Shane
It’s 2025 and to commemorate this quarter of a century since Y2K a new era of Samsung’s S Series has launched.
The three familiar models, S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra make their debut as premier Android based smartphones, but there’s also been a major overhaul.
This year’s S Series is a mix of what we are used to from Samsung in their signature flagship and a lot of bold and innovative features.
First up is to take a look under the hood for the mighty Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Having the new and powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite processor at its core sees both battery efficiency and speed in tandem, enabling complex tasks, multitasking and some quality console gaming abilities.
Coupled with this is the standard 12GB RAM (there is a 1TB / 16GB RAM variant).
The bold and vivid AMOLED QHD display has increased by .1 of an inch to come out at 6.9 (S24 Ultra is 6.8 inch). Yeah, you’re not likely to notice the size difference if you’re still wielding a S24 Ultra, however the all screen, no bezel device with HDR10+ has a fluid 120Hz refresh which, if you’re a mobile gamer, is a must.
Camera wise, the S25 Ultra has it all to smash out any competing device and make this smartphone the must-have for professional mobile photography.
The front facing pinhole comes in at 12MP (wide), which provides you with a deep and true to life colour detail and is able to record in 4K.
But it’s the rear camera’s where things are at.
We have four lenses going on, 200MP wide, 10MP telephoto, 50MP periscope and an additional 50MP ultrawide.
Able to natively record in 8K (and of course 4K) for video the depth, detail and true-to-life colour capture is second to none.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – Portrait mode
Nightography is just beyond reality and of course the x100 digital zoom lets you capture those moon shots that really enforce the ‘Galaxy’ in this series’ brand name.
From everyday snaps, to vlogs, live reels or pet video’s if you are wanting to capture or record at a pro level the S25 Ultra has got you sorted.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – Space zoom
For those that like to get closer to the action, there’s optic x3 and x5 zoom through to digital x100 zoom.
However, be prepared to lose resolution and detail if you take snaps at the full digital zoom, and somewhat awkward camera control to snap the area you’re mega-zoomed in to.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – no zoom
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – x10 zoom
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – x100 zoom
This year’s S Series has had an overhaul in other areas too.
It’s the Samsung One UI you know, but oh so different with version 7.
For the past 12 months since the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung’s UI / UX team have been busy.
A smoother, more intuitive navigation with a heavy accent on tiling. Your home screen widgets are more informative yet less cluttered and overall give a cleaner experience.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – Now bar
Samsung has introduced us to the ‘Now bar’. An onscreen widget that sits at the bottom of the lock screen which can do all manner of things. From Samsung Health insights, to relevant events through to music streaming controls and more.
I fully welcome this – it’s handier than you’d think, and way more ‘dynamic’ than any ‘island’…
Now let’s talk about AI.
Last year we saw Samsung pioneer AI into their smartphones with circle to search, smart translation, AI photo editing and more.
We still have this in the S25 range with some of the best and most intuitive image wizards and edits on any device, but when you first start using your new S25 device there is an overload of AI preinstalled. From Gemini to Bixby or Google Assistant, even CoPilot.
Take your pick of the bunch is my advice and stick with the AI you’re used to.
The S25 Ultra does come with bloatware, you know, those apps (some third party) that are bundled and you cannot uninstall. This chomps a sizeable amount of onboard storage and no, you cannot expand via microSD card, that was removed years ago and I wish it would come back.
If you’re likely to be recording a few 8K vids, you’ll need to go for the larger storage options of 512GB to 1TB. But for most users the entry level 256GB will be more than enough.
You can circumvent the storage by using cloud, such as Google, or OneDrive, both are immediately available on the device.
Battery wise, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has your back. A 5,000 mAh powercell keeps you running day and night. So much so, that during my heavy daily use I’m able to squeeze up to two days from a full charge, without using reverse charging (charging a Samsung wearable on the back of the phone).
There are a few takeaways for me with the S25 Ultra. From the overly generously spec’d rear camera’s the intuitive use of AI, power, speed and battery life, but the biggest one was the refreshing look and feel of One UI 7.
This is the S Series you love, you’re used to, but unlike a certain specific smartphone whose ‘core’ UI / UX hasn’t changed since the 2010’s, Samsung are bringing the innovation, the change, leading the AI march and actually giving you new, improved and ‘Ultra’ specs for your hard earned cash.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is truly something special in the S Series and a must upgrade from whichever smartphone you may be rocking right now.
Released: February 2025
Device Name: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Chipset: Snapdragon 8 Elite
Memory: 12GB
Internal Storage: 256GB (reviewed)
Camera: F: 12 MP (wide). R: 200 MP (wide), 10 MP (telephoto), 50 MP, (periscope telephoto), 50 MP (ultrawide)
Battery: 5,000 mAh