Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review: Might be the toughest one to call yet

It’s still a powerful smartphone, but the really token hardware and AI updates leave us hanging

A year ago, The National declared that the era of the AI smartphone had begun with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. It still feels that way.

The South Korean technology company has introduced its latest Galaxy S25 line-up, promising enhanced generative artificial intelligence features backed by Google.

But with what we've seen, we're wondering: did Samsung focus too much on AI? The National puts the top-tier Galaxy S25 Ultra to the test.

Exterior: Subtle changes

Slightly rounder corners, slightly squarer edges, slightly bigger rings around the camera lenses and slightly smaller bezels around its slightly bigger display, which is now at 6.9 inches (17.5cm), compared to its predecessor's 6.8 inches. And about 15g off its weight.

Safe to say that, physically, those are slight changes. Samsung loyalists will easily realise that not much has changed since 2021's Galaxy S21 series. It has been five years since the last major redesign for the Galaxy S.

Apple employs a similar strategy of keeping a familiar design on the iPhone, but it does not take five cycles to refresh the iPhone's look, whether it be changing the edges and finishes or rearranging the camera lenses.

Hardware-wise, the only spec upgrade worth mentioning is the Galaxy S25 Ultra's ultra-wide camera being significantly increased to 50MP from 12MP.

Interior: New chip for dedicated efficiency

From the moment we saw it, we knew that Samsung was focusing on hyping up Galaxy AI.

It all begins with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, and by its name you can readily tell that it's built for Samsung. It's also the first time a Qualcomm chip will be used across the board for a Galaxy generation, which would probably make those who have gripes with Exynos happy.Much like Apple's own chips, having a specifically configured processor will help Samsung achieve what it wishes, from managing battery life to ensuring that apps run smoothly. And having experienced no biting issues in previous devices across the Galaxy S and Z foldable line-ups, it wasn't a surprise that there weren't any performance snags again.

Galaxy AI: What's new?

When Galaxy AI made its debut last year, it introduced AI-powered features including live translation, photo manipulation, productivity assistants and Circle to Search.

Those were features concentrated on a single app. This time around, Samsung is attempting to harness its AI services across multiple functions with what it calls cross-app actions – and they are building upon that with its partnership with Google by bringing the latter's answer to ChatGPT (and Apple), Gemini, to power its generative AI offering.

With cross-app actions, you'll be able to use multiple apps with just a single voice command: for example, you can ask your device to "find a restaurant serving chicken wings and send it in a text message to [someone]".

The function, however, is limited to apps supported by Samsung and Google, but will also be available to WhatsApp and Spotify initially. The convenience is welcome – as long as you're able to clearly communicate with the device.

Samsung says the Galaxy S25 series is its most eco-friendly line-up, using more recycled components.

Related to this, you can now use conversational search, which can come in handy when searching for, say, a specific image in the photos app ("food from my trip to Barcelona", for instance). The same feature is used in the search bar in settings.

Meanwhile, Circle to Search, triggered by holding the home button and executed by drawing a circle with your finger or the built-in S Pen around whatever you want to search for on the screen, has also been improved, got an amusing upgrade: the ability to search by listening to you.

Basically, sing or hum a tune and it'll do the rest. And it's pretty accurate: it was able to recognise and search for songs such as Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner, Guns N' Roses' Welcome to the Jungle and Dan Hill and Vonda Shepard's Can't We Try, and even the Philippine national anthem and the Japanese song Aozora No Namida, the theme of the anime Blood+. It's somewhat similar to the Shazam feature on iPhones.

More on selection: Samsung has also added AI Select, which suggests what apps or actions to use based on what's on your screen. We pulled up some images of pizzas, selected one of them and the phone suggested creating a GIF out of it and setting it as the wallpaper. AI Select is found on the Edge Panel, which you can access by swiping from the right side.

Camera: All-natural views

We did mention that Samsung upgraded one of the lenses in the Galaxy S25 Ultra's quad-camera system and, combined with AI, it has resulted in what we deem to be smoother shots.

The new 50MP ultra-wide provides a key boost: it makes good on Samsung's claim that it does better in low light, resulting in less noise and a more balanced brightness.

Those, in turn, are able process photos with lighting that are very much accurate with what you see with your eyes – something that we have been highly appreciative of unlike the overblown lighting and filters in other devices. The same observations can be made with video, particularly in low-light conditions.

How long does it last?

By now, we're used to Samsung's Ultra phones' battery charges to last well into a second day, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra is no different, giving us enough juice until the sun sets. And while Samsung has stuck to a 5000mAh battery for a fourth year, but we haven't felt any significant difference given its new chip that supposedly provides more power efficiency.

In our standard one-hour YouTube-at-full-brightness test, the battery lost, unsurprisingly, 5 per cent.

And, again, its charging features stay put, with you being able to get your device up at as much as 65 per cent in 30 minutes with a 45W charger; we hit 64 per cent in that span, climbing at 87 per cent within an hour. A 30W charger resulted in 31 per cent and 59 per cent, respectively. Reminder: Samsung doesn't include power bricks in its smartphones.

The verdict

This is probably the toughest Samsung device to judge, as the Galaxy S25 Ultra targets a specific base – those who are determined to further incorporate AI into their daily lives.

The question then now is, are you willing to upgrade for features that you might not actually use? Generative AI on smartphones is still new, and a good chunk of consumers are still figuring it out; what others might call a godsend may be a novelty to others.

Samsung should be commended for bringing the AI smartphone into the mainstream; the challenge now is what can it do more – both on the hardware and especially software fronts – to make it more appealing and convincing. What we don't want to see is AI blurring the lines and taking the "ultra" appeal of its most premium device away.