Samsung S25 Ultra vs S24 Ultra First Impressions 🤔 They CUT 1 Cool Feature!
I had the chance to test the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and here are 5 things that really struck me about Samsung’s latest flagship.
Ultrawide Camera
First thing is improved Ultrawide camera. Now it’s 50MP instead of the previous 12MP. This allows you to crop in even deeper without losing resolution, or print those shots on larger canvases. This not only affects Ultrawide shots, but also macro, so you can get in even closer than before. About the other lens elements like the wide and telephoto, at first glance they don’t seem to be different from the S24 Ultra. We’ll have to see when I test them properly with a review unit.
Form Factor
Second thing is the improvements they made to the form factor. This time they’ve gone with a slate Titanium design with flat sides and rounded corners, a departure from the S24 Ultra’s sharp angles. While the sharp 90-degree angles provide a little more screen real estate than the S25 Ultra when watching videos, but on the other it feels a little uncomfortable to hold sideways because it’s poking the palms. I didn’t get that with the S25 Ultra. It also seems to feel a little lighter than the S24 Ultra. Although it’s only a smidge lighter, but enough for me to notice the difference when I compare them side by side. Additionally, it’s also a little thinner, which is kind of impressive since Samsung has also made the vapor chamber 40% larger which, according to them, vastly improves thermals. Although it is about 15% thinner, the camera lens elements look pretty much the same thickness.
AI Agents
Third, HUGE focus on AI. Basically the S25 Ultra has been souped up with the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC to power the new OneUI 7 and its AI capabilities like AI Agents. AI agents have capabilities that enable the Galaxy S25 to interpret text, speech, images and videos for interactions that feel natural. They’re able to work with the different apps in your phone, understand the data, and perform actions from a simple command. For example, instead of going into one app to find the nearest restaurant that serves vegan food, then texting that info to your Vegan friend, you can tell AI Agent to help you do that. All without opening separate apps.
There’s also Now Brief, which gives you a quick summary of your schedule for the day, news, incoming messages and emails, and even sleep quality (if you were wearing your Galaxy Ring or Watch), all at a glance. That’s helpful because when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is to go into different apps to check my emails and messages. With Now Brief, everything can be viewed at a glance. This saves me time so I can quickly get back to sleeping because I usually wake up for real in the afternoon. Apart from that, S25 Ultra also has close integration with Google Gemini. There’s even a dedicated button you can use to call it up to perform circle-to-search, AI Translate, and all the fun little things Gemini can do.
S25 Ultra’s S-Pen
Fourth, the rumours are true, The S25 Ultra’s S-Pen does not have Air Actions anymore. This feature has been around since the days of the S21 Ultra, but it’s proven to be not so popular, so Samsung made the decision to chop that feature out - although they still kept that button to access shortcuts. But if you guys think it's tragic that they cut air actions, let’s mourn together in the comments.
If you’re wondering whether the S24 Ultra’s S-Pen can be paired to S25, or fit into its receptacle, I’ve been told by a Samsung rep that it’s not possible. What it comes with is what you get.
Is It A Substantial Improvement?
The final thing that struck me about the S25 Ultra is, is it really a substantial improvement over the previous model? I can’t say that it is, not yet. It’s thinner, lighter, anti-reflective, 50MP Ultrawide, these are definitely improvements, but they feel more incremental rather than anything substantial. I guess it’s only when you start living with AI Agent and all the benefits of a more powerful Galaxy AI can one really appreciate the difference. And even so, since Galaxy AI is basically software, there is a good chance that these features could make their way to older Galaxy models.
What I’m sharing is based on my short interaction with the S25 Ultra, so maybe it really is a substantial improvement. It’s just that I didn’t really get that feeling yet. In the video below, I tested it in depth with a review unit regarding its camera performance, gaming, the thermals, sound quality of the speakers compared to the S24 Ultra. Watch it! 👇🏻
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Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra - https://amzn.to/4heYqWC
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra -https://amzn.to/4haP3qQ
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