Samsung's Galaxy S range has always been a favourite with most tech fundies and widely admired in the smart phone space. They normally set the standard of what should be norm in a phone and all their competitors keep a keen eye on their unboxing events when the latest S series is being debuted. The range topping Galaxy S Ultra devices are aimed more at the business folk who require a phone that can cope with the demands of phone calls, emails, messaging and view documents while on the go, but having the battery life to last more than a full working day. The latest version of this device which was launched earlier this year had Samsung fanboys drooling at what it had to offer, from the Galaxy pen which is integrated to the device to the telephoto zoom camera, it seems like the complete package, I got to experience the device first hand for a few weeks to see if it lived up to the hype.
WHATS IN THE BOX?
Like many other manufacturers, the boxes are getting smaller and smaller with less and less things inside, for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, its no different. It comes with a USB C charging cable, a pin to remove the SIM card slot and a booklet for the device and that's it. The Galaxy Pen is built-in to the device so its already inside. The box is pretty cool, but most of the people will just chuck it away.
DESIGN
The design of the Galaxy S25 Ultra remains that sleek uni-body design of old with slightly more detail and less of a bezel than before. While it is quite big in size, measuring in at 162.8mm x 77.6mm x 8.2mm, the device doesn't feel to cumbersome in hand like the previous Ultra's, weighing in at 218g its also not that heavy. The Display measures in at 6.9-inch and has a 92.5% screen to body ratio which ensures ultimate viewing. The material of the screen is the trusted Corning Gorilla Amror 2 Glass and it also features a glass back made from Gorilla Glass Victus 2, all of this is put together with a titanium grade 5 frame. It has a IP68 rating that is dust tight and water resistant, the device is immersible up to 1.5m for 30 minutes.
PERFORMANCE
Performance on the Galaxy S25 is driven by next-gen Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processing unit that maximises on efficiency. The device has 12GB RAM with options ranging from 256GB to 1TB UFS 4.0 storage, this particular model was the 256GB which seems like a lot of space but once you start downloading applications, taking videos and pictures, it does tend to fill up pretty fast. What was great though, is that I had installed a lot of RAM intensive applications, like photo editors and video editors, the device coped just fine with these and didn't flinch at all when processing large documents. Thermal Management is controlled with an improved vapor chamber cooling to maintain sustained performance during gaming and multitasking. Real-world performance will be snappy and fluid, handling everything from high-end mobile gaming to 4K video editing with ease. AI-assisted performance optimization via Samsung Gauss will also become more prominent in managing resources and enhancing app performance over time. While I only had three weeks with the device, I can't fault the performance on it at all during my time with it and even though it can handle some high quality games, I only downloaded 8 Ball Pool and let me tell you, playing it on that huge screen was pretty awesome.
USER INTERFACE
Samsung's One UI 7.1, based on Android 15, is expected to be one of the S25’s key strengths. Samsung continues to lead with a feature-rich but refined interface. Customization: One UI now offers deeper lock screen and home screen customization, including dynamic theming and AI-generated wallpapers. AI Features: AI-driven suggestions for messaging, summarizing documents, live translation in calls, and camera scene optimization will be deeply integrated. Continuity: Samsung continues to integrate better Galaxy ecosystem continuity — seamless device switching, auto hotspot, and Samsung DeX improvements. Updates: Samsung will provide 7 years of software support, setting a new industry standard alongside Google. One UI remains one of the most polished Android skins, and with the S25’s AI and hardware backing, it’s expected to be even more responsive and intuitive.
CAMERA
Camera performance is often where Samsung shines, and the S25 Ultra sure does live up to the expertations with it having a triple main camera system consisting of a main lens that is a 200MP f/1.7 with a new custom ISOCELL GN6 sensor, offering better light sensitivity and sharper detail in low-light scenarios. Second lens being an Ultra-Wide 10MP sensor with enhanced distortion correction. And the third being a periscope telephoto 5x optical zoom via 50MP lens, with better stabilization, I tested this while driving and it was unreal how stable the footage was when zoomed in. The front facing camera is a 12MP punch-hole with improved AI-assisted portrait mode. This also helps in terms of light control and adjusts the glare if there is too much to give you the perfect selfie all the time. Some key features on the camera are AI Zoom Refinement, Samsung's AI will improve sharpness during digital zoom beyond 3x.Nightography 2.0 enables better low-light and astrophotography features. The video is what blew me away, it has 8K video at 30fps and 4K at 120fps, with Auto Frame and Voice Zoom enhancements. I took a few videos and one of the video review on the new E-Class which is up on the Blog Instagram page, which was completely shot on the S25 Ultra. Compared to the S24, the S25’s camera system focuses less on sensor count and more on software smarts, AI post-processing, and scene recognition to deliver DSLR-level results from a phone.
BATTERY
With it being a phone aimed at high earners whom are most likely professionals who are always on the go, the battery needs to be able to last more than your usual 8 hour working day, and the folks at Samsung had this in mind when they fitted the S25 Ultra with a 5000mAh in the base mode Charging features a 45W wired, 25W wireless, and reverse wireless charging supported. Smart battery optimization learns your usage patterns to extend life and slow down battery aging. Real-world usage: Expect 6.5–7 hours of screen-on time, which is solid for a compact flagship, I manged to get up-to 20 hours of usage on the device, my day usually starts at 5am and by 6am I'm at the gym watching Youtube as I train, then into the car, I'm connected to the car via Andriod Auto, during the day making multiple calls, using social media, taking the odd picture of my coffee, then back into the car for the commute home, more social media scrolling and messaging at night before its time to hit the bed by 11pm, by then most of the time there was still 30% of battery left. This is all thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4’s energy efficiency, paired with Samsung’s adaptive refresh rate and AI optimization that enhances the battery performance.
VERDICT
The Samsung Galaxy S25 is a refined and intelligent flagship that continues Samsung's trend of blending cutting-edge hardware with smart software. While not revolutionary in design, it introduces meaningful upgrades in performance, AI integration, camera software, and battery efficiency. It has a lot going for it and as an iPhone Pro Max owner, when I posted I was reviewing this device on my social streams, I had a lot of iPhone owners asking me how is this device because they were bored of what Apple is offering at exorbitant pricing. I know exactly how they feel because I'm going through the same thing. The Pro's of the S25 Ultra are endless, such as excellent build and design refinement, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 ensures top-tier performance, its strong, long-lasting software support, the great camera system with enhanced AI and of course, the smooth, polished One UI 7.1 experience. Some things that I didn't like was the charging speed, compared to the Chinese products offering up to 120W charging, this seems to be lagging behind. Not much has changed in terms of the design and its hard to differentiate from the previous model and the pricing, while might be a bit more competitive to Apple, is till pretty pricey.
SPECIFICATIONS
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