Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra is one of the best phones you can buy right now, especially if you're looking for an incredibly strong camera setup. Our Galaxy S24 Ultra review also praised the flagship for its bright display, impressive battery life, strong performance, and enhanced AI capabilities.
All in all, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a stellar phone. But with the imminent release of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, how does it stack up? Will the Galaxy S25 Ultra bring even better battery life, performance, and AI features that justify a higher price?
Until Samsung's semi-annual Galaxy Unpacked event plays out, we won't have concrete details to compare these two phones. However, we can use the massive amount of Galaxy S25 rumors and leaks to help give you an idea of whether it's worth saving up for a Galaxy S25 Ultra upgrade.
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra: Price
The retail price for the Galaxy S24 Ultra is $1,299 for an unlocked model with 256GB of storage. However, because it's been out for roughly a year, you can often find it on sale for less than $1,000.
For the Galaxy S25 Ultra, there's no official starting price from Samsung yet. The phone will likely be available to pre-order at or shortly after the company's semi-annual Galaxy Unpacked event in January, but until then, we can only go based on rumors.
WinFuture reported that "northern European retailers are quoting the same launch prices for the Samsung Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra as for the previous models" (translated from German). However, others think the Galaxy S25 Ultra could see a $50 or $100 increase, boosting its starting price to $1,349 or $1,399.
Whether the starting price of the Galaxy S25 Ultra goes up or not, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will still be the better choice when it comes to price because it's much easier to find a great deal on a last-gen model.
Winner: Galaxy S24 Ultra
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra: Specs
Many of the specs between Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S24 Ultra models are likely remaining the same. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is suspected to offer the same starting storage options of 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB, same starting RAM of 12GB, same 5,000mAh battery, and same 12-megapixel front camera.
It's possible the Galaxy S25 Ultra may offer 16GB of RAM with higher priced storage options, but without official confirmation from Samsung, we're just guessing right now based on leaks.
In a since-deleted tweet from @Tech_Reve (via Tom's Guide), the leaker revealed the Galaxy S25 Ultra would feature an upgraded main camera, a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera (up from the Galaxy S24 Ultra's 12-megapixel ultrawide camera), and a new telephoto camera with "variable capabilities." Paired with Galaxy AI features, this new camera setup might be beautiful.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is also rumored to sport a slightly larger display, measuring 6.9 inches diagonally compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra's 6.8-inch display. Leaker Ice Universe shared all three Galaxy S25-series phones side by side to show the size difference, and all three look like they have incredibly thin bezels.
S25，S25+，S25 Ultra pic.twitter.com/x7TupwE1GJOctober 9, 2024
As always, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will get a performance boost over the Galaxy S24 Ultra by way of a new Qualcomm processor. It's rumored that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will be equipped with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which is essentially the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip renamed to "represent the highest level of performance [Qualcomm has] ever delivered in a mobile processor."
The performance difference between the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Galaxy S24 Ultra will likely be greater than the difference between the S24 Ultra and the S23 Ultra. After all, the S25 Ultra needs to be powerful enough to potentially handle more complex Galaxy AI tasks on-device.
Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra: Design
The Galaxy S24 Ultra may be the last boxy phone Samsung releases for a while. After a three year stretch of the design below with sharp corners, Samsung is moving in a different direction with the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra will feature softer, more rounded corners, though not nearly as rounded as the Galaxy S21 Ultra's corners. Honestly, the new shape of the Galaxy S25 Ultra closely resembles the new iPhone.
Despite its new shape, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is still expected to come with the fan-favorite S Pen stylus.
Both the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the S24 Ultra are equipped with a titanium frame that's more resilient than the lower-end Galaxy S-series' aluminum frame. Though both phones feature a titanium frame, the color options will vary slightly.
Determining which phone design is more attractive really comes down to personal preference, so declaring a winner here is a tough decision. However, with a slightly larger display and more people-pleasing color choices, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has a slight edge.
Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra: Galaxy AI
Samsung came out swinging with Galaxy AI features with last year's Galaxy S24 Ultra, and we're expecting the company to impress even more with AI-powered tools in the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
In Samsung's quarterly earnings report for Q3 2024 (via Tom's Guide), the company speaks on "plans to enhance the Galaxy AI experience to drive innovation in everyday life," but doesn't elaborate on what features and tools may drive that experience.
Then, an APK teardown by Android Authority suggests the Galaxy S25 Ultra could come with a year-long free trial for Google's Gemini Advanced, roughly a $240 value.
Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra: Overall winner
The Galaxy S25 Ultra appears set to comfortably beat the Galaxy S24 Ultra in many ways. It'll come with a much speedier processor (and hopefully, a more efficient processor), a better rear camera array, a slightly larger screen, and potentially more max RAM.
The one category the S25 Ultra probably won't beat the S24 Ultra in is price, even if it ends up starting at the same price. If you're looking for lots of performance power and a stellar camera array, but don't want to spend the full amount for Samsung's latest flagship, it's likely worth sticking with the S24 Ultra. For all other people, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is definitely the phone worth upgrading to.
After we get more concrete details via Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event, we'll be sure to update all the currently leaked and rumored info in this face-off.
