In the 2023 Formula One World Championship, Red Bull Racing’s RB19 car won 21 out of the 22 races it participated in. Shared between both Red Bull’s drivers – Sergio Perez and World Champion Max Verstappen, the RB19 also racked up 30 podium spots, achieved the best qualifying time 14 times and clocked in an astounding 11 fastest laps. Needless to say, it was a monster.

Many consider the RB19 to be the most dominant F1 car in history. However…

Same but different, no? Here’s the thing: the RB20, despite delivering Max Verstappen his fourth World Championship in 2024, paled in comparison. After setting up a ridiculously high bar with the RB19, the RB20 ‘only’ won 9 out of 24 races it took part in.

It was still a monster of a machine, but Red Bull arguably lifted their feet off the throttle a bit when it came to innovation and development. A victim of its overachievement perhaps?

That’s what came to mind when reviewing and comparing the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra to its predecessor, the S24 Ultra. Like the RB19 and RB20, they are almost indiscernible save for those who know where to look.

What’s The Difference, Really?

With Qualcomm’s latest and most powerful chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite – the Samsung’s Ultra model again becomes the yardstick for all flagship devices being released for the rest of the year. The benchmark for every single top-end model to be released regardless of platform and it’s got tons of good reason for it too. But not without its flaws.

Coming off the brilliant and AI-stuffed S24 Ultra released last year, the S25 Ultra is the result of a year’s worth of learning and understanding their consumer’s quirks, preferences and habits. The AI features in the S25 Ultra are much more wholesome, more intuitive and

Consumers complained about the very angular shape of the S24 Ultra. So Samsung softened the edges making the S25 Ultra look like a beefed-up version of its non-Ultra S25 siblings. Users loved the anti-glare coating on the 6.8-inch screen. Samsung listened and they retained it whilst also giving the screen a slight bump in real-estate, thinning the bezels and now you have a 6.9-inch screen for the S25 Ultra. Nice.

As a result, the phone is more pleasant to handle and when used in brightly-lit areas, does not reflect harsh lighting sources and feels much more secure when used in landscape mode – whether in your palms for gaming or even when laid on a surface thanks to the flat, side titanium rails.

It goes without saying that since the S25 Ultra sits atop in the performance-scale of 2025 devices, gaming on it is a breeze. Performance is top-notch and in the layman’s way of describing it compared to its predecessor would be akin to the PlayStation 5 Pro to the bog-standard PlayStation 5. That said, as mentioned in our review, the PS5 Pro is only worth getting if you’re moving from the PlayStation 4. A vibe we are getting more and more from the S25 Ultra.

Considering the cost of most gaming-centric phones in the market, the S25 Ultra seems like the more logical, viable, most balanced device for top-end gamers who are willing to forego the bright lights. It cruises past typically system-demanding mobile games such as Call of Duty: Warzone and our typical go-to title, World of Warships: Blitz, confidently maintaining high FPS and stability even on highest graphical and performance settings. Still on the entertainment side of things, brilliant stereo speakers accompany the high-refresh rate screen making streaming of movies and football matches a joy on the Ultra – even under bright environments.

Shoot Angle

Photo-taking-wise, the S25 Ultra is very similar to last year’s model when it comes to its offering, aside from the spec bump to its ultrawide rear camera; a jump from mere 12MP on the S24 Ultra to a honkin’ 50MP for this year’s version. We’ve raved so much about Samsung’s camera in the past so we’ll keep this portion brief. It is easily the top, if not, among top three best camera phones in the market. Typical of Samsung devices, photos taken tend to be punchier and more saturated but these can be adjusted in post using the filters included along with the software.

In the past, many tend to claim that iPhones are the best ‘point-and-shoot’ phone camera but following Samsung’s advancement in AI and their camera offerings, the gap is much smaller now, if not, nonexistent. Samples posted here would be a disservice to the actual product due to compression but we try our best to best represent the outcome. (Excuse the photo taking skills – or lack thereof. But hey, cats!)

Video comes with audio separation software which is actually really useful for those who tend to record outdoors in public sans dedicated microphones. The ability of Samsung’s AI to distinguish voice from noise is astounding and we highly recommend you try this feature in-store whenever you get the chance to do so. And for those who love to tinker with manual settings, they will have field day thanks to the vast list options to dawdle with.

Like previous S-Ultra models since the release of the S22 Ultra, the S25 Ultra comes with the S-Pen which slots flush into the silo on the bottom right half of the device. And this feature has become the most contentious talking point of this year’s flagship due to its ‘shortcoming’. In most cases, Samsung’s consumer research findings lead to a nett-positive device to the one it is replacing however, the ‘downgrade’ of the S-Pen puts the S25 Ultra in a sticky situation.

According to YouTuber Mr. Mobile following his interaction with Samsung’s executive, only about 1% of Ultra phone users fully utilised the S-Pen Bluetooth functionality. As a result, Samsung removed it from the S-Pen for this year’s model. The removal of Bluetooth means that gone are the gesture controls such as the remote camera control which allows users to snap the camera shutter without having to tap the screen. Of course, this can be remedied with the ‘palm out’ gesture – which in our books, is equally effective.

While the S25 Ultra carries the same battery capacity – 5000mAh – as the S24 Ultra it is replacing, we feel that this year’s model is able to stretch its usage for a more significant period. Easily a day-and-a-half or even two-day phone on a full charge, the S25 Ultra negates the need to pack a portable battery pack. However should you get one, we do recommend getting a case which comes with a magnet ring to facilitate wireless charging easier as unlike iPhones, the S25 Ultra does not come with a built-in magnet on the back.

Quarterly Report

While on paper S25 Ultra may seem to be the RB20 to the S24 Ultra’s RB19 F1 car, in actuality it’s more nuanced than that. The S25 Ultra provides a nett-improved package to the S24 Ultra, increasing several folds as you go further back with the earlier iterations. HOWEVER, when judged on its own, the S25 Ultra provides a very compelling package that would easily put itself among, if not at the top of the flagship smartphone pile of 2025. It may not be miles ahead of its competitors this year, but like the RB20, still won Max Verstappen his fourth World Championship trophy.

The S25 Ultra comes in four ‘base’ colours with the ‘Titanium’ suffix; Gray, black, whitesilver and silverblue. However, we feel the best looker of the lot is the one you can get via the Samsung store exclusive, ‘Jadegreen’ – also with the Titanium suffix. The other two options are ‘Jetblack’ and ‘Pinkgold’.

Pros

• Flatter side railings make the device easier to wield.
• AI capabilities are more intuitive and practical for daily use.
• Sleeker shape; both in shape and weight.
• Structurally solid build.
• Significant improvement on battery performance.
• Overall better camera package.

Cons

• Base internal storage starts at 256GB.
• S-Pen devoid of Bluetooth.

FINAL SCORE: 80/100

VITAL STATISTICS

• Platform: Android 15, One UI 7
• Body: 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm (6.41 x 3.06 x 0.32 in), ~218g
• Frame: Glass front (Corning Gorilla Armor 2), glass back (Corning Gorilla Armor 2), titanium frame (grade 5)
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8750-AB Snapdragon 8 Elite (3 nm)
• CPU: Octa-core (2×4.47 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix L + 6×3.53 GHz Oryon V2 Phoenix M)
• GPU: Adreno 830
• Display: Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 2600 nits (peak); 6.9 inches, 116.9 cm2
• Memory (Internal): 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 1TB 12GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM
• Main Camera: 200 MP, f/1.7, 24mm (wide); 50 MP, f/3.4, 111mm (periscope telephoto) 5X zoom; 10 MP, f/2.4, 67mm (telephoto) x3 zoom; 50 MP, f/1.9, 120? (ultrawide)
• Video: 8K@24/30fps, 4K@30/60/120fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, 10-bit HDR, HDR10+, stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS
• Sound: Stereo speakers, no jacks given
• Battery: Li-Ion 5000 mAh, non-removable
• Price: Starts from RM 5,999 (256GB, 12GB RAM)

The S25 Ultra is now available for purchase. Review unit of the Samsung S25 Ultra provided by Samsung Malaysia.