Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: Too much AI, not enough Ultra

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t feels like every major tech company is totally convinced that AI is the future. And for all I know, they may be right. But while we’re waiting for someone to develop our seemingly inevitable AGI-based overlords, we have to suffer through every baby step to get today’s machine learning-powered features. Unfortunately, that’s a problem for gadgets like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra — because when the biggest focus of a new $1,300 flagship smartphone is iterative AI updates, the device can feel a bit underwhelming. Combine that with hardware that seems like it’s been frozen in time for the last couple of years and you get something that leaves you wanting more.

For this year’s Ultra, Samsung wanted to give the phone a softer, more curvy appearance to reinforce the familial resemblance between it and its less expensive siblings. And by rounding off the S25 Ultra’s corners, I’d say mission accomplished. Elsewhere, its front and back glass are now made of Corning Gorilla Armor 2, which features a new version of the company’s anti-reflective coating and looks great. When combined with bezels that are 15 percent smaller than before, you get a phone with super clean lines and a slightly larger 6.9-inch display (up from 6.8 inches) without an increase in its physical size.


 

For 2025, Samsung’s AI features are a bit more powerful and easier to use. However, aside from a faster chip, a new ultra-wide sensor and a few cosmetic tweaks, it looks and feels very similar to last year’s model, which makes the S25 Ultra a less impressive update than it should be considering it starts at $1,300.

Pros
  • Excellent screen
  • Great performance and battery life
  • Anti-reflective Gorilla Armor 2 panels
  • Slimmer bezels
  • New 50MP ultra-wide sensor
Cons
  • S Pen no longer supports Air actions
  • Same main and telephoto cameras as last year
  • Not fully compatible with magnetic Qi2 accessories
  • Expensive

But make no mistake, the S25U still feels a lot like the last two Ultras that came before it. Its flat edges give it a very boxy feel, and even though the Note line is dead, there’s still the requisite cubby hole for the S Pen. However, for 2025 the included stylus has gotten a minor downgrade now that Samsung has removed support for Bluetooth Low Energy. This means it no longer supports Air action gestures, so you can’t use it as a remote camera trigger or to do things like switch cameras or change photo modes.

Samsung claims this loss of functionality shouldn’t be a big deal as a tiny fraction of people actually used the feature. Plus, if you want a way to remotely snap a photo, there are other methods like holding your hand up to the camera or using a Galaxy Ring or Watch. But if you’re one of the few who did enjoy Air actions, it’s an unfortunate step backward. Thankfully, for those who absolutely need a stylus with gesture support, you can still get that functionality from Samsung’s optional S Pen Pro.

One small thing I do want to call out is the improved anti-reflective coating on the S25 Ultra’s screen. It strikes an almost perfect balance between typical glossy displays and the matte texture used on traditional desktop monitors. Colors remain vivid while still cutting out the most distracting forms of glare, and with a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, the screen dazzles in practically any environment.

The Galaxy S Ultra has never lacked power, but that didn’t stop Samsung from adding even more speed thanks to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. This thing absolutely flies and there’s not much you can do to slow it down. Samsung has even tightened up the animations in One UI so that the phone feels as responsive as its benchmarks suggest, which are up as much as 30 to 40 percent depending on the task (or closer to 15 percent while gaming). The one wrinkle to this is that, when under heavy loads, the S25 Ultra does become a bit power-hungry, which can result in slightly faster-than-expected battery drain when doing heavy multitasking or running demanding apps.

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