Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra First Look – What’s new with their most powerful flagship phone for 2025?
Fresh from its debut at Galaxy Unpacked 2025 in San Jose, Samsung has unveiled the new Galaxy S25 series, featuring the powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, the latest One UI 7, and an array of AI-driven enhancements.
We previously shared our first impressions of the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+. Now, here’s our Galaxy S25 Ultra first look, where we examine the largest and most powerful device in the lineup.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra First Look – What’s new?
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Compared to its smaller siblings, the Galaxy S25 Ultra enjoys the most improvements and upgrades. The new phone enjoys a refined, lighter chassis, improved durability for its display and enhanced performance over older models thanks to the same Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset that is also found in the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+. Unfortunately, there’s a downgrade as well for its S Pen stylus which we’ll get into shortly.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra First Look – As the largest model, the Ultra benefits from the most aesthetic tweaks with rounded corners, the largest vapour chamber upgrade and is 15g lighter than its predecessor.
At a glance, our Galaxy S25 Ultra first look sample differs visually from its predecessor the Galaxy S24 Ultra in a distinct fashion with rounded corners, making it more comfortable to wield for extended periods of time as opposed to the squared-off, sharper edges of its predecessor.
Another new addition is the customary new array of colourways with buyers able to acquire the phone in Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Gray, Titanium Black and Titanium Whitesilver. There are also online exclusive colourways – Titanium Jetblack, Titanium Jadegreen and Titanium Pinkgold.
Our Galaxy S25 Ultra first look sample came in Titanium Whitesilver which consists of a satin white finish that repels fingerprints nicely and has an understated, classy look. The provision of rounded corners improves its ergonomics considerably, making it more comfortable to grip than its predecessor.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra First Look – The latest model (bottom) is lighter and has rounded corners with flat sides versus the squarer edges and rounded sides of the prior Galaxy S24 Ultra
That’s not all, the new Galaxy S25 Ultra is also 15g lighter and 0.4mm thinner while retaining the same ultra premium titanium chassis as the older Galaxy S24 Ultra. Even better, the S25 Ultra is the first phone to use the new Corning Gorilla Armor 2 glass on the front that is tougher than the prior Gorilla Armor used in the S24 Ultra with better drop resistance.
The rear uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2 which is the same grade of protective glass protecting the front of the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+. The phone itself retains an IP68 dust and water resistance rating which ensures that it can survive in up to 1.5 meters of freshwater for up to 30 minutes at a time.
Much like previous flagship phones, the Galaxy S25 Ultra lacks accessories beyond the obligatory USB-C cable in the packaging, a SIM card eject pin and warranty guide paperwork.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra First Look – Better ultra wide angle camera and S Pen takes a step back
Beyond the slightly larger front display, the Galaxy S25 Ultra also sports an upgunned rear camera array, with a more powerful 50MP F/1.9 ultra wide angle camera replacing the 12MP f/2.2 ultra wide angle camera in the older Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Bar the improvement of the ultra wide angle camera, the rest of the camera setup for the Galaxy S25 Ultra is similar to the prior model with a 200MP F/1.7 main camera with OIS and a dual telephoto camera setup that consists of a 10MP f/2.4 camera with 3x optical zoom and a 50MP F/3.4 camera and 5x optical zoom with both cameras retaining OIS.
Up front, the phone has a single 12MP f/2.2 selfie camera which is unchanged from last year’s model and identical to that used in the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+.
While most of the hardware gets a bump up, the S Pen stylus on the Galaxy S25 Ultra takes a step back as Samsung has removed Bluetooth and Air Gesture support.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra First Look – The new model (left) takes a step back with the S Pen stylus and lacks Air Gesture and Bluetooth capabilities which its predecessor the Galaxy S24 Ultra (right) possessed
Where the prior Galaxy S24 Ultra allows users to use the S Pen stylus as a remote shutter release and to control zoom, the stylus in the Galaxy S25 Ultra works strictly as a stylus. According to Samsung, only a tiny fraction of users actually took advantage of the feature which led to its removal.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra First Look – Performance and Battery
The biggest improvement to the Galaxy S25 Ultra is the inclusion of the new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset that is clocked faster at 4.47GHz than a stock model for faster performance and which also has a faster GPU. What changes the game here is that Samsung has added a 40% larger vapour chamber to the chipset for better sustained performance.
To keep it juiced, our Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra first look sample relies on a 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging, 15W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging which is otherwise unchanged from the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Where the Galaxy S25 Ultra steals the show is its new OS One UI 7 running over Android 15. Fast, smooth and snappy, the new design feels intuitive and responsive while offering a bevy of new AI features like Now Brief that look genuinely useful for getting a handle on daily schedules. Once we put it through its paces, we’ll share our findings in a full review.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Malaysia Pricing and Availability
For now, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is available for pre-order in Malaysia until February 13, 2025:
- 256GB model – RM5,999
- 512GB model – RM6,599
- 1TB model – RM7,799
Pre-orders include up to RM1,600 in freebies. For more details check out https://www.samsung.com/my/smartphones/galaxy-s25-ultra/buy/ You can also check out our Galaxy S25 Malaysia preorder feature here, and our overview of the entire Galaxy S25 series here.
