Gadgets

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review: Boring But Brilliant

Published

10 hours ago

January 30, 2025

Empowerment

At a glance

Expert’s Rating

Pros

Slick software

The most advanced AI around

Gorgeous anti-reflective screen

Image processing has improved

Cons

Barely any hardware upgrades

S Pen has no Bluetooth

Expensive

Our Verdict

I didn’t want to love the S25 Ultra. It’s one of the smallest generational updates we’ve ever seen, and there’s no excuse for that with so much innovation happening elsewhere. But it’s a wonderful phone that’s a pleasure to use and there’s no area where the S25 Ultra falls short. If you have the S24 Ultra, though, you can safely skip this one, as you’re not missing out on much.

Price When Reviewed

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Price When Reviewed

From $1,299.99

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

$1299.99

Samsung’s latest flagship phone has arrived, and it’s not the upgrade that many of us were hoping for. In fact, at a glance, you may not notice anything has changed at all. Thankfully, that’s not actually the case, and there are a handful of new things to explore.

The design has been refreshed, and we now get corners with a bit of curve to them, which should be nicer on your palms. There’s the latest Qualcomm chip, and it’s a special “For Galaxy” version, as we’ve come to expect. There’s also a new 50Mp ultrawide camera, but in terms of hardware, that’s all you get.

The rest of the innovations come via software, and they’re mostly infused with AI smarts. There are some very novel features included, but I’d expect a lot of them to arrive on Samsung’s older flagships too.

So, is it worth investing in the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, or should you stick to an older model instead? I lived with the S25 Ultra as my main device for the past week in an attempt to find out.