The Galaxy S25 Ultra is set to be Samsung's next big flagship hitting the shelves in early 2025. As a successor to one of the best Android phones currently available, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will have the tough job of recapturing the magic by surgically implementing improvements and upgrades to the established formula.
Right now, even though it is still early days for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, we've got a grasp on a few key details about the phone. And for the stuff we're not certain about, we can take some educated guesses by looking at past trends.
We anticipate the Galaxy S25 Ultra to come with a robust titanium build and incorporate Corning's glare-free glass for enhanced durability. Design-wise, it's expected for the S25 Ultra to maintain the mostly flat design of its predecessor. It will likely include an integrated S Pen and boast IP68 water- and dust-resistance.
The display might stick to 6.8 inches and will almost certainly keep rocking a Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel, with its super-smooth 1-120Hz refresh rate. Hopefully, Samsung will bump up the maximum brightness even further for better visibility outdoors.
When it comes to performance, it's almost a given that we'll find Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip powering the Galaxy S25 Ultra. There's always a chance this chip might be only in US units, leaving room for an Exynos version elsewhere in the world, but to be honest, that's pretty unlikely.
Battery-wise, we hope to get the improved battery life out of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but we are not holding our breath for a much larger battery due to space restraints. We'd definitely welcome faster wired charging, but we might see the return of 45W charging support once again.
We expect the Galaxy S25 Ultra to cost as much as the current model does. As a refresher, the Galaxy S24 Ultra starts at $1,300 for the 256GB version and goes up to $1,660 for the 1TB option.
Now, let's delve deeper into all the expectations surrounding the upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra. You can also take a look at all the available information about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S25.
Are you excited about the upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra?
The Galaxy S25 Ultra should become unveiled in January or February 2025. As we've seen in the past, it's sort of a tradition for Samsung to reveal its flagship series at the start of the year.
Samsung usually launches its new smartphones around two weeks after they become announcement. Depending on when the phone launches, the release date can very well trickle down into the month of February.
Device lineup
Announcement
Market release
Galaxy S25 Ultra
January 2025*
January/February 2025*
Galaxy S24 Ultra
January 17, 2024
January 31, 2024
Galaxy S23 Ultra
February 1, 2023
February 17, 2023
* - probable dates
Galaxy S25 Ultra price
With the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Samsung could go one or two ways: either make it pricier or leave the price tag unchanged. Seeing how the current Galaxy Ultra model scored a $100 price increase this year, we find it a bit difficult to believe that Samsung will go for another price increase for a second year in a row.
If previous Galaxy launches are anything to go by, there could be multiple ways to save on the upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra. For example by trading-in a device or pre-ordering the phone. US carriers typically also offer very decent deals and bonuses on new Samsung flagships.
Phone model
256GB of storage
512GB of storage
1TB of storage
Galaxy S25 Ultra
$1299.99*
$1419.99*
$1659.99*
Galaxy S24 Ultra
$1299.99
$1419.99
$1659.99
Galaxy S23 Ultra
$1199.99
$1299.99
$1619.99
* - anticipated prices
Galaxy S25 Ultra camera
According to well-known and reliable tipster Revegnus, Samsung might put a 1-inch 200MP ISOCELL image sensor on the Galaxy S25 Ultra's main camera. For cameras of most types, a bigger sensor guarantees better results, so if true, this could be quite exciting.
Equipped with 0.8µm pixels, dual-pixel autofocus and in-sensor crop zoom, this new ISOCELL sensor could potentially bring serious improvements to the flagship's photo capabilities.
We believe, and rumors back it up, that Samsung will stick with pretty much the same camera setup as the previous model. Just to jog your memory, here's the camera setup from the last one, laid out in the table below.
When it comes to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, it's safe to assume that AI will have an even bigger part to play in mobile photography and videography. This year, Samsung went all in on artificial intelligence and machine learning to step up its photography game with its top-notch "cameraphone".
And as if that weren't enough, we can also expect the usual software tweaks and image-processing algorithm upgrades that come around every year. This means that we can expect better low-light performance, upgraded image stabilization and, hopefully, even better portrait capture capabilities. Oh, and maybe even 100x Space Zoom, even without the 10X periscope camera!
According to an existing Samsung roadmap, the faster storage is expected to be available in 2025. In our opinion, that would definitely amp up the device's performance and it could also be a big boost for Samsung's on-device Galaxy AI.
We anticipate the base version of the Galaxy S25 Ultra to offer 256GB of storage, with options for 512GB and 1TB also likely available. There are also rumors suggesting a higher-end model with 16GB of RAM alongside the base configuration with 12GB of RAM.
Galaxy S25 Ultra expected storage capacity:
256 GB
512 GB
1TB
Galaxy S25 Ultra design
We don't expect major changes, but as usual, there will surely be some changes. The Galaxy S25 Ultra will stay in the same general ballpark as far as overall size is considered, but the frontal and side design could change.
According to a leak from late March 2024, Samsung is allegedly considering four potential designs for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. While mostly similar, the prototype variants differ in terms of bezel thickness and frame curvature.
The phone could either go the iPhone way and fully adopt a flat frame like the Galaxy S24/Galaxy S24 Plus, or remain similar to the Galaxy S24 Ultra model and boast a slightly curved frame.
However, just like its predecessor, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will most certainly feature a flat display.
Image Credit–PandaFlash
One other thing we are pretty sure about is that Samsung isn't ditching the titanium frame. It was a major highlight of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, so we expect it to stick around for several future generations, too.
Naturally, you can count on other staples like the built-in S Pen and IP68 water and dust resistance sticking around in the Galaxy S25 Ultra specs sheet.
Galaxy S25 Ultra display
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is expected to come along with a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, which will be similar to its predecessors. The resolution of this OLED display will probably remain at 1440 by 3080 pixels, delivering a very decent sharpness of over 500ppi. This, in turn, means that you won't be able to distinguish between individual pixels.
It is safe to assume that the display could be super-smooth thanks to LTPO 3.0, allowing it to switch between 1 and 120Hz on demand.
One of the best new features of the Galaxy S24 Ultra was the exclusive Gorilla Glass Armor, which mostly eliminated glares and as a result greatly boosted the outdoor legibility of the screen. This feature turned out to be a fan-favorite and we totally get why, as such: we sincerely hope it makes a comeback.
Display brightness is the new megapixel war with manufacturers constantly trying to outshine each other. With this trend showing no signs of slowing down, it's reasonable to expect Samsung to equip the Galaxy S25 Ultra with an even brighter display than its predecessor.
Galaxy S25 Ultra battery
A recent report suggests that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will retain the same battery size and charging speed as its predecessor. Mainly due to space constraints, we expect Samsung to put a 5,000mAh battery inside the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Yet, if the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 proves to be efficient enough, we might still see an improvement in battery life. Additionally, a new rumor suggests that Samsung might introduce a feature called Battery AI. This feature is said to provide an additional 5% to 10% of runtime to the phone.
We hope Galaxy S25 Ultra features faster charging than the 45W wired one of its predecessors. While neither the Galaxy S24 Ultra nor the Galaxy S23 Ultra charged slowly (both are capable of topping up in roughly about an hour), there's always room for improvement.
Hopefully Samsung will consider adding faster wireless charging to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, too. Currently, the top Samsung flagship phone charges at up to 15W with an official charger.
We don't expect to see a charger in the Galaxy S25 Ultra box and historical data suggest that neither should you.
Galaxy S25 Ultra features and software
Galaxy AI will most certantly be present on the Galaxy S25 Ultra
By the time Galaxy S25 Ultra arrives, we should have witnessed the arrival of both Android 15 and the derived from it One UI 7. We might even see One UI 7.1 on the upcoming flagship phone. Details about either of these are scarce, but they should deepen the software's reliance on generative AI and machine-learning.
Galaxy AI, which debuted with the Galaxy S24 series, is certainly coming back with the Galaxy S25 too.The S25 Ultra will undoubtedly be the best way to experience Samsung's planned enhancements to generative on-device and cloud-based artificial intelligence.
Galaxy AI is one of our favorite new features of this year's Galaxy lineup. We hope that Galaxy AI not only sticks, but also blooms to future Galaxy phones, such as the S25 Ultra.
Thanks to Samsung's new seven-year software support policy, we certainly know that the upcoming phone will be supported for at least seven years. This means the Galaxy S25 Ultra could be supported until 2032. This includes both major Android updates as well as security patches.
Galaxy S25 Ultra hardware and specs
As mentioned earlier, we are mostly certain the Galaxy S25 Ultra will come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip. Built by TSMC, we expect the chip to become announced later in 2024. It may very well turn out to be Qualcomm's first 3nm chip, matching the Apple A17 Pro in this coveted metric.
Currently rolling under the "Tongzi" moniker, this chip will swap ARM's Cortex cores for Qualcomm's new CPU cores. As per the rumors and leaks, we might not see any efficiency cores on the chip, which will instead consist of two performance Phoenix CPU cores and six medium-performance CPU cores.
The two performance cores on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 might be clocked as high as 4GHz. That would be a serious upgrade over the 3.3GHz of the Cortex-X4 of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
Additionally, a leaked GeekBench 6 benchmarking test claims that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 has achieved 2845 points in GeekBench's single-core test and 10628 points in the multi-core one. These results are higher than the 7249 score of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and the 7281 result that the A17 Pro chip of the iPhone 15 Pro Max has scored.
While Samsung typically equips its flagships with either Snapdragon or Exynos chips depending on the region, such a split has never occurred with its Ultra models. So, we think an Exynos-powered Galaxy S25 Ultra is just a mirage.
Should you wait for the Galaxy S25 Ultra?
You should wait for the Galaxy S25 Ultra if you are using an older phone and have held off from upgrading to the Galaxy S23 Ultra or the Galaxy S24 Ultra. While it is too early to say for sure, the S25 Ultra shows potential to become a significant improvement that is worth waiting for until early 2025.
You should not wait for the Galaxy S25 Ultra if you use a Galaxy S23 Ultra or a Galaxy S24 Ultra. Even if you use an older device, be it a non-Galaxy Android or an iPhone, unless you need a top-of-the-line Android phone with potentially numerous AI features, the Galaxy S25 Ultra may not be the right pick for you.
Peter, an experienced tech enthusiast at PhoneArena, is captivated by all things mobile. His impartial reviews and proficiency in Android systems offer readers valuable insights. Off-duty, he delves into the latest cryptocurrency trends and enjoys sci-fi and video games.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless