Galaxy S25 Ultra vs S25 and S25 Plus: I compared all the key specs and features

Samsung showed Samsung Galaxy S25 series of phones Event unpacked in San Jose, and while most of the showcase was reserved for new AI features, there are still plenty of new hardware details to highlight. Here’s what’s different about the trio of new phones, and how Galaxy S25 Ultra specs compare to the standard Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus.

All three phones are priced the same as last year’s Galaxy S24 familybut all have seen changes: The $800 standard S25 has all the new AI tricks and upgrades, the $1,000 S25 Plus builds on that with more storage and battery in a larger-format phone, and finally the most premium (and most expensive ) $1,300 S25 Ultra has the absolute best specs in terms of its cameras and screen.

Unbeknownst to everyone in attendance, the Unpacked event had one final surprise to reveal: Galaxy S25 Edgea slimmer fourth brother in the phone generation. Unfortunately, Samsung hasn’t revealed much about this device, and aside from seeing it at the show showing off its thinness, we don’t have any specs to compare it to its three well-known siblings. Chalk it up to a mystery that we could see published in the first half of this year if rumors are to be believed.

However, here are all the specs for the three S25 phones that we know a lot about.

Design and display

You’d be hard-pressed to spot any differences between last year’s and this year’s phones, as the overall look hasn’t changed much. But there are still visual differences between the phones. Both the smaller S25 and the larger S25 Plus have three phone lenses on the back, while the S25 Ultra has four. As has been the case for years, the Ultra model has a slot on the right side of its bottom edge for a retractable S Pen stylus.

Unsurprisingly, the standard S25 is the lightest of the bunch at 162 grams (5.71 ounces), while the S25 Plus is heavier at 190 grams (6.7 ounces) and the S25 Ultra comes in at 218 grams (7 .69 ounces). The S25 and S25 Plus have standard aluminum frames, while the S25 Ultra has titanium. All three phones are IP68 rated for dust and water resistance.

Although all AMOLED with a 1-120Hz refresh rate, the displays are where the phones start to differ. The standard S25 has a 6.2-inch screen with a high HD resolution (2340 by 1080 pixels), while the larger S25 Plus has a 6.7-inch screen with a sharper 1440p resolution (3120 by 1440 pixels), and the S25 Ultra has slightly larger 6.8-inch screen with the same 1440p resolution with an anti-glare coating to minimize the reflections.

There’s another unifying factor: for the first time in years, the S25 Ultra has a screen with curved corners just like its smaller siblings. Another holdover from the Note series, the flat screen edges, is gone. All phone screens have a maximum brightness of 2600 nits.

Cameras

The cameras on all three phones haven’t changed much from last year’s S24 series. The standard S25 and S25 Plus have a trio of rear cameras: a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 10-megapixel telephoto with 3x optical zoom.

The S25 Ultra increases these capabilities with a 200-megapixel main camera, a new 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera and dual telephoto cameras: a 10-megapixel 3x optical zoom along with a 50-megapixel camera with 5x optical zoom.

All three phones have a 12-megapixel front camera for selfies, and all can shoot up to 8K video from their rear cameras.

Execution

The phones are roughly even in terms of performance, probably because all their AI features require a high spec baseline. (We’ve also heard this about Apple’s iPhone.) All three phones have 12GB of RAM, which could be a new baseline for using these features. Previously, the S24 only had 8GB of RAM.

All three contain a customized version of Qualcomm’s most advanced mobile chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite introduced last October, which has high speeds and lots of built-in AI capabilities. The S25 phones aren’t the first to pack the chip, they come after Xiaomi 15 the end of last year and OnePlus 13 introduced earlier this year — but Samsung’s latest phones are among the initial pack using Qualcomm’s most advanced phone silicon yet.

The phones feature increasing amounts of storage, with the S25 coming in 128GB or 256GB, the S25 Plus in 256GB or 512GB, and the S25 Ultra in 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB. As in previous years, neither phone has a microSD slot or other way to physically expand storage, so you’ll need to purchase cloud storage options to save beyond their built-in storage.

All phones come with Android 15 out of the box, as well as Samsung’s One UI 7 overlay. All phones are guaranteed by Samsung for seven years of Android and security updates.

AI features

The new AI features in the S25 series may be its most defining feature that sets it apart from last year’s S24 phones (it’s unclear if and how many of the features will carry over to Samsung’s older phones). All three S25 phones have access to the same AI features.

One of the most significant new AI features is what Samsung calls cross-app actions — for example, a request “find a vegan, pet-friendly restaurant and text me” will consult multiple apps for a response, such as Yelp and Messages. Depending on the request, either Samsung or Google AI models will be used.

Another Samsung-exclusive AI feature is AI Select, which suggests actions or apps based on what you’re watching. Just swipe out from the screen to launch the Edge Panel (the sidebar with app shortcuts) and tap the AI ​​Select button to make suggestions in the context of what you’re watching, such as setting a GIF or the image you’re like background on your phone.

Samsung also has a new feature called conversational search that answers more casual requests with contextual suggestions – so if you say “my eyes hurt, can you help with the screen” then the phone will bring up the brightness settings and blue light filter . It will also help make photo searches smarter, similar to how Apple and Google have used AI to improve their own photo album searches.

The Circle to Search feature, which debuted on last year’s S24 series, also gets an upgrade: it can now recognize audio, so you can say goodbye to Shazam. The new phones also have more personalized recommendations, Samsung says, such as recommending thermostat changes when your phone notices you’re sleeping better at a certain temperature (assuming the health data comes from the Samsung Galaxy Ring or Galaxy Watch).

Battery

Battery capacity is another area where phones differ, although it’s important to clarify that a larger capacity doesn’t always mean your phone will last longer. Brightness, GPS location tracking, and other features can quickly drain your phone. But all things being equal, bigger batteries mean longer battery life: the S25 has a 4,000 mAh battery, the S25 Plus has a 4,900 mAh battery, and the S25 Ultra has a 5,000 mAh battery.

Both the S25 and S25 Plus have 25-watt charging, a speed that Samsung phones have stuck to for years as other Android flagships leave them in the dust – OnePlus 13for example, it has 100-watt charging (80 watts in the US), which fully charged a flat battery in just over half an hour in our testing. The S25 Ultra is slightly better, with 45-watt charging, but it feels particularly archaic on the most advanced phone in Samsung’s stable.

All three phones have 15W wireless charging (the same you’ll get with the Qi2 standard), as well as wireless PowerShare to power other devices using their own battery. While the phones don’t have a magnetic MagSafe connection inside the phones like Apple’s latest iPhones, they can get it close with official Samsung and third-party cases with magnetic connectors.

Conclusion

Samsung’s three-phone range is pretty set these days, with the cheapest S25 having the least impressive specs, the larger S25 Plus suitable for users who want more battery, and the S25 Ultra offering the highest specs with functionality on the S Pen.

But those lines are blurred a bit thanks to the overall upgrade to 12GB of RAM, which leaves memory and screen resolution as the biggest difference between all the phones. The big jump between the S25 Plus and the S25 Ultra remains the latter’s more impressive cameras and stylus, though that translates into a steeper increase for the $300 price jump.