With Galaxy S25 preorders now underway, you've got a decision to make about the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Do you buy the latest version of Samsung's premium phone right away or should you hold off on a purchase, whether that just for a little bit or skipping this upgrade entirely?
It's a challenging question. As we've discovered with our Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on, there's a lot to recommend with this new version, from a top-performing chipset to a bunch of enhanced AI powers. At the same time, the S25 Ultra's starting price of $1,299 is a lot to pay for any device, even one that's as capable as this new Samsung offering. If you do decide to buy, you have to be sure that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is going to provide exactly what you're looking for.
To that end, we've come up with the arguments in favor of buying the Galaxy S25 Ultra right away (and taking advantage of those preorder deals), along with a few other reasons why you might want to keep looking for a new phone. Here's what we think about whether you should buy or skip the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Galaxy S25 Ultra: Reasons to buy
Snapdragon 8 Elite benefits
It's no surprise that the Galaxy S25 Elite uses a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset to provide its power. Even when Samsung was splitting the difference between Qualcomm and Exynos silicon for its standard and Plus model flagships, the Ultra always featured a top-of-the-line chip from Qualcomm. What may be surprising, though, is how much better the Snapdragon 8 Elite makes the entire Galaxy S25 Ultra experience.
You'll get a performance boost, of course, with the Galaxy S25 Ultra seeing better results for CPU and GPU benchmarks compared to last year's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 system-on-chip. Because Samsung is using an optimized version of Qualcomm's chip, the S25 Ultra has posted better numbers than the OnePlus 13, which also uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
But the Snapdragon 8 Elite runs more efficiently, too, helping the Galaxy S25 Ultra post a slightly better time on our battery test compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, even though both phones use a 5,000 mAh battery. That suggests any gains in staying power are provided by the Qualcomm chipset.
Finally, the Snapdragon 8 Elite promises a better neural engine that lets the Galaxy S25 Ultra run a lot of Galaxy AI features entirely on the device. Speaking of which, that leads to...
Great Galaxy AI additions
We're still testing out the new capabilities in Samsung's Galaxy S25 lineup, but we like what we've seen so far from the AI-powered features Samsung has added, particularly via the new One UI 7 software interface. What's particularly impressive about these enhanced features is how they fuel everyday productivity instead of just serving up tricks to wow your friends.
For example, the new Now Brief feature provides summaries throughout the day that highlight information vital to your interests and activities. In the morning, you might get a weather report and a list of upcoming to-dos while the evening brief could feature a summary of everything you did and the places you went. Over time, Now Brief figures to become more powerful as the AI onboard your phone learns more about what you do and anticipates the information it needs to surface — all while keeping your data safe from prying eyes.
We're also pleased to see the addition of Cross App Actions, which taps into Google's Gemini assistant to let you interact with multiple apps in one single command — asking when the Super Bowl is going to take place and having the assistant simultaneously block out that date and time on your calendar. These actions work across apps from Samsung and Google plus WhatsApp and Spotify, and we imagine other third-party apps will add support over time.
Excellent camera performance
On paper, you might wonder how the Galaxy S25 Ultra will compete against the best camera phones, given that the only significant hardware change features an upgraded ultrawide camera sensor. But Samsung has also improved its ProVisual Engine, which should give a boost to your images via enhanced photo processing.
We're still doing full-scale camera comparisons on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but the early results are promising. When my colleague Mark Spoonauer looked at 11 different photos shot by both the Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max in different scenarios, Samsung's phone won more rounds. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is particularly impressive when it comes to low-light shots, and the zoom lens is as powerful as ever.
Some welcome design improvements
On the surface, there doesn't appear to be much difference between the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Galaxy S24 Ultra from a year ago. But look a little closer, and you'll spot some minor design changes. Flat edges and rounded corners replace the curved sides and sharp corners of last year's phone, with the end result being a device that doesn't dig into your hand when you're holding it.
You get a lighter phone, too, with the Galaxy S25 Ultra tipping the scales at 7.69 ounces. That's a little more than half-an-ounce lighter than the S24 Ultra, which may not seem like much on paper, but it makes the new phone a little bit easier to tote around all day.
A bigger, brighter screen
Because Samsung shrunk the bezels on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, you get a 6.9-inch display, a slight increase from the 6.8-inch panel found on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. That screen expansion doesn't make the S25 Ultra bigger than its predecessor — while fractionally taller, it's not as wide as last year's model. Just as important, the 6.9 inches of screen real estate match what Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max offers.
As our Galaxy S25 Ultra display tests prove, the Ultra is also brighter this year. We got a reading of 1,860 nits, a 52% improvement over the Galaxy S24 Ultra's result. The Galaxy S25 Ultra also topped the iPhone 16 Pro Max's 1,553-nit reading. In his day-to-day Galaxy S25 use, my colleague Richard Priday also praised the anti-glare layer on the S25 Ultra's display for making the screen easier to read in harsh lighting.
Galaxy S25 Ultra: Reasons to skip
No more S Pen Air Actions
The Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn't get thinner without a few trade-offs. Specifically, Samsung got rid of the Bluetooth LE radio from the S Pen that comes with the Ultra, presumably as a space-saving move. As the stylus now lacks Bluetooth compatibility, you can no longer perform Air Actions like using the S Pen as a remote control or a shutter so that you can be in the same photo you're shooting with the phone.
For many people, that trade-off will be worth it in the name of a more portable phablet. But if you're upgrading from a model that supported Air Actions, that's a feature you'll need to be prepared to sacrifice if you opt for the S25 Ultra.
Limited Qi2 wireless charging support
Like other phones in the Galaxy S25 lineup, the Ultra model adds support for the Qi2 wireless charging standard, which promises faster charging speeds and more secure connections between charing pads and your phone, assuming your phone comes equipped with the necessary magnets on its rear panel.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra does not have these magnets, though. So if you want to reap the benefits of Qi2 support, you need to buy a compatible case and keep it on your Galaxy S25 Ultra. If you were planning on getting a Galaxy S25 Ultra case anyhow, that's only a minimal hassle. But if Samsung really wants to support this feature and help out its user base with faster charging, it seems like it shouldn't have made a case a requirement.
That's still a lot to pay for a phone
So on the bright side, the Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn't cost any more than the Galaxy S24 Ultra did. The problem is that the S24 Ultra cost a lot, and now, so does Samsung's new model.
No matter how many features you pack into a phone, $1,299 for a 256GB model is a lot to ask in return. Considering that the same Galaxy AI features available on the Ultra will also appear on the Galaxy S25, it's tempting to buy that phone and pocket the $500 price difference between the two models. That would mean a number of trade-offs including a smaller screen with the 6.2-inch S25, but so long as the Ultra model costs as much as it does, it's going to be out of reach for a lot of people. About the only saving grace to the high price is the trade-in offers that allow you to take a chunk out of the cost of the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra outlook
As you can see, the Galaxy S25 Ultra improves upon its predecessor in nearly every crucial category from performance to battery life to photo quality. If you haven't upgraded your phone in a while, you're going to see big gains with the new Ultra — provided you can afford Samsung's hefty price and don't mind some of the other compromises that come with this particular version.
