I wanted to be wowed. Really, I did. As an owner of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, I was hoping the Samsung Galaxy S25 would come charging in with jaw-dropping features, ready to make me question how I ever lived without it. But nope. Instead, Samsung decided to slap a few buzzwords on what feels like a slightly tweaked S23 Ultra, jack up the price, and call it a day. If you’ve been eyeing the S25, save yourself the heartache and your cash. Here’s why it’s not worth the upgrade.
A Marginally Bigger Screen: Yawn
The S25 Ultra boasts a whopping 6.9-inch screen, up from the S23 Ultra’s 6.8 inches. Really, Samsung? This is the hill you’re dying on? That extra tenth of an inch might make a difference if you’re hunting for pixels with a microscope, but for normal humans, it’s just… a screen. Oh, and let’s not forget that with every tiny bump in size, this thing edges closer to being classified as a tablet. At this rate, I’ll need a backpack just to carry it around.
And the resolution? Yeah, basically the same. No innovation there. Don’t even get me started on brightness. I’m sure the S25 shines just a tad brighter, but my S23 Ultra already turns into a literal flashlight when I max it out in direct sunlight. So again, nothing groundbreaking here.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite: Marketing Magic
Yes, the S25 Ultra rocks the shiny new Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, built on a 3nm process. But let’s be real: does this even matter for the average user? Are you rendering Hollywood movies or running simulations for SpaceX? No? Then the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in your S23 Ultra is more than enough.
Sure, benchmarks will show the S25 Ultra is a hair faster, but those extra milliseconds aren’t going to make your Instagram Stories look any better or your emails send any faster. If anything, this feels like Samsung saying, “Hey, we made it smaller, cooler, and faster because we could!” rather than, “This is going to transform how you use your phone.” And you know what? I don’t care about bragging rights for a processor no one sees.
Cameras: More Megapixels, Same Boring Results
Let’s talk about the S25 Ultra’s shiny new 50MP ultrawide camera. Yes, that’s a big leap from the S23 Ultra’s 12MP ultrawide, but let’s not kid ourselves. Most people won’t notice the difference. That 50MP sensor sounds impressive until you realise that Samsung’s software still oversaturates everything and smooths faces into oblivion like you’re auditioning for a Pixar movie.
And let’s not forget the “upgraded” main and zoom cameras, which, spoiler alert, are basically the same as last year. If you thought the S23 Ultra made your dog look majestic in portrait mode, congrats, the S25 Ultra will do exactly the same thing. At some point, more megapixels stop being meaningful, and Samsung hit that wall years ago.
Battery Life and Charging: Samsung Phoned It In
The S25 Ultra still has a 5,000mAh battery and the same 45W wired charging as its predecessor. Remember when Samsung used to push the boundaries of battery tech? Yeah, me neither. It’s not that the battery life is bad. It’s perfectly fine, but “perfectly fine” doesn’t make me want to spend thousands.
Oh, and wireless charging? Slightly bumped from 15W to 25W. For a company that claims to be on the cutting edge, they’re playing it safe here. Meanwhile, other brands are experimenting with 65W wireless charging and batteries that last two days. Where’s that energy, Samsung? It’s like Samsung are too afraid of another Note 7 situation and is holding itself back on the battery front.
AI Features: More Fluff Than Substance
Samsung is pushing AI hard with the S25, touting features like Now Brief, which supposedly organises your notifications and delivers personalized summaries. Cool, but do you know what else organises my notifications? Me, when I swipe them away in two seconds. And let’s be honest, most of these so-called “AI upgrades” could easily be delivered via a software update to the S23 Ultra.
Even the upgraded Bixby assistant feels like Samsung is trying to convince us it still matters. Spoiler: it doesn’t. Most people are already married to Google Assistant, Alexa, or Siri. This feels like Samsung shoving yet another feature no one asked for into their phones to justify the price hike. At least they seem to be going in on Gemini, and we might see Bixby die in the next release cycle.
A Price Hike for What, Exactly?
This is where Samsung really loses me. The S25 Ultra comes with a price tag that’s even higher than the already expensive S23 Ultra and S24 Ultra. And for what? A slightly bigger screen? A slightly faster processor? A few extra megapixels? None of these changes justify spending the amount they are asking. Samsung is banking on you being blinded by the newness and forgetting that your S23 Ultra does almost everything the S25 Ultra does. Heck, even the S22 is still a good phone.
If Samsung wants to charge a premium, they need to deliver something groundbreaking. Instead, we’re getting incremental updates wrapped in a shiny package.
What Samsung Should Have Done
They could’ve introduced real innovations if Samsung wanted to blow us away. How about battery tech that lasts 48 hours of heavy use? Or truly game-changing camera features, like a camera that doesn’t smooth things out or ruin the colour contrast of green grass or real-time 3D scanning? Even faster charging or some crazy new display tech would’ve been exciting. Instead, we got a slightly warmed-over version of last year’s phone with AI slapped on it and a bunch of features you won’t use.
The Bottom Line: Don’t Waste Your Money
The Samsung Galaxy S25 is a masterclass in how to create a boring, overpriced phone. It’s the equivalent of reheating leftovers, slapping a new label on them, and calling it a gourmet meal. If you already own the S23 Ultra, keep it. It’s still one of the best phones on the market, and the S25 doesn’t do enough to dethrone it.
Save your money, skip the hype, and let Samsung know that good enough isn’t good enough anymore. Maybe the Galaxy S26 will actually be worth upgrading for, though, at this rate, I’m not holding my breath.