Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G

Samsung

6.8

Decent

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Samsung

8.4

Iterative but polished

What Reviewers Agree On

Design looks more premium than the $299 price suggests
Super AMOLED display is excellent for this price bracket
Battery life is strong, easily lasting a full day and into the next
Performance is noticeably sluggish for anything beyond basic tasks
Samsung's long update commitment adds value over time

Deal Breakers

Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 delivers noticeably laggy performance in demanding apps
Camera quality falls well short of competitors like the Pixel 7a at similar prices

Pros & Cons

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G

Pros

Design looks more premium than the $299 price suggests
Super AMOLED display is excellent for this price bracket
Battery life is strong, easily lasting a full day and into the next
Performance is noticeably sluggish for anything beyond basic tasks
Samsung's long update commitment adds value over time

Cons

Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 delivers noticeably laggy performance in demanding apps

Detailed Comparison

Design & Build

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G

The A36 5G punches above its weight in design, with a clean aesthetic that mirrors Samsung's flagship lineup. Build quality is solid for the price with a polycarbonate back that still manages to look sleek.

Clean, modern design that takes cues from the flagship S25 series — doesn't look like a budget phone
IP67 water resistance at $299 is impressive and increasingly expected at this price tier
Polycarbonate back keeps costs down but doesn't feel cheap in the hand
Color options are attractive and help differentiate it from the sea of black budget phones

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Samsung reshaped the Ultra this year with rounded corners and flatter sides, keeping the grade-5 titanium frame and introducing Gorilla Armor 2 front and back. Most reviewers find the new shape more comfortable, though a minority think it still feels utilitarian. The phone is marginally thinner and lighter than the S24 Ultra despite a slightly larger display. Reddit users on r/Android flag that the new rounded corners make the Ultra visually less distinct from the base S25 than past generations.

The rounded corners and straighter sides make the S25 Ultra more comfortable one-handed than the pointed S24 Ultra.

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What Reviewers Agree On

The 6.9-inch QHD+ LTPO AMOLED with Gorilla Armor 2 anti-reflective coating is the best smartphone display you can buy right now.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy and larger vapor chamber deliver benchmark-leading, consistently smooth performance with minimal thermal throttling.
Battery life on the 5,000 mAh cell easily lasts a full day, with most reviewers ending on 30-40% remaining.
The new rounded corners and flatter titanium frame make the phone noticeably more comfortable to hold than the S24 Ultra.
The new 50MP ultrawide is a real, visible upgrade — sharper detail, better low-light performance and autofocus for macro.
Gorilla Armor 2 and the titanium frame make this one of the most durable flagship phones available.
Seven years of OS and security updates match the best in the industry and help justify the long-term investment.

Deal Breakers

The S Pen lost Bluetooth functionality this year, so remote shutter and Air Actions gestures are gone — a sore point for long-time Samsung owners on Reddit who see it as another feature cut from the 'everything phone.'
At $1,299 the hardware year-over-year gains are minimal, and Reddit sentiment on r/gadgets and r/Android echoes what reviewers say: the Ultra no longer feels special enough to justify the premium.
Qi2 wireless charging only works through a separate magnetic case — the phone itself has no built-in magnets.
The main 200MP and 5x telephoto cameras are physically unchanged from the S24 Ultra, so image quality gains are marginal.
Galaxy AI features are guaranteed free only through the end of 2025, with Samsung hinting at future paid tiers — and Reddit users on r/gadgets are already skeptical the features justify being front-and-center at all.
Shutter lag on the main camera still trails iPhone and Pixel — flagged by 9to5Google in long-term testing and cited by r/apple commenters as a reason they haven't switched.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Pros

The 6.9-inch QHD+ LTPO AMOLED with Gorilla Armor 2 anti-reflective coating is the best smartphone display you can buy right now.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy and larger vapor chamber deliver benchmark-leading, consistently smooth performance with minimal thermal throttling.
Battery life on the 5,000 mAh cell easily lasts a full day, with most reviewers ending on 30-40% remaining.
The new rounded corners and flatter titanium frame make the phone noticeably more comfortable to hold than the S24 Ultra.
The new 50MP ultrawide is a real, visible upgrade — sharper detail, better low-light performance and autofocus for macro.
Gorilla Armor 2 and the titanium frame make this one of the most durable flagship phones available.
Seven years of OS and security updates match the best in the industry and help justify the long-term investment.

Cons

The S Pen lost Bluetooth functionality this year, so remote shutter and Air Actions gestures are gone — a sore point for long-time Samsung owners on Reddit who see it as another feature cut from the 'everything phone.'
At $1,299 the hardware year-over-year gains are minimal, and Reddit sentiment on r/gadgets and r/Android echoes what reviewers say: the Ultra no longer feels special enough to justify the premium.
Qi2 wireless charging only works through a separate magnetic case — the phone itself has no built-in magnets.
The main 200MP and 5x telephoto cameras are physically unchanged from the S24 Ultra, so image quality gains are marginal.
Galaxy AI features are guaranteed free only through the end of 2025, with Samsung hinting at future paid tiers — and Reddit users on r/gadgets are already skeptical the features justify being front-and-center at all.
Shutter lag on the main camera still trails iPhone and Pixel — flagged by 9to5Google in long-term testing and cited by r/apple commenters as a reason they haven't switched.

Display

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G

The 6.6-inch Super AMOLED display is the A36's strongest feature. Samsung's AMOLED expertise trickles down effectively here, delivering punchy colors and smooth scrolling that outclass most budget competitors.

Super AMOLED display delivers rich, vibrant colors that punch well above the $299 price point
120Hz refresh rate makes the UI feel smoother than the processor sometimes allows
FHD+ resolution is sharp enough for the screen size — text and images look crisp

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Virtually every reviewer calls the S25 Ultra display the best on a smartphone, thanks to the Gorilla Armor 2 anti-reflective coating that practically eliminates glare in sunlight, the 2,600-nit peak brightness, and the sharp 1440p LTPO panel. A few reviewers note PWM dimming only reaches 480 Hz and peak auto-brightness doesn't always sustain.

The anti-reflective coating makes it one of the easiest phones to use in direct sunlight and held up well to scratches over a week of abuse.
The Gorilla Armor 2 panel strikes an almost perfect balance between glossy and matte, with 2,600-nit peak brightness that dazzles in any environment.
The S25 Ultra's anti-reflective screen eclipses every other smartphone right now, especially under harsh sunlight.
After six months of use it is simply put: the best display I've ever seen on mobile — the bezels, brightness and colors are unbeatable.
The low-glare, bright LTPO display is a strength, but PWM dimming is only at 480 Hz which can bother sensitive eyes.
The display still only hits around 850 nits with the manual brightness toggle, so you rarely see the full peak brightness outside of HDR.
Even without a huge display upgrade, this is still absolutely one of the best displays — super crisp, very bright, high-refresh-rate LTPO.
Slimmer bezels grow the screen to 6.9 inches without making the body larger, and the Gorilla Armor 2 glass looks great.
r/Android commenters who upgraded from the S23 Ultra call out the titanium body and the non-reflective screen as the two features they actually notice day-to-day.