The AI era is advancing rapidly, and the hottest new trend is “agents.” These agents are essentially AI assistants capable of performing tasks for you regularly and across multiple apps. Samsung has equipped its latest flagship, the Galaxy S25 Ultra, with these very agents, fine-tuned for artificial intelligence. But what can these new AI assistants really do? And how much does the “Galaxy AI” feature cost? Check out our hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra to find out more.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: All deals
Galaxy S25 Ultra: The Agent Phone?
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The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra runs on One UI 7, bringing a wide range of practical new features and small but useful improvements to the flagship. We have a detailed article covering these updates, so here, we’ll focus on the key question: Have AI agents made their debut on the S25 Ultra—and does the hype live up to expectations?
The bad news: On the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which we tested for several hours, many of the AI features were not yet activated, including the AI agents. However, we did get a brief glimpse of a smartphone with activated agents for a few minutes.
What is special here is that the AI agents can gather and process information across multiple apps. In the demo I saw, they can search for the date of the next handball match via Google and create a calendar entry for it. At the launch of the Galaxy S25 series, this functionality works with all Google apps, many Samsung apps, and third-party apps like WhatsApp and Spotify. According to Samsung, more third-party apps will be added in the future. For instance, travel apps are expected soon, enabling agents to find or even book train connections for us.
And that’s a really exciting glimpse into the future: instead of using individual apps and manually shuffling information around, we’ll simply ask our AI agent to solve a problem directly. There will still be apps, but at least “service apps” will become more and more interfaces in the future and less and less of a direct interface.
No More Clunkiness: Design & Display
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The display of the Galaxy S25 Ultra has grown a little compared to its predecessor—from 6.8 to 6.9-inch. However, the dimensions are the same, as Samsung has managed to shrink the display frame again. Incidentally, the device has become an impressive 6.5 percent lighter—and yes, the 15 g is noticeable—as is the 15 percent thinner casing.
The look and feel has also changed: The casing now has flat edges on the sides, tying in with the S25 and S25+ in terms of design—and with the current iPhone series. Of course, there is still the slot for the S-Pen on the underside, even if it has now had to slide little further inwards due to the rounded corners.
Samsung wants to make the already very low-reflection display of the S24 Ultra even more anti-reflective. In a direct comparison, at least under artificial studio lighting, this is practically unnoticeable—the difference between the S23 Ultra and S24 Ultra, however, was clear. Thanks to Gorilla Glass Armor 2, the display glass is also said to be 29% more shatterproof—whatever that means. But at least Samsung also had some more tangible figures for us, albeit for the S23 Ultra. The introduction of Gorilla Glass Armor (1) has reduced display repairs by 60% compared to the S22 Ultra.
And what else? Of course, the QHD+ display looks incredibly good—Samsung simply knows how to do screens. The refresh rate of the S25 Ultra varies dynamically between 1 and 120 Hz for smooth playback on the one hand and energy-saving on the other. The maximum and peak brightnesses are 1,500 and 2,600 nits respectively.
Battery & Performance in the Galaxy S25 Ultra
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Samsung uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Galaxy S25 Ultra—as in all new S25 devices. The high-end chip presented in November 2024 is based on the same production technology as Apple’s current iPhone chips. Accordingly, its performance is likely to be at least on a similar level and significantly higher than last year’s S24 Ultra model. We will find out how the S25 Ultra compares to its current competitors in the final test.
The new Snapdragon chip not only has advantages in terms of speed, but should also boost battery life. This is because the Snapdragon X Elite not only has a lot of power, but is also comparatively energy-efficient. The OnePlus 13, for example, achieved an impressive battery life of over 20 hours in the test. The test will show whether the Galaxy S25 Ultra with its 5,000 mAh battery (OnePlus 13: 6,000 mAh) can achieve a similar runtime.
Of course, the charging speed is also exciting: Like its predecessor, the Galaxy S25 Ultra offers 45 W via cable. Wireless charging offers 15 W, while reverse wireless charging for charging compatible in-ears etc. works at 5 W.
Nothing new so far? Not at all. The S25 Ultra finally supports the Qi2 wireless charging standard! While this doesn’t change the speed, Samsung now offers cases that contain the magnets defined in the specification; and so the S25 Ultra has the function that we know from the iPhone as Magsafe.
Familiar Yet Improved: The Camera in the Galaxy S25 Ultra
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The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is the first Samsung smartphone with an ultra-wide-angle camera with 50 megapixels. This is not only an upgrade for your panorama photos, but also for macro shots. Due to the technically very low minimum focus distance, smartphones almost always rely on the ultra-wide-angle camera for macro shots.
And what else? Everything remains the same in terms of hardware. There are still a massive 200 megapixels on the main camera, a 3x telephoto camera with 10 megapixels and a 5x camera with 50 megapixels. What is still surprising is the comparatively weak 3x camera, which in purely mathematical terms offers hardly any advantages over a digital zoom in the 200 megapixel sensor—the jump in image quality is correspondingly small when the smartphone switches from 2.9x to 3.0x on the zoom sensor.
The difference is much more noticeable when switching from 4.9x to 5.0x. Like the S24 Ultra, the S25 Ultra also makes a significant leap forward in terms of image quality. However, at least according to our first test photos, there has been little to no change in image quality from the S24 to the S25.
There’s more news for video fans. Firstly, Samsung has built a dedicated video night mode into the S25 Ultra, which we have not yet been able to test due to the lack of “night”. And: The S25 Ultra also offers log video including a suitable LUT, which Samsung provides for download. There is also a new AI feature that allows you to reduce or hide background noise, which we briefly tested in the following video and compared with the S24 Ultra—which interestingly picks up significantly less ambient noise:
Galaxy S25 Ultra: First Impressions
Are the AI agents on the Galaxy S25 Ultra the groundbreaking innovation that will have our smartphones heading to the office for us? Not quite. While the “AI Agents” on the Galaxy S25 Ultra are still relatively “basic,” I’m reminded of a quote from Bill Gates: People overestimate what can be achieved in one year, but underestimate what can happen in ten.
AI agents are here to stay, and Samsung’s new smartphones are helping to bring this technology into the mainstream. In a few years, we’ll be interacting with our devices in entirely new ways, and this is an exciting glimpse into that future.
Beyond that, Samsung has undeniably delivered another stellar piece of hardware with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. I appreciate the revised design, which looks sleeker and less bulky than the previous Ultra models, many of which felt like rebranded Galaxy Notes.
The display and camera maintain the high standards of Samsung’s flagship devices. The new processor promises improved battery life in daily use, although we would have liked to see more progress in charging speeds. And for those who dare to go without a case—even with a flagship that costs nearly $1,800—integrated Qi2 magnets would have been a welcome addition.
Where to Buy the Galaxy S25 Ultra
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The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is available in three storage variants: 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB. It also comes in a wide range of colors—seven in total. At retailers and your trusted provider, you can choose from Silverblue Titanium, Whitesilver Titanium, Grey Titanium, and Black Titanium.
Meanwhile, Pinkgold Titanium, Jadegreen Titanium, and Jetblack Titanium are available exclusively through Samsung. And in case you hadn’t noticed: Yes, the S25 Ultra features a titanium case, just like its predecessor.
