But as more AI features roll out or as new versions of OneUI/Android are released, this phone should be able to handle anything you can throw at it for years.

So with a bigger screen, more AI and a faster processor, you might wonder how the Ultra’s 5,000-mAh battery holds up. Over the two weeks I had the phone, it reliably made it through a full day on a single charge – often with 30% of its charge left. There were even a few days where the phone lasted well into a second day before needing to be topped off. I am still running CNET’s battery tests and will update this review with the results.

In terms of charging, the Galaxy S25 Ultra supports 45W wired charging (wall plug not included in the box) and 15W wireless charging, the same as the Qi2 standard. But the phone lacks Qi2’s built-in magnetic profile required to use a slew of magnetic accessories — kind of.

Samsung is selling cases for the Ultra that have magnets built into them. So you can add a magnetic wallet to the back. Or have the Ultra charging on a magnetic power stand (if only the Ultra had the iPhone’s Standby Mode).

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Final thoughts

The Ultra in the phone’s name means that the S25 Ultra is supposed to be ultra at everything in terms of specs: Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, 12GB of RAM, 5,000-mAh battery, two telephoto cameras, a stylus and, the true star of the phone, that screen. But the same can be said of last year’s S24 Ultra, and a lot of what I just listed can be found on the regular S25 and S25 Plus.

If you want the best screen you can find on any phone, get the S25 Ultra. If you want the most versatile phone cameras, get the S25 Ultra. If you want a stylus, get the S25 Ultra. But if your needs scale back on any of those fronts, the more affordable S25 options, or even last year’s S24 Ultra, may be worth considering.

All that to say, make sure you need an Ultra before you buy one, because Samsung has made its other phones just as good as the S25 Ultra in pretty much every other way.

How we test phones

Every phone tested by CNET’s reviews team was actually used in the real world. We test a phone’s features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it’s bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes using standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.

All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using it daily as well as running a series of battery drain tests.

We take into account additional features like support for 5G, satellite connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus support, fast charging speeds and foldable displays, among others that can be useful. We balance all of this against the price to give you the verdict on whether that phone, whatever price it is, actually represents good value. While these tests may not always be reflected in CNET’s initial review, we conduct follow-up and long-term testing in most circumstances.