Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Samsung Galaxy S25

The 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display delivers outstanding brightness, color accuracy, and smoothness. Anti-reflective coating ensures excellent outdoor visibility.

• 120Hz LTPO display is butter smooth with class-leading brightness
• Anti-reflective coating makes it the most sunlight-readable compact phone available

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.

Samsung Galaxy S25

The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip brings significant performance and efficiency gains. Galaxy AI features run smoothly on-device, and daily performance is exceptional.

• After three years making essentially the same phone, Samsung has nailed it — better than its predecessors in almost every way, beating the iPhone 16 in performance
• Galaxy AI features are genuinely useful and well-integrated into the daily experience
• On-device AI processing is noticeably faster than cloud-based alternatives

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy delivers a meaningful generational jump in both CPU and GPU, rivaling Apple's A18 Pro and outscoring the iPhone 16 Pro Max in multi-core. The 40 percent larger vapor chamber keeps the phone cool even under sustained gaming loads. The r/apple thread citing a 36% GPU lead over the iPhone 16 Pro Max generated heated discussion, with most commenters conceding the Snapdragon chip is genuinely fast even if they still wouldn't switch.

• The phone benchmarks crazy high, rivaling Apple's A18 Pro — a little lower in single core but higher in multi-core.
• Samsung's 40 percent larger vapor chamber keeps the phone from warming up in normal use and benchmarks are up 30-40 percent depending on the task.
• Playing Genshin Impact at max settings for nearly an hour produced no stutters and no hot spots — a noticeable improvement over the S24 series.
• Multi-core Geekbench hits 9,793 versus the iPhone 16 Pro Max at 8,772 — the S25 Ultra pulls ahead thanks to extra cores and 12GB of RAM.
• The Snapdragon 8 Elite is the most welcome generational upgrade this year, with a boosted 'for Galaxy' variant delivering more CPU headroom than the standard chip.
• Under heavy loads the S25 Ultra becomes a bit power-hungry, which can cause faster-than-expected battery drain when multitasking or running demanding apps.
• Everyday tasks run smoothly and there was no meaningful performance difference versus the OnePlus 13 running the same chip.
• Apple users on r/apple concede Apple has fallen behind on GPU performance, saying 'competition is good' after the S25 Ultra posted a roughly 36% GPU lead in benchmarks.

Samsung Galaxy S25

The 50MP main + 12MP ultrawide + 10MP 3x telephoto setup delivers reliable results. AI photo editing tools add genuine value, though hardware improvements over S24 are minimal.

• Camera experience is just okay — display is excellent, performance is on point, but cameras need more attention
• Galaxy AI photo editing features like Generative Edit genuinely improve the experience
• Hardware is largely unchanged from S24 — feels like Samsung is coasting on software improvements alone

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

The only new hardware is a 50MP ultrawide with an f/1.9 aperture and autofocus — the 200MP main, 10MP 3x and 50MP 5x telephoto lenses all carry over from the S24 Ultra. Reviewers agree the ultrawide is a genuine improvement and low-light video processing is noticeably cleaner, but colors still skew saturated and shutter lag persists — a complaint echoed on Reddit by would-be switchers. Samsung's imaging is now slightly behind the Vivo X200 Pro and Xiaomi 15 Ultra but remains top-tier.

• The new 50MP ultrawide delivers more fine detail than the S24 Ultra's sensor, and the wider f/1.9 aperture helps keep noise low.
• Some low-light ultrawide shots are sharper than both the Google Pixel 9 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, but the rest of the cameras feel static.
• Samsung's penchant for slightly overboard sharpening is still visible, though the new ultrawide beats what the Pixel 9 Pro can do.
• Photos straight from the camera are a little too natural-looking, and most shots need editing to look their best.
• The 3x optical zoom uses a small, outdated sensor and is now a weak point of the camera setup.
• All cameras stay the same as on the S24 Ultra except the ultrawide, and Samsung is relying on the new ISP to improve quality.
• The S25 Ultra takes better zoom and ultrawide photos than last year with cleaner skin tones, and shutter lag is finally put to bed.
• Samsung has aimed for consistency, and after six months the stills are vibrant yet muted — pictures up to 15x zoom remain tack-sharp.
• The shutter activation is slow and not as instant as competing phones — a persistent Galaxy flaw Samsung should address.
• Side-by-side low-light video clips versus the S24 Ultra show clearly more fine detail from the S25 Ultra.
• iPhone-curious switchers on r/apple still call out shutter lag as the thing holding them back: 'I just want to open the camera and snap a picture right away. I don't want to have a motion blurred photo.'

Samsung Galaxy S25

The 4000mAh battery delivers dependable all-day life thanks to Snapdragon 8 Elite efficiency, but 25W charging speed is well behind the competition.

• Battery life is dependable for a full day of moderate to heavy use
• 25W charging is adequate but embarrassingly slow compared to Chinese flagships offering 100W+

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

The 5,000 mAh battery is unchanged but the more efficient chip pushes real-world endurance comfortably beyond a day — Engadget measured 29h 27m video runtime, Mrwhosetheboss got nearly 9 hours of screen-on time. Wired charging tops out at 45W, wireless at 25W. The Qi2 Ready implementation without built-in magnets is a consistent frustration, and Reddit users openly say the OnePlus 13's silicon-carbon battery was the more exciting release this year.

• Most days end with 60 percent left over — good but not amazing for a modern flagship.
• Local video rundown lasted an incredible 29 hours 27 minutes — almost two hours longer than the S24 Ultra.
• Battery life is just under 9 hours of total screen-on time per charge, regularly ending days with 30-40 percent remaining.
• Standby time after half a year of use remains excellent — never a single battery issue during long-term testing.
• Qi2 Ready is frustrating — you need a third-party magnetic case for MagSafe-like functionality, and some cases have weak magnets that pop off.
• Samsung is cutting corners by calling the phone Qi2 Ready without including magnets, and as the biggest phone maker it should do better.
• The S25 Ultra loses in both capacity and longevity to the OnePlus 13, which packs a 6,000 mAh silicon-carbon cell.
• Samsung stuck with the same 5,000 mAh cell rather than upgrading to silicon-carbon battery tech like the OnePlus 13.
• 'The OnePlus 13 was a more exciting release for me, with their new battery tech. Samsung has gotten pretty complacent, for the price they're asking.'

Samsung Galaxy S25

At $799, the Galaxy S25 is well-positioned but faces tough competition. The 7-year update promise adds long-term value, though incremental upgrades make it a harder sell for S24 owners.

• This all-in AI bet pays off — the Galaxy S25 delivers real value through its software intelligence
• Becoming increasingly hard to recommend a Galaxy outright given the competition and modest upgrades

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

At $1,299 the S25 Ultra is one of the priciest non-folding phones on the market, and reviewers repeatedly ask whether the incremental hardware improvements justify the premium. The OnePlus 13 ($400 less) and iPhone 16 Pro Max ($100 less) are the two most common recommended alternatives, though the Ultra's complete package — stylus, 5x tele, anti-reflective screen, seven years of updates — still wins over buyers who want it all in one device. User sentiment across r/Android and r/gadgets skews cooler: the dominant view is that the Ultra 'no longer feels Ultra' and that rivals offer better value in 2025.

• At $1,299 it is one of the most expensive non-folding phones, and it's fair to ask for more than a spec bump for that money.
• The iPhone 16 Pro is $300 less and also has a titanium frame — it's hard to justify the $1,300 asking price.
• A OnePlus 13 has a brighter display, IP69, better battery life, faster charging and a $400 lower price tag.
• This is still one of the most complete packages on Android and maybe the best outright phone you can buy, especially on discount.
• Around 90 percent of the phone's capabilities are already available on previous models, so Samsung is asking buyers to consider why they need to upgrade at all.
• The S25 Ultra is an excellent, robust smartphone and a safe purchase, but you'll buy it with your head, not your heart.
• The Ultra is the definition of reliable flagship excellence and one of the best phones of 2025, even if it doesn't make you feel anything.
• The base S25 and S25+ have every AI feature and the same chip for $500 less, making them arguably the better value for most people.
• The top-voted r/Android comment summarizes user sentiment: 'This phone feels a little less special than the S24 Ultra did, which felt a little less special than the S23 Ultra. But this is the Ultra! Doesn't that mean something?'
• r/gadgets sums up the mood in one line: 'Samsung didn't have any new hardware to bring so they tried to turn the focus to AI, basically selling you an S24/S23 with more AI stuffed in it.'