Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. S25 and S25 Plus: I Compared All the Major Specs and Features

Samsung showed off the Samsung Galaxy S25 series of phones at its Unpacked event in San Jose, and while most of the showcase was reserved for new AI features, there’s still plenty of new hardware details to highlight. Here’s what’s different across the trio of new phones, and how the Galaxy S25 Ultra specs compare with the the standard Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus. 

All three phones have the same prices as last year’s Galaxy S24 family, but they’ve all seen changes: The standard $800 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 handset 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 last surprise to reveal: the Galaxy S25 Edge, a slimmer fourth sibling in the phone generation. Unfortunately, Samsung hasn’t revealed much about this device, and aside from seeing it on the show floor showing off its thinness, we don’t have any specs to compare to its three well-known siblings. Chalk it up to a mystery that we could see released in the first half of this year, if rumors are to be believed.

That said, here are all the specs about the three S25 phones we know plenty about.

Design and display

You’d be hard-pressed to see differences between last year’s phones and this year’s, as the overall look hasn’t changed much. But there are still visual differences between the phones. Both the smaller S25 and larger S25 Plus both have a trio of 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 an extractable S Pen stylus.

Unsurprisingly, the standard S25 is the lightest of the bunch, weighing 162 grams (5.71 ounces), while the S25 Plus is heavier at 190 grams (6.7 ounces) and the S25 Ultra coming in at 218 grams (7.69 ounces). The S25 and S25 Plus both have standard aluminum frames, while the S25 Ultra has a titanium one. All three phones are IP68 rated for dust- and water-resistance. 

Though all AMOLED with 1-120Hz refresh rates, the displays are where the phones start to differ. The standard S25 has a 6.2-inch screen with tall HD resolution (2,340 by 1,080 pixels), while the larger S25 Plus has a 6.7-inch screen with sharper 1440p resolution (3,120 by 1,440 pixels) and the S25 Ultra has a slightly bigger 6.8-inch screen with the same 1440p resolution with an anti-glare coating to help minimize reflections.

There’s another unifying factor: for the first time in years, the S25 Ultra has a curved-cornered screen just like its smaller siblings. Another vestige of the Note series, the flat edges of the screen, is gone. The phone screens all have a maximum 2,600-nit peak brightness.

Cameras

All three phones’ cameras haven’t changed much since last year’s S24 series. The standard S25 and S25 Plus both have a trio of rear cameras: a 50-megapixel main shooter, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 10-megapixel telephoto with 3x optical zoom. 

The S25 Ultra boosts those capabilities with a 200-megapixel main camera, a new 50-megapixel ultrawide shooter, and dual telephoto cameras: a 10-megapixel 3x optical zoom along with a 50-megapixel 5x optical zoom camera.

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

Performance

The phones are roughly aligned in terms of performance, likely because all of their AI features require a high specs baseline. (We’ve also heard this about Apple’s iPhones.) All three phones pack 12GB of RAM, which could be a new baseline to use these features. Previously the S24 only had 8GB of RAM.

All three pack a customized version of Qualcomm’s most advanced mobile chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite introduced last October, which has fast speeds and plenty of AI capabilities built-in. The S25 phones aren’t the first to pack the chip, coming in after the Xiaomi 15 late last year and the OnePlus 13 introduced at the beginning of this year — but Samsung’s newest phones are among the initial pack harnessing Qualcomm’s most advanced silicon for phones yet.

The phones pack escalating amounts of storage, with the S25 coming in either 128GB or 256GB, the S25 Plus packing either 256GB or 512GB and the S25 Ultra arriving with either 256GB, 512GB or 1TB. As in previous years, none of the phones have a microSD slot or other way to physically expand storage, so you’ll need to buy cloud storage options to save beyond their onboard storage.

The phones all come with Android 15 out of the box as well as Samsung’s One UI 7 overlay. The phones all have Samsung’s guaranteed seven years of Android and security updates.

AI features

The new AI features in the S25 series may be its most defining feature distinguishing it from last year’s S24 phones (it’s unclear if or how many of the features will trickle down to older Samsung handsets). All three S25 phones can access the same AI features.

One of the most significant new AI features is what Samsung is calling cross app actions — for example, a request to “find a vegan pet-friendly restaurant and text it to me” would consult multiple apps for an answer, like Yelp and Messages. Depending on the request, either Samsung’s or Google’s AI models will be used.

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

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

The Circle to Search function, which debuted on last year’s S24 series, is also getting an upgrade: It can now recognize audio, so you can say goodbye to Shazam. The new phones also have more personalized recommendations, Samsung says, like recommending thermostat changes when your phone notices you sleep better at a certain temperature (assuming that health data is coming in from a Samsung Galaxy Ring or Galaxy Watch). 

Battery

Battery capacity is another area where the phones differ, though it’s important to clarify that more capacity doesn’t always correlate to your phone lasting longer. Brightness, GPS location-tracking and other features could drain your phone fast regardless. But all things being equal, bigger batteries mean more 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 rate Samsung phones have been stuck on for years as other leading Android flagships leave them in the dust — the OnePlus 13, for instance, has 100-watt charging (80-watt in the US) that completely refilled an empty 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 15-watt wireless charging (the same as you’ll get with the Qi2 standard) as well as wireless PowerShare to juice up other devices using its own battery. While the phones don’t have the MagSafe magnetic connection within the phones like Apple’s latest iPhones, they can approximate it with official Samsung and third-party cases with magnetic connectors.

Conclusion

Samsung’s three-phone lineup is pretty set in stone these days, with the lowest-priced S25 having the least impressive specs, the larger S25 Plus suiting users who want more battery and the S25 Ultra offering the highest spec with S Pen functionality. 

But those lines have been blurred a bit thanks to the across-the-board upgrade to 12GB of RAM, which leaves storage and screen resolution as the biggest differentiator between all the phones. The big leap between the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra remains the latter’s more impressive cameras and stylus, though that’s becoming a steeper hike for the $300 jump in price.

Galaxy S25 vs. Galaxy S25 Plus vs. S25 Ultra

	Samsung Galaxy S25	Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus	Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate	6.2-inch AMOLED; 2,340×1,080 pixels; 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate	6.7-inch AMOLED; 3,120×1,440 pixels; 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate	6.8-inch AMOLED; 3,120×1,440 pixels; 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate
Pixel density	416 ppi	509 ppi	501 ppi
Dimensions (inches)	5.78 x 2.78 x 0.28 in.	6.24 x 2.98 x 0.29 in.	6.41 x 3.06 x 0.32 in.
Dimensions (millimeters)	146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm	158.4 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm	162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm
Weight (grams, ounces)	162 g (5.71 oz.)	190 g (6.70 oz.)	218 g (7.69 oz.)
Mobile software	Android 15	Android 15	Android 15
Camera	50-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 10-megapixel (3x telephoto)	50-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 10-megapixel (3x telephoto)	200-megapixel (wide), 50-megapixel (ultrawide), 10-megapixel (3x telephoto), 50-megapixel (5x telephoto)
Front-facing camera	12-megapixel	12-megapixel	12-megapixel
Video capture	8K	8K	8K
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
RAM + storage	12GB RAM + 128GB, 256GB	12GB RAM + 256GB, 512GB	12GB RAM + 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Expandable storage	None	None	None
Battery	4,000 mAh	4,900 mAh	5,000 mAh
Fingerprint sensor	Under display	Under display	Under display
Connector	USB-C	USB-C	USB-C
Headphone jack	None	None	None
Special features	2,600-nit peak brightness; 7 years of OS and security updates; 5G (mmWave); IP68 water and dust resistance; wireless PowerShare to charge other devices; 25W wired charging (charger not included); Galaxy AI; Wi-Fi 7	2,600-nit peak brightness; 7 years of OS and security updates; 5G (mmWave); IP68 water and dust resistance; wireless PowerShare to charge other devices; 25W wired charging (charger not included); Galaxy AI; Wi-Fi 7; ultrawideband	Titanium frame, 2,600-nit peak brightness; 7 years of OS and security updates; 5G (mmWave); IP68 water and dust resistance; wireless PowerShare to charge other devices; integrated S Pen; UWB for finding other devices; 45W wired charging (charger not included); Galaxy AI; Wi-Fi 7; Gorilla Glass Armor cover glass; ultrawideband
US price starts at	$800 (128GB)	$1,000 (256GB)	$1,300 (256GB)
UK price starts at	TBD	TBD	TBD
Australia price starts at	TBD	TBD	TBD