Samsung is nearly ready to unleash the Galaxy S25 Ultra and that means all eyes are on the Korean giant at the moment. Just like all of our eyes were on the Galaxy S24 Ultra all year – it’s our database’s fan champion and was the most popular entry in it for the past year.
But do you know which phone overtook it for the past month? You guessed it, the Galaxy S25 Ultra. So, let’s discuss what to expect from Samsung’s next flagship.
It’s coming on January 22 at the old prices, question mark
Smart money says that Samsung will announce the Galaxy S25 family (S25, S25+, S25 Ultra) on January 22 (23 in Korea) and release it in a broad selection of markets on February 6 (7 in Korea).
Reports suggest that Samsung will start taking pre-orders on January 24 (Friday) and will start shipping units earlier than expected.
Samsung will surely have some pre-order bonuses ready for launch but even better, the Galaxy S25 Ultra price will reportedly remain the same as the S24 Ultra. That means the base model 256GB unit will be €1,449 – expect Samsung to double the storage for free, netting you a 512GB model.
New rounded design, slimmest bezels ever
All the renders and leaked photos in the wild of Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra solidify that it will have a new design.
The phone will have more rounded corners on all sides, making it more comfortable to hold.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra leaked renders
The phone’s screen is set to remain a 6.8-inch unit but Samsung has slimmed down the bezels around it, which could lead to a small reduction in the phone’s footprint compared to its predecessor. It will still be a huge phone though, make no mistake, but rumor has it, its bezels will be slimmer than the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Xiaomi 15.
The glass of choice will be a next-gen Gorilla Glass Armor, which will be less reflective still than its groundbreaking predecessor, and more durable.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
The S25 Ultra will come in no less than seven colors – Titanium SilverBlue, Titanium WhiteSilver, Titanium Gray, Titanium JadeGreen, Titanium PinkGold and two black/grey models in Titanium Black and Titanium JetBlack. The final one reminds us of the Jet Black iPhone 7, which has a glossy piano black finish.
Some of these colors will likely be exclusive to Samsung’s online store – possibly JetBlack, JadeGreen, and PinkGold.
It’s also likely that all the Galaxy S25 Ultra colors will have low saturation, per this leaked Blue.
S25 Ultra
blue pic.twitter.com/aaPWBgdtIF— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) December 26, 2024
A new 50 MP ultrawide, same main and zoom cameras
Samsung has been upgrading its Ultra phone’s cameras one at a time – the S20 Ultra brought the 108 MP main camera, the S21 Ultra brought autofocus to the ultrawide and the 240mm zoom camera, the S24 Ultra upped the ante to a 200 MP main camera and a 50 MP 5x telephoto, and now, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will upgrade the ultrawide to a new 50 MP sensor.
It’s expected to be an ISOCELL S5KJN3 sensor, commonly known as the GN3 – a 1/1.57-inch imager with 1.0µm pre-binned pixels. We have no word yet on the lens in front of the sensor, but it could be a brighter f/2.0 unit than the ongoing f/2.2.
Expect the rest of the camera system to remain unchanged – 200 MP ISOCELL HP2 (1/1.3″, 0.6µm-2.4µm), f/1.7, 23mm sensor for the main camera, a 12 MP Sony IMX754 (1/3.52″, 1.12µm), f/2.4, 67mm 3x zoom, 50 MP Sony IMX854 (1/2.52″, 0.7-1.4µm), f/3.4, 111mm 5x telephoto, and a 12 MP ISOCELL S5K3LU (1/3.2″, 1.12µm), f/2.2, 26mm selfie camera.
Snapdragon 8 Elite with 16GB of RAM
The chip upgrade is a foregone conclusion – the Galaxy S25 Ultra will get the newest Snapdragon 8 Elite and it will use that chip exclusively across the globe.
However, reports suggest that Samsung could finally bump its flagship to 16GB of RAM, putting it level with its competition. While highly likely, it’s not a sure thing.
One UI 7, seamless updates, and free Gemini Advanced
Finally, Samsung will premiere the belated One UI 7 with Android 15 on the Galaxy S25 series. The bump up to the next version of Android has usually arrived on current-gen flagships around October or November, but it seems One UI 7 is both a big design overhaul and somewhat of a hassle to produce for Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s leaked renders (Source: OnLeaks and Android Headlines)
One UI 7 will finally unlock seamless update support for Samsung’s flagship phones (only the Galaxy A55 had it up until this point). For those unaware, the seamless updates feature allows the update to be installed on partition B while you continue to use your phone in partition A and restart it when the installation is complete. This keeps the device usable during the installation, and it is unavailable only when it’s restarting, meaning you don’t have to wait a few minutes for the entire installation process to complete to use your phone.
As part of its Galaxy AI perks, Samsung will offer a year of free Gemini Advanced on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. This is the paid subscription version of Google’s AI, and it’s normally going to cost you $19.99 per month (but you do get 2TB of Google Drive storage as well).
So, are the new design and build, new 50 MP ultrawide camera, Snapdragon 8 Elite, and One UI 7 with Gemini Advanced a solid upgrade over the Galaxy S24 Ultra?
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