Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a refined flagship rather than a big leap. Our current listing is Rs. 300,000 for the 12GB model, and the 512GB version costs more.

What you pay for:

• A large, sharp and low-glare display that stays easy to read in daylight
• Fast, smooth everyday performance from the Snapdragon 8 Elite
• A versatile four-camera setup with two telephoto lenses
• The built-in S Pen and a long official update promise

What holds it back:

• The S Pen lost Bluetooth, so remote shutter and air gestures are gone
• The same 5000 mAh battery and 45W charging as before, while Chinese rivals now offer bigger cells and faster charging
• IP68 only, with no IP69
• Hands-on testing found it only modestly better than the S24 Ultra, so owners of last year's model gain little

Against the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max: our database lists the iPhone at Rs. 481,499, yet it is an older phone with 8GB RAM, a 4441 mAh battery and the A17 Pro chip. For an Android or S Pen user, the Galaxy is the more current and better-equipped buy at a lower listed price.

Verdict: good value for buyers coming from an older phone who want a stylus, flexible zoom and many years of updates. If you already own an S24 Ultra, or care most about charging speed and battery size, it is hard to justify.

The S25 Ultra uses a 6.9 inches Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X panel with a 1440 x 3120 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Slimmer bezels made it slightly larger than the S24 Ultra's screen without growing the body, and it is now flat with rounded corners.

In everyday use:

• Text and photos look very crisp, and colours are vivid without looking harsh
• The anti-reflective coating is a highlight; hands-on testing found glare so low that the screen stays readable without pushing brightness up
• Minimum brightness goes very low, which is easier on the eyes at night
• Videos and games look excellent, and scrolling stays smooth thanks to the LTPO panel adjusting its refresh rate

Limitations:

• Beyond size, it is largely the same panel as last year
• Samsung quotes 2600 nits peak, but one month-long test reported roughly 1,400 nits and wanted more, and GSMArena's lab also noted the phone does not hold its highest brightness for long
• There is still no high-frequency PWM dimming, so people sensitive to flicker at low brightness may notice it

The phone runs the Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm) in every market, with no Exynos version, paired with 12GB of RAM on most models and a vapour chamber Samsung says is 40% larger.

Everyday use: apps open quickly and animations feel smoother and faster than on the S24 Ultra. Multitasking is comfortable, and the speed comes partly from the tuned One UI 7 animations, not only the chip.

Gaming and heat:

• One month-long test found better stability and lower temperatures than the S24 Ultra in most games
• A separate 30-minute stress test showed it dropped the most from its starting point among the phones compared, but its lowest level was still clearly ahead of the S24 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max
• GSMArena measured a large drop under sustained load and called the phone warm but never hot, with no visible stutter in long gaming sessions
• Regular use does not warm it noticeably, though some owners report warmth while streaming

Limitations: few mobile games really need this much power, and some poorly optimised Android apps still stutter regardless of the chip. Sharp, flat edges can also make long gaming sessions uncomfortable for smaller hands.

Official setup: a 200 MP main camera, a 10 MP 3x telephoto, a 50 MP 5x periscope telephoto, a new 50 MP ultrawide and a 12 MP selfie camera. Only the ultrawide is new hardware; most gains come from processing.

Daylight and portraits: main camera photos have strong detail and dynamic range. Hands-on testing found better contrast, more natural sharpening and improved skin tones versus the S24 Ultra, with more consistent background blur and cleaner edge detection in portrait mode. Samsung's tendency to make photos a little bright and processed is still there.

Zoom and ultrawide: zoom photos improved, and the 5x lens is excellent for portraits. Opinions on the ultrawide differ: some find it much sharper across the frame and better in dim light, while GSMArena called it marginally less sharp than the old one.

Low light: noise is lower than last year, but GSMArena found Night mode slow and artificial looking, and Chinese rivals such as the Vivo X200 Pro still lead here. Early units also had a Night mode banding bug that Samsung fixed by software update.

Selfies and video: selfies show pleasing skin tones. Video is smoother and better stabilised, with Log recording added for creators, and shutter lag is now largely gone.

Limitations: the 3x camera and the macro approach (using the ultrawide) are dated.

The S25 Ultra has a 5000 mAh battery, the same capacity as before, but the more efficient chip has improved endurance.

Real-world results:

• One test recorded just under 9 hours of screen-on time at the default resolution
• Another reported about 8 hours, behind the OnePlus 13 in the same comparison
• Typical days end with 30 to 40 percent remaining

Charging:

• 45W wired charging, which Samsung rates at 65% in about 30 minutes; a full charge takes close to an hour in GSMArena's lab test
• 15W wireless charging (Qi2 Ready, so a magnetic case is needed for magnet accessories) and 4.5W reverse wireless charging
• No charger comes in the box, only a USB-C cable

Compromise: Samsung skipped the silicon-carbon battery that lets rivals fit bigger cells in similar bodies, and 45W is slow next to many Chinese flagships.

The phone launched on Android 15 with One UI 7, and our database shows it is now on One UI 8. Samsung promises seven years of Android upgrades and security updates, one of the longest commitments available.

Useful features:

• The Now Bar at the bottom of the lock screen shows timers, navigation and music
• Separate swipe-down panels for quick settings and notifications, which you can swap
• Deep lock screen customisation, plus extra tweaks through the Good Lock app
• Settings and Gallery search that understand plain language

Galaxy AI:

• Object Eraser in Gallery and AI Select work well in hands-on testing
• Gemini can carry out multi-step tasks across apps, though small errors still appear
• Now Brief felt repetitive, and call transcription and Interpreter mode were unreliable in testing
• Writing tools such as summaries work only in Samsung's own keyboard and browser
• Samsung first said Galaxy AI was free until the end of 2025, then told Android Police that built-in features will stay free

Limitations: the S Pen no longer supports Bluetooth actions, and one early owner noted delayed monthly security patches in the first weeks. We could not verify the amount of preinstalled bloatware or ads on Pakistani units.