Latest Galaxy S25 Ultra news
Introduction
The Galaxy S25 Ultra will be Samsung's flagship smartphone for 2025, and it is expected to launch alongside the Galaxy S25 and the Galaxy S25+ sometime in January 2025. It will bring significant camera, design, and performance improvements compared to its predecessor.
Most of the upcoming phone's specifications have already leaked, but you should take this information with a pinch of salt. Nothing can be said for certain until the Galaxy S25 Ultra has actually launched.
Design
By all credible accounts, one of the biggest changes the Galaxy S25 Ultra will bring pertains to the exterior design. Gone will be the boxy frame with sharp corners, and in its place, the Ultra phone will feature a flatter frame with more rounded corners. The front and back panels will also be perfectly flat.
This move will make the Galaxy S25 Ultra look more modern and in line with the rest of the flagship series. But it won't be the only aesthetic upgrade for the Ultra series in 2025.
Leaks also suggest that the Galaxy S25 Ultra camera rings look similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 6's and have fine ridges circling the lenses.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra will retain the S Pen, and early fan-made renders based on supply chain information say the S Pen holster is located on the left side.
Lastly, Samsung appears to have put a lot of work into slimming the S25 Ultra bezels. The frame, which should be made from titanium, will be narrower than the Galaxy S24 Ultra frame. The Galaxy S25 Ultra will reportedly measure 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm. In contrast, the Galaxy S24 Ultra measures 162.3 x 79.0 x 8.6 mm. It will likely feature an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
Display
Because of these design changes and thinner bezels, Samsung will supposedly fit a slightly larger display on the Galaxy S25 Ultra — one that measures 6.9 inches instead of 6.8 inches.
We also expect Samsung to apply a similar anti-reflection coating on the Galaxy S25 Ultra's display as it did on the S24 Ultra. It's a fantastic feature, and we don't think the company will abandon it next year.
As far as specifications go, it is possible that Samsung will use M14 OLED panels for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The Samsung Display division already supplied OLED panels from the M14 generation to Google and Apple for the Pixel 9 and iPhone 16, respectively.
M14-generation panels are more efficient and brighter than the M13 OLED panel used by the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Although detailed specs are unknown, it's safe to assume that if the Galaxy S25 Ultra uses an M14 panel, the latter will reach even higher brightness levels than the S24 Ultra panel, which tops out at around 2,600 nits.
Based on what the Galaxy S24 Ultra already enjoys, other display specs for the Galaxy S25 Ultra might include an LTPO backplane, a QHD+ resolution, and a variable refresh rate of 1-120Hz.
Specifications
The Galaxy S25 Ultra will be powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, featuring Oryon CPU cores and Adreno 8 series GPU. Presumably, Samsung's flagship will have a “For Galaxy” chip with higher CPU and GPU frequencies.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite was announced in October 2024 as the “fastest mobile CPU in the world,” boasting peak CPU speeds of 4.32GHz on the prime cores. It has an extremely powerful NPU for on-device AI processing.
Qualcomm's Elite chip was announced at the end of October, boasting the “fastest mobile CPU in the world.” It is equipped with new Oryon CPU cores, the primary of which boasts a 4.32GHz maximum frequency.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip has the fastest Hexagon NPU for on-device multimodal gen AI assistance. Overall, the chip is said to boast 45% single-core and multi-core performance improvements, 62% faster web browsing, and 45% faster NPU performance.
In terms of power savings, the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite boasts 44% CPU and 40% GPU energy-saving improvements.
Connectivity features include UWB and AI-enhanced Wi-Fi 7.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra could have 12GB/16GB RAM and 256GB/512GB/1TB storage space. It will likely be powered by a 5,000mAh battery and have 45W fast charging. It will also have 15W fast wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging.
The phone could have 5G (dual-SIM card slot in some countries), GNSS (with dual-frequency GPS), Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, UWB, NFC, and a USB 3.2 Type-C port. Other features could include Samsung DeX, Samsung Pay, stereo speakers, and Dolby Atmos audio.
Cameras
Trusted sources and insiders claim that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will have a quad-camera setup on the rear featuring the following cameras:
- 200MP primary rear camera with OIS
- 50MP ultrawide camera (1/2.55-inch optical format, 0.7µm pixels, and an F1.9 aperture)
- 10MP telephoto camera (3x optical zoom) with OIS
- 50MP telephoto camera (5x optical zoom) with OIS
Since the phone is expected to have three high-resolution cameras on the rear, it may be able to record 8K 30fps videos using those cameras. All four rear cameras and its 12MP front-facing camera can record 4K 60fps videos as well. Its primary rear camera may also be able to record 4K 120fps videos to capture moments in slow motion.
Software and features
Samsung is rumored to ship the Galaxy S25 Ultra with Android 15 and One UI 7.1 software onboard. Since the Galaxy S24 Ultra was among the first phones to come with a promise of seven years of Android OS updates, the Galaxy S25 Ultra could also follow the same pattern and get seven major Android OS updates and security patches for seven years.
At SDC24, Samsung said the three core design principles of One UI 7 are:
- Simple. Aiming for purposeful simplicity across the UI.
- Impactful. Creating a new signature impression for One UI.
- Emotive. Creating UI elements, like a new blur engine, that creates a positive emotional response from users.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra could get even more powerful Galaxy AI features and an upgraded version of Bixby that is powered by large language models (LLMs) to understand complex commands.
Availability and price
The Galaxy S25 Ultra will likely be launched in the mid or the end of January 2025 and be available for purchase by the start of February. It will likely have the same pricing as the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and our guess for the US pricing is listed below.
- 256GB: $1,299.99
- 512GB: $1,419.99
- 1TB: $1,659.99
Note that these are just pricing estimates, and the actual pricing might be different, as the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is said to be at least 20% pricier than its predecessor, which was used in the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
