Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S22 Ultra preview: Could that be a sensible upgrade?
Intro
If the rumors turn out to be true, then we'd see the Galaxy S25 Ultra in roughly a month's time, in early January 2025.
Some intriguing upgrades are expected for the next Galaxy S25 Ultra, but nothing too extraordinary aside from a slight redesign, a fast 3nm chipset, and likely a multitude of AI features on deck. Don't get this the wrong way––although minor, the potential upgrades are all very welcome and will most likely elevate the Galaxy S25 Ultra to the top spot on the phone market.
A spot that most of its predecessors have usually held.
That would make the Galaxy S25 Ultra one of the best potential upgrade paths for those who have held on to the older Galaxy S22 Ultra, the first high-end Galaxy Ultra phone with an S Pen integrated inside.
How would the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S22 Ultra compare? Let's measure them up against one another and see just how decent an upgrade the Galaxy S25 Ultra will be.
Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S22 Ultra differences explained:
| Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra | Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Titanium design with rounded corners, flat panels | Aluminum frame, straight corners, curved panels |
| More compact (8.2mm and 219gr) | Slightly thicker, taller, wider, and heavier (229gr) |
| 6.8-inch AMOLED with QHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, higher display brightness | Same 6.8-inch AMOLED with QHD+resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, but lower maximum brightness |
| 200MP main camera, 50MP 5X telephoto, 12MP selfie | 108MP main camera, 10MP 10X periscope, 40MP selfie camera |
| The fastest Qualcomm chip –– the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite | Aging Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4nm) with inferior performance |
| 12GB RAM in the 256GB version, 16GB of RAM in the 512GB and 1TB versions | 8GB RAM in the entry-level version, 12GB RAM in the 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| Wi-Fi 7 | Wi-Fi 6 |
| 45W wired, 25W Qi2 wireless charging | 45W wired, 15W Qi wireless charging |
Table of Contents:
Read more:
- Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra release date expectations, price estimates, and upgrades
- Samsung Galaxy S25 release date expectations, price estimates, and upgrades
- Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review: best features
- Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: do we need a refresh?
- Samsung Galaxy S25 vs Galaxy S23: Two generations apart
- Galaxy S25 colors: here are the expected hues so far
Design and Size
Surprisingly few changes
With the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Samsung will employ a slight redesign that will bring the flagship in tune with the rest of its flagship phones. Gone will be the straight edges at the bottom that form a nearly perfect right angle; instead, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will score curved corners, which will make it look just like an oversized Galaxy S24/S25 or Galaxy S24 Plus/Galaxy S25 Plus.
This change will eliminate one of the few design distinctions that most Galaxy Ultra phones have held above the regular flagships in the previous years. Not sure that we are ready to part ways with the bold appearance of the Galaxy S Ultra flagship, but Samsung seems dead-set on the new design.
Aside from the shape change, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will mostly retain the rest of the design cues: flat front and back Gorilla Glass panels, the beloved S Pen Stylus, IP68 water- and dust-resistance, as well as the titanium frame are here to stay.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S22 Ultra was the first Galaxy Ultra phone with an S Pen. It also debuted the straight corners that are about to go mostly extinct, as well as the curved front and back display panels, an echo from a bygone smartphone era. It also was an IP68-rated device with pretty decent resistance against the elements. The frame was made of aluminum.
But in the essence of things, the two devices are very alike and will share a ton of common Galaxy DNA.
Size-wise, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will be more compact in all dimensions: it will be thinner, shorter, narrower, and lighter than the Galaxy S22 Ultra despite both featuring similarly sized displays and batteries, which is a major win, no matter how you look at it.
We expect that Samsung will provide a balanced selection of standard colors and a few fun ones. The Galaxy S22 Ultra was available in Phantom Black, White, Burgundy, and Green. Not a terribly exciting selection, that's for sure.
Display Differences
As we mentioned, both the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Galaxy S22 Ultra will employ similarly sized 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED displays, with the same QHD+ resolution, 120Hz maximum refresh rate, and HDR support.
Of course, the Galaxy S22 Ultra screen is slightly curved, while the Galaxy S25 Ultra will employ a flat screen, so you will get the impression of slightly more usable display area.
The big difference, however, could be the peak brightness of the two displays. The Galaxy S25 Ultra, being the newer phone, will surely achieve a much higher peak brightness than the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which was released a little ahead of the beginning of the Brightness War.
Both phones will also share another characteristic: the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, which will enable quick and effortless biometric authentication.
Performance and Software
Welcome, 3nm!
The Galaxy S25 Ultra will use Qualcomm's newest top chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
The most exciting piece of trivia about this chip is the fact that it's the first 3nm one available to Android phones. Until its arrival, only Apple's latest iPhones enjoyed the unmatched performance delivered by the 3nm manufacturing process.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite will bring major gains in performance and efficiency, which could translate to better battery life. But managing heat could be a problem, especially since 3nm chips seem to produce a lot of heat, which doesn't really play well with the limited cooling capabilities of smartphones.
There should be at least 12GB of storage on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, though 16GB of RAM are also likely. The reason for that could be the high hardware requirements for on-device artificial intelligence.
We expect 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB of storage.
Memory-wise, we expect up to 16GB of RAM in the Galaxy S25 Ultra, as well as 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB UFS 4.0 storage versions. The Galaxy S23 Ultra also comes with similar storage options, but has only 12GB of RAM.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with 8GB of RAM on the entry-level 128GB version, but you also get 12GB RAM in the 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB versions. It's possible that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will employ a similar setup: 12GB of RAM on the entry level 256GB version and 16GB of RAM in all others.
One UI 7 will be available out of the box for the Galaxy S25 Ultra and later for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. A visual redesign and new AI features will be introduced by the next major software skin, which will be based on Android 15 (released in October 2024).
The Galaxy S22 Ultra has all the modern Galaxy AI features, but it might not be as fast in terms of AI performance as the Galaxy S25 Ultra. One UI 7 will also introduce some interface design changes and other functionality improvements.
When it comes to software support, we can expect the next Galaxy S25 Ultra to receive seven years of major Android updates and security updates, which is great.
Camera
Pretty different camera setups
Not much changes will hit the Galaxy S25 Ultra camera in comparison with the Galaxy S24 Ultra: we might only get a new 50MP ultrawide camera. It will probably utilize pixel-binning to output 12MP images. The rest of the setup will remain the same: a 200MP main camera, a 10MP 3X short telephoto, and a 50MP long telephoto with 5X optical zoom. Up from, we are likely getting a 12MP camera.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra, on the other hand, boasts a 108MP main, 10MP 3X short telephoto and 10MP periscope with 10X optical zoom, along with a 12MP ultrawide. A very versatile setup as well, but now slightly behind in terms of overall image quality and performance, being beaten by the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Unsurprisingly, we expect the Galaxy S25 Ultra to improve things drastically, even despite the potential lack of major upgrades. This could be achieved via software and image-processing enhancements.
Battery Life and Charging
So many years, yet so little has changed
If you've been hoping that Samsung will deliver anything apart from a 5,000mAh battery, you're in for a rude awakening. Just as all devices ranging from the Galaxy S20 Ultra to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, we are getting a standard 5,000mAh battery.
That's… fine, but we are starting to see much larger batteries on flagship phones hailing from China. That is thanks to a new lithium-silicon battery tech that allows for a denser energy cell. The rumor mill says we should expect a 6,000mAh silicone battery inside the upcoming OnePlus 13.
Even though the battery size of the Galaxy S25 Ultra will match the Galaxy S22 Ultra, we expect significantly better battery life thanks to the improved efficiency of the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip.
We also expect 45W wired charging on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which matches the Galaxy S22 Ultra. That's another area in which we are seemingly getting no upgrades. Wireless charging, however, could be faster as rumors put 25W Qi2 wireless charging in the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Specs Comparison
Here's how the Galaxy S25 Ultra versus Galaxy S22 Ultra specs will compare:
| Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra* | Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|
| Size, weight | 162.3 × 79 × 8.2mm, 219gr | 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9mm, 229gr |
| Screen | 6.8" Dynamic 2X AMOLED >2600 nits peak brightness 1-120Hz Anti-reflective coating | 6.8" Dynamic 2X AMOLED 1-120Hz dynamic 1,750 nits |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, 3nm | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 for Galaxy, 4nm |
| RAM, Storage | 12GB/256GB 12GB/256GB 12GB/1TB LPDDR5 | 8GB/256GB 12GB/256GB 12GB/512GB 12GB/1TB LPDDR5 |
| Cameras | 200MP main 50MP ultrawide 10MP 3X telephoto 50MP 5X periscope 12MP front | 108MP main 12MP ultra 10MP 3X telephoto 10MP 10X periscope 40MP front |
| Battery | 5,000mAh | 5,000mAh |
| Charging | USB-C 45W wired 15W wireless | USB-C 45W wired 15W wireless |
* - All Galaxy S25 Ultra specs are preliminary and subject to change
Summary
Many years have passed, but the differences between the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Galaxy S25 Ultra might be countable on a single hand.
There are two ways to interpret that: either Samsung has nailed it from the first time, or it is massively dropping the ball when it comes to upgrades and evolution.
Still, we might see vastly improved battery life, performance, and potentially greater camera image quality with the newer device, along with potentially many new AI features.
Does this mean that Galaxy S22 Ultra should abstain from upgrading?
It's hard to say given that most of the specs are still a subject to change, but if you are still satisfied with your Galaxy S22 Ultra, then you might want to be cautious when it comes to upgrading to the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
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