Updated November 14
• The date for Galaxy Unpacked, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra launch, might have just leaked
• Leaked Galaxy S25 benchmarks paint rather a disappointing picture for the standard model.
• A leaker says every S25 model — including the Galaxy S25 Ultra — will feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite system-on-chip.
• Additional color options for the Galaxy S25 Ultra and other models have leaked.
You may not be thinking about the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra at the moment, but rest assured that Samsung is. Even with the Galaxy S24 launch from earlier this year relatively fresh in the mind, work on the next premier Samsung flagship is already well underway, with Samsung ready to start the new year with a big phone launch.
That explains why Galaxy S25 Ultra rumors are already picking up pace in the closing months of 2024. We're still lacking the kind of information necessary to get a full picture of what to expect from Samsung's upcoming premium handset, which looks to take its place atop the rankings of the best Samsung phones. But there's enough details out there so that we're already imagining what a potential Galaxy S25 Ultra vs iPhone 16 Pro Max showdown could look like.
After Samsung put its full effort behind Galaxy AI features for this year's phones, expect that to continue with the Galaxy S25 lineup, including the Ultra. As for Samsung's high-end phone, we're already hearing that some camera improvements could be at the top of Samsung's to-do list, as the phone maker tries to show Apple what it takes to make the best camera phone.
Here's what we've heard so far about the Galaxy S25 Ultra, along with some of our best guesses as to what Samsung has planned. We've also got a wish list of Galaxy S25 Ultra features we want to see if you're looking for additional background on next year's flagship.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Rumored release date and price
Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S25 series will arrive in the first half of 2025, and a new leak may have narrowed the dates down. According to a new rumor, Samsung will launch the Galaxy S25 series on January 23 at a Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco.
Knowing that date means we can easily work out when the phone itself will probably be released too. This year's Galaxy S24 release was the earliest ever for a Galaxy S handset, with a Galaxy Unpacked event taking place on January 17, and the S24 models shipping two weeks later on January 31.
If Samsung sticks with its usual timetables, a January 23 debut means we could be looking at the actual release happening on February 6.
Samsung raised the price on the Galaxy S24 Ultra to start the year, charging $1,299 for the phone after the Galaxy S23 Ultra had cost $1,199. That would seem to preclude a price hike for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but the cost premium phones is on the rise. Indeed, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that the Snapdragon 8 Elite likely to power the Galaxy S25 Ultra could drive up the cost of the phone.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Design and display
Having just switched to titanium for the frame of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, we don't imagine Samsung would make a change for the S25 version. Likewise, Samsung has used the same basic design for recent Ultras, with the cameras stacked in vertical rows on the back of the phone and the lenses emerging slightly from the rear. We don't think that's going to change, either, but leaked CAD renders that are sure to start arriving in the coming months will tell the tale.
A Galaxy S25 rumor tips the display on Samsung's entry-level model to increase in size, hitting 6.36 inches compared to 6.2 inches for the Galaxy S24. A similar rumor claims that the Galaxy S25 Ultra screen will approach 6.9 inches, a marginal increase over the 6.8-inch display on the S24 Ultra, but we're not sure how much stock to put into that claim. At the very least, it would match the screen size of the newly released iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Recently, phone makers have been trying to one up each other by boosting the maximum brightness of their handsets' displays. Indeed, Samsung has played this game, too, raising the peak brightness of the Galaxy S24 Ultra to 2,600 nits, after the Galaxy S23 Ultra clocked in at 1,750 nits. However, display expert Ross Young claims that Samsung will use M13 OLED displays for cost reasons. As that's the same panel used by the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the new phone would miss out on the brighter M14 OLED displays utilized by rival devices like the Pixel 9 Pro.
Leaks from Ice Universe have hinted that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will feature a curvier design than the last few Galaxy Ultras, but will remain flat around the front. Another leak from Ice Universe also gives us a look at the S25 Ultra's right side.
It also appears that the Galaxy S25 Ultra could be the thinnest Ultra device with a total thickness of 8.4 mm. Despite this, the display of the S25 Ultra could be wider, making the phone easier to handle. The bezels could get skinnier, too, matching another iPhone 16 Pro Max feature. Even if the Ultra does get thinner, don't confuse it with rumored Galaxy S25 Slim, which is apparently a separate model coming later in the year.
On the color front, Samsung will apparently offer the Galaxy S25 Ultra in titanium, black, blue and green. Ross Young has also suggested that a titanium versions of jade, blue/black and pink could be in the mix as Galaxy S25 Ultra colors exclusive to Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Cameras
Cameras form the centerpiece feature of the Ultra model, as that's the phone Samsung favors with a 200MP main sensor along with a 100MP Space Zoom feature. We'd expect some sort of upgrade to that setup next year, and early Galaxy S25 Ultra camera rumors suggest we may be on to something.
Specifically, a leaker claims that the wide-angle lens on the Galaxy S25 Ultra will get an unspecified upgrade while the ultrawide lens will jump from a 12MP sensor on the S24 Ultra to a 50MP one on the new phone.
If you're wondering how much stock to put in that rumor, which surfaced before the Galaxy S24 lineup was released, know that the leaker did correctly predict the Galaxy S24 Ultra's upgraded 50MP telephoto lens before that feature's arrival.
Furthermore, the telephoto lens on the S25 Ultra is expected to get "variable capabilities." We're not sure what that means exactly, but we'd guess it has something to do with the ability to change focal length while connecte to a single sensor. Leaker @ISAQUES81 claims this may involve fixed focal lengths between 4-5x zoom and then again between 6-7x zoom. The end result would be smoother zooms particularly when shooting video.
However, there's speculation that Samsung may be testing a prototype that ditches the second telephoto lens, leaving the S25 Ultra with three camera lenses instead of 4. While Ice Universe has refuted this, @ISAQUES81 says Samsung may swap in a 3x crop zoom feature from the main lens instead.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Performance
The question as to which chipset will power the Galaxy S25 Ultra cleared up considerably after Qualcomm unveiled its new Snapdragon 8 Elite system-on-chip in October. The silicon figures to feature in the best Android phones coming out in the next year, and Samsung has already confirmed that it plans to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite in its phones, without specifying which models.
Leakers seem to think that every Galaxy S25 model that arrives in early 2025 will feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite — leaker Ice Universe has said so, and their information about Samsung phones tends to be fairly reliable. It seems a certainty the Galaxy S25 Ultra will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite, regardless of what Samsung decides to do with the standard and Plus models.
Should the Snapdragon 8 Elite power the Galaxy S25 Ultra as expected, we're looking at a big potential performance boost. That's based on our own Snapdragon 8 Elite benchmarks using a Qualcomm reference device, where the new chip improved upon the Galaxy S24 Ultra's score in the Geekbench 6 by 40% on the single-core test and 42% on the multicore one. Frame rate numbers in the 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited test jumped by 24% over Samsung's current flagship.
Sadly leaked Geekbench scores for the standard Galaxy S25 are a little disappointing. Using a Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip, the phone apparently scored 2,481 in single-core testing and 8,658 in a multi-core test. Significantly lower than the reference model.
Leaked benchmarks claiming to show results for the Galaxy S25 Ultra do paint a more optimistic picture, though with a single core result of 3,148 and a multi-core score of 10,236. Those numbers top the scores for both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the A18 Pro-powered iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Another rumor hints that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will gain faster UFS 4.1 speeds that could boost the phone's performance even more. It doesn't sound like it's coming to other S25 models either, which gives more incentive to the S25 Ultra. Not only would it be able to handle on-device AI capabilities, but this has other practical applications — like being able to recording 4K video directly to a hard drive, a feature that Apple has supported since the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra could see its RAM capacity increased to 16GB, up from the 12GB of the current Galaxy S24 Ultra. That move would be great for multitasking and dealing with AI feature requests.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Battery life
When it comes to battery life, we're not sure how Samsung could squeeze in a bigger power pack than the 5,000 mAh cell in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Since that device landed on our best phone battery life list with a 16-hour, 45-minute result on our battery test, we're not exactly worried about Galaxy S25 Ultra battery life. However, rumors indicate that the same 5,000 mAh battery will be in place with the S25 Ultra, and the same 45W charging speed too.
But battery life could still improve thanks to improved GPU efficiency. Indeed, the Snapdragon 8 Elite promises better performance while requiring less power, with power efficiency set to improve by 44% with the chipset's CPU and 40% with its GPU.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Software and features
Android 15 is now out, so expect the Galaxy S25 Ultra to debut with that version already in place, in the form of the freshly revealed One UI 7 that is confirmed to be coming to next year's new Galaxy devices. We'd imagine the Galaxy S25 phones will get the same seven years of software support that the Galaxy S24 receives.
Another expectation of ours: the Galaxy S25 Ultra will add more Galaxy AI features similar to the ones that debuted with the S24 lineup. Samsung itself has said AI will be a focus point for the S25 series, but there's no word on what those features will be or whether some will be earmarked as exclusives for the higher-end Ultra. With the Galaxy S24, the same Galaxy AI features were supported by all three models, so the entry-level S24 can pull off the same tasks as the premium Ultra.
Samsung executives have already raised the possibility of one potential Galaxy AI update themselves, as Won-joon Choi, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile business, discussed possibly equipping the Bixby personal assistant with generative AI capabilities.
Outside of AI, satellite connectivity could be on its way to the Galaxy S25 series. We've seen this put to good use on Apple devices since the iPhone 14, so it makes sense that Samsung would try and adopt it too.
Potentially, the Galaxy S25 Ultra could benefit from an Android improvement that allows the phone to install new Android versions in the background. The change would make it more convenient to update your OS on the Galaxy, while bringing Samsung's phones in line with other Android devices.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Outlook
Though it may be early for you and I to be thinking about the Galaxy S25 Ultra, it's a safe bet Samsung has already put a lot of thought into what goes into its next device. With the iPhone 16 Pro Max winning a lot of kudos for its improvements, the pressure's on Samsung to respond in kind with its premium device.
We should find out more about those efforts throughout the rest of this year, as we get closer to the S25 Ultra's 2025 launch date.
More from Tom's Guide
- Samsung Galaxy S25 should steal this feature from iPhone 15
- This one feature will make or break the Galaxy S25 lineup
- Galaxy AI summaries — we tested the accuracy of this Galaxy S24 feature
