SamsungGalaxy’s Galaxy S24 Ultra is one of the best phones you can buy right now, especially if you want an incredibly powerful camera. Our Galaxy S24 Ultra review also praised the flagship for its bright display, impressive battery life, high performance and advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.
Overall, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a stellar phone. But what about the upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra? Will the Galaxy S25 Ultra improve battery life, performance, and productivity? AI features that justify the higher price?
Until Samsung’s semi-annual Galaxy Unpacked event is over, we won’t have concrete details to compare the two phones. However, we can use a huge amount Rumors about Galaxy S25 and leaks that will help you decide if the Galaxy S25 Ultra upgrade is worth saving up for.
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: price
The Galaxy S24 Ultra retails for $1,299 for the unlocked model with 256GB of internal storage. However, since it’s been in production for about a year now, it can often be found on sale for under $1,000.
There is no official Samsung launch price for the Galaxy S25 Ultra yet. The phone will likely be available for pre-order during or shortly after the company’s semi-annual Galaxy Unpacked event in January, but until then we can only go by rumors.
WinFuture reported that “Northern European retailers indicate the same starting prices for Samsung Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+ and Galaxy S25 Ultra, like previous models” (translated from German). However, others believe that the price of the Galaxy S25 Ultra could increase by $50 or $100, which would push its starting price to $1,349 or $1,399.
Regardless of whether the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s starting price increases or not, the Galaxy S24 Ultra will still be the better choice when it comes to price, as it’s much easier to find a good deal on the latest-gen model.
Winner: Galaxy S24 Ultra
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Specifications
Many of the specifications of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S24 Ultra models will likely remain the same. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is expected to offer the same starting storage options of 256GB, 512GB and 1TB, the same starting RAM of 12GB, the same 5,000mAh battery and the same 12MP front-facing camera.
It’s possible that the Galaxy S25 Ultra could offer 16GB of RAM with more expensive storage options, but without official confirmation from Samsung, we’re just guessing for now based on leaks.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Galaxy S25 Ultra (rumored) | Galaxy S24 Ultra |
| Display | 6.9-inch AMOLED, 120 Hz | 6.8-inch AMOLED, 120Hz |
| CPU | Snapdragon 8 Elite (Snapdragon 8 Gen 4) | Snapdragon 8 3rd generation |
| RAM | 12 GB, 16 GB | 12 GB |
| Storage | 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB | 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB |
| Front camera | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Rear cameras | 200MP wide, 50MP ultra-wide, 50MP telephoto (5x zoom), 10MP telephoto (3x zoom) | 200MP wide, 12MP ultra-wide, 50MP telephoto (5x zoom), 10MP telephoto (3x zoom) |
| Battery | 5000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
In a since-deleted tweet from @Tech_Reve (via Tom’s Guide), the presenter revealed that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will feature an upgraded main camera, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera (up from the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera), and a new telephoto camera with “variable capabilities.” Combined with Galaxy AI features, this new camera can be a beauty.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is rumored to feature a slightly larger display, measuring 6.9 inches diagonally compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 6.8-inch display. Leakage Ice Universe placed all three Galaxy S25 series phones side by side to show the size difference, and all three look like they have incredibly thin bezels.
As always, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will get a performance boost over the Galaxy S24 Ultra thanks to the new Qualcomm processor. Rumor has it that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will feature New Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipsetwhich is essentially a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip renamed to “represent the highest level of performance.” [Qualcomm has] ever shipped in a mobile processor.”
The performance difference between the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S24 Ultra will likely be larger than the difference between the S24 Ultra and S23 Ultra. After all, the S25 Ultra should be powerful enough to potentially handle more complex Galaxy AI tasks on the device.
Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Design
The Galaxy S24 Ultra could be the last boxy phone Samsung has launched in a while. After three years of the sharp-edged design seen below, Samsung is moving in a different direction with the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra will have softer and rounded corners, although not as rounded as the corners of the Galaxy S21 Ultra. To be honest, the new shape of the Galaxy S25 Ultra looks a lot like new. iPhone.
Despite its new shape, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is expected to still feature the fan-favorite S Pen stylus.
Both the Galaxy S25 Ultra and S24 Ultra feature a titanium frame, which is more durable than the aluminum frame of the lower-end Galaxy S-series model. Although both phones have a titanium body, the color options will differ slightly.
| Color | Galaxy S25 Ultra | Galaxy S24 Ultra |
| Titanium black | Yes | Yes |
| Titanium blue | Yes | No |
| Titan Gold | Yes | No |
| Titanium Silver | Yes | No |
| Titanium gray | No | Yes |
| Titanium Purple | No | Yes |
| Titanium yellow | No | Yes |
Determining which phone design is more attractive really comes down to personal preference, so declaring a winner here is a tough call. However, with a slightly larger display and nicer color selection, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has a slight edge.
Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Galaxy AI
Samsung introduced Galaxy AI features in last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, and we expect the company to impress even more with AI-powered tools in the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
In Samsung’s quarterly earnings report for the third quarter of 2024 (via Tom’s Guide), the company talks about “plans to empower Galaxy AI to bring innovation to everyday life,” but doesn’t specify what features and tools could contribute to that experience.
Then dismantling the APK Android authority suggests the Galaxy S25 Ultra may come with a one-year free trial of Google Gemini Advanced, worth approximately $240.
Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Overall Winner
It looks like the Galaxy S25 Ultra will easily outperform the Galaxy S24 Ultra in many ways. It will feature a much faster processor (and hopefully more efficient), a better rear camera array, a slightly larger screen, and possibly more RAM.
The only category where the S25 Ultra likely won’t beat the S24 Ultra is price, even if it ends up costing the same price. If you’re looking for strong performance and a stellar camera set, but don’t want to spend all that money on Samsung’s latest flagship, the S24 Ultra is probably worth sticking with. For everyone else, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is definitely the phone to upgrade to.
Once we get more concrete details at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event, we’ll be sure to update all the leaks and rumors about this showdown.