Zenfone 12 Ultra vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: one of these is not an Ultra
Intro
The Asus Zenfone used to be the only "compact flagship" among Androids. But that ended with the Zenfone 10. Since the Zenfone 11, Asus slapped the Ultra moniker to the phones and start making them huge. Galaxy Ultra level huge.
Now, the Zenfone 12 Ultra follows suit, housed in the same chassis — quite literally, as its shape, size, and build remain unchanged, with only minor design tweaks and, of course, upgraded internals. It's as big as the Galaxy S25 Ultra and obviously aims at the same target audience.
Zenfone 12 Ultra vs Galaxy S25 Ultra differences explained:
| Zenfone 12 Ultra | Galaxy S25 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Extra-large Zenfone build, as big as contemporary phablets | New flat sides, still packs an S Pen |
| Updates 6-axis gimbal optical image stabilizer | Two different zoom cameras on the back for various framing needs |
| Comes with Android 15, will get Android 17 | Comes with Android 15, will get Android 22 |
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, 3 nm | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, 3 nm |
| 12 GB / 256 GB 16 GB / 512 GB LPDDR5X UFS 4.0 storage | 12/256GB 12/512GB 12GB/1TB LPDDR5X UFS 4.0 storage |
| Loud, bassy stereo speakers, headphone jack | No headphone jack, but speakers sound better |
| 5,500 mAh battery 65 W wired 15 W wireless | 5,000 mAh battery 45 W wired 15 W wireless |
Very similar internals, indeed. It bears mention that the Zenfone 12 Ultra will only be available in the 16 GB / 512 GB option in most markets. And none of its variants are going to make it to the USA this year.
Zenfone 12 Ultra vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: PhoneArena Review Ratings compared
Table of Contents:
Design and Display Quality
OK, one of these is prettier
Camera bumps is the new black (Image credit - PhoneArena)
The Zenfone 12 Ultra closely follows in the curves of the Zenfone 11 Ultra. It cleans up some accented streaks that the old model used to have, but still retains a rather pokey camera bump. Weirdly placed, too, the Zenfone 12 Ultra looks a bit... bland. One might say it has a "clean" design, but the camera module is definitely an acquired taste.
We're not sparing the Galaxy S25 Ultra's camera module here. Although it exudes confidence with its huge lens rings, those are just tacked-on there. The lenses are not bigger, they are about the same as an S24 Ultra, it's just that Samsung made the decision to have these huge floating rings on the Galaxy S25 Ultra's back. Perfect lint-collectors, for sure!
But as an overall package, the Galaxy S25 Ultra does look better. It's also more fun to hold with its new flat sides and titanium finishes.
The Zenfone 12 Ultra is available in three colors: Ebony Black, Sage Green, and Sakura White (it's pink, despite the name). The Galaxy S25 Ultra appears more fun to shop for, as it comes in four standard colors — Titanium Black, Gray, Silverblue, and Whitesilver — plus three exclusive Samsung.com colors, which are Titanium Jadegreen, Jetblack, and Pinkgold. But none of them are vibrant or popping in any way, Samsung maintains the standard that expensive flagships should have a bit of a more grounded and "serious" look.
Look at these lovely profiles (Image credit - PhoneArena)
They weigh about the same at 220 g vs 218 g, for the Zenfone and Galaxy, respectfully. They also measure similarly at 163.8 x 77 x 8.9 mm vs 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm.
Samsung-made AMOLED panels (Image credit - PhoneArena)
The Samsung has a slightly larger display, thanks to its new thin bezels. The S25 Ultra now has a 6.9-inch panel, where the Zenfone 12 Ultra has a 6.78-inch one. Both are AMOLED tech, and both are actually made by Samsung. They are LTPO panels with a dynamic refresh rate of 1-120 Hz. The Zenfone can, technically, hit 144 Hz, but that's only available while gaming, from the Game Genie overlay.
Display Measurements:
Both phones also have multiple options to tame the color calibration as you like. Or let it glow with full vibrancy if you so wish. The Zenfone 12 Ultra is rated for 2,500 nits peak brightness, the Galaxy S25 Ultra — 2,600 nits. But we do measure 20% APL, which is more representative of "real world" use. Both phones comfortably go beyond 2,000 nits, which is plenty bright, so excellent results. Where the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a clear winner is with minimum brightness. It can go below 1 nit, which is great for nighttime viewing, whereas the Zenfone 12 Ultra can't go below 5.9 nits — not an ideal bedside companion.
Additionally, Samsung has an excellent anti-glare coating on top of its Ultra phones, which does make a huge difference and makes the image "pop" more, either indoors, or under daylight.
Performance and Software
One Elite is built different
The Zenfone 12 Ultra is meant to be a contemporary flagship, so it gets the big-name chip — the 3 nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite. But Samsung has a partnership with Qualcomm, so it gets a special Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy edition. Basically, it's slightly overclocked, hitting 4.47 GHz where "ordinary" Elites go up to 4.32 GHz. Aside from that, both phones come with the fastest memory chips — LPDDR5X and UFS4.0.
Unsurprisingly, the Galaxy S25 Ultra does better at raw CPU scores, as it's a teensy bit faster. However, the 3DMark results are interesting. Yes, the Zenfone 12 Ultra starts off with a lower high-score when both phones are cool. But when it gets to throttling, the Galaxy S25 Ultra falls much lower, showing that the thermal solution inside the Zenfone 12 Ultra is better.
The software here is Android 15 on both phones. Zenfone 12 Ultra dresses it up in ZenUI, which looks like Vanilla Android, but adds a couple of custom features on top. Of course, this year, the word is AI. The Zenfone 12 Ultra now also has AI summary for websites and documents, live translation for voice calls, transcription of voice recordings, Google's Circle to Search, a Magic Eraser in Photos (called AI Magic Fill), and Photo Unblur. These features are also present in Galaxy AI or provided by Google via Gemini or the Photos app.
Camera
Does a gimbal stabilizer stand a chance against Samsung's powerhouse?
None of these will ever be called a cyclops, that's for sure (Image credit - PhoneArena)
Asus' selling point for its camera modules is a gimbal stabilizer. It's slightly upgraded this year, supposedly to reduce jitters in video and blurry pictures even more. But we can hardly complain about Samsung's stabilization. And Samsung puts a lot of eggs in the camera basket, with a total of 4 cameras on the back (two are for zooming), and a lot of software features in the app. Plus, it's image processing is just... better.
PhoneArena Camera Score:
And that is reflected in our benchmark scores. We follow strict, standardized procedures to evaluate sharpness, exposure, and overall camera performance. And the points reveal that the Zenfone 12 Ultra doesn’t quite match up to the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s camera. But let's look at some samples:
Main Camera
The Zenfone 12 Ultra's camera still hasn't gotten dynamics down. It can often crush shadows, or look a bit too exposed. Colors are mostly cool, and details are a bit too oversharpened. The Galaxy S25 Ultra surprised us with tuned up sharpening algorithms this year. That is to say, it doesn't go as hard anymore. "Soft detail" they call it, since the fine figures aren't lost, but they don't appear jagged or aura-like. Its handling of high dynamics is fantastic, and colors look closer to reality.
In low light, the Galaxy S25 Ultra maintains a good handle on dynamics and gives us a balanced image with enough contrast to give it texture. Colors and skintones are handled well. The Zenfone 12 Ultra feels challenged here, with sharp contrast and a flattening of the bright areas. Skintone is a bit pale and washed out.
Zoom Quality
Sammsung takes pride in its zoom algorithms. Some sharpening can be seen here, as the camera needs to digitally enhance the image beyond 5x, which is its longest optical lens. The Zenfone image is a bit darker, with a bit more software sharpening, but not much worse.
Ultra-wide Camera
The ultra-wide camera of the Zenfone 12 Ultra scored a better color calibration this year, to stick closer to the main camera. Its exposure is also better here, compared to the S25 Ultra. But that HDR is pretty bad — check out the ghost gulls flying through the air.
Selfies
The 32 MP selfie camera of the Zenfone 12 Ultra sounds impressive on paper. However, it also suffers from lack of vibrancy and very pale skintones.
More Camera Samples
Video quality
The gimbal stabilizer of the Zenfone 12 Ultra does give us very buttery smooth motion, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra seems to be doing plenty fine with its own OIS and software assistance. The colors from the Zenfone footage are more vibrant, but details are a bit oversharpened, and some halos around vegetation can be spotted — probably HDR. The Galaxy S25 Ultra footage is more balanced, but it does look a bit colder in this direct comparison. However, it handles highlights a bit better where the Zenfone burned them out. And the green grass looks a bit more realistic, which is something Samsung hasn't always been the best at!
Battery Life and Charging
Large phones, large batteries
Each has its own brand of fast charging (Image credit - PhoneArena)
The Zenfone 12 Ultra comes with a 5,500 mAh battery, while Samsung is still not comfortable in pushing the envelope so it sticks to 5,000 mAh. It's interesting to see how the identical chipsets with fairly similar screens will fare. Is it all in the software optimization? Here's how our battery test went:
PhoneArena Battery and Charging Test Results:
Well, that's a surprise. We did expect a difference in performance, but a small one. And we definitely did not expect the Galaxy S25 Ultra, with its smaller battery, to last longer. And much longer on a couple of those tests — 4+ hours when constantly browsing the web, 2+ hours for gaming. The only test where the Zenfone took the lead was the infinite YouTube playlist. Samsungs, for some reason, always struggle on this one.
When it comes to charging, the Zenfone 12 Ultra is faster, thanks to supporting a 65 W charger. The Galaxy S24 Ultra tops out at 45 W on the wire, but does support up to 15 W wirelessly, so does the Zenfone.
Audio Quality and Haptics
Both of these phones have stereo speakers with a good amount of bass and loudness to them. The Zenfone 12 Ultra can sound a bit more mushy, with a hefty bottom mid, while the Galaxy S25 Ultra sounds a bit more cleaned up, if a little honky in the upper midrange. If we were to pick a winner, we'd say the S25 Ultra sounds a bit better.
For haptics, the playing field is even. These have strong, accurate motors that click very nicely as you navigate around the interface.
Specs Comparison
Now that we've gone through all the tests, let's get a final reminder of the Zenfone 12 Ultra vs Galaxy S25 Ultra specs, the abbreviated version:
| Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra | Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra |
|---|---|
| 6.45 x 3.03 x 0.35 inches (163.8 x 77 x 8.9 mm) 220 g | 6.41 x 3.06 x 0.32 inches (162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm) 218 g |
| Recycled aluminum frame | Titanium-coated frame |
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 nm, 4.32 GHz | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 3 nm, 4.47 GHz |
| Gorilla Glass Victus 2 front | Gorilla Armor 2 with special anti-glare coating |
| 6.78-inch Samsung AMOLED display 1-120 Hz, 144 Hz available when gaming 2400 x 1080 px, 20:9 ratio, 388 PPI | 6.9-inch Samsung Dynamic AMOLED X2 1-120 Hz 3120 x 1440 px, 19.5:9 ratio, 498 PPI |
| 12 GB / 256 GB 16 GB / 512 GB LPDDR5X / UFS4.0 | 12 GB / 256 GB 12 GB / 512 GB 12 GB / 1 TB LPDDR5X / UFS4.0 |
| 50 MP main camera 13 MP ultrawide 32 MP 3x zoom camera 32 MP front camera | 200 MP main camera 50 MP ultrawide 10 MP 3x zoom camera 50 MP 5x zoom camera 12 MP front camera |
| 5,500 mAh 65 W wired 15 W Qi1.3 wireless charging (no magnets) | 5,000 mAh 45 W wired 15 W Qi2-"ready" (no magnets) |
Which one should you buy?
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is the clear winner here. Better-tuned hardware, clearly better camera, extra features like the S Pen and we did not even mention Dex. Plus, you get 7 years of software updates where the Zenfone only promises 2 Android builds and 4 years of security patches. Not to mention, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is just easier to get, as the Zenfone availability will be quite limited this year — probably not coming to the US.
All of that said, Asus still wants to sell it for €1,099 (512 GB version) in Europe, where the Galaxy S25 Ultra starts at €1,470. Clearly, that's quite the uptick in price, but even a Galaxy S25+ will do better and serve you longer (or it should) than the Zenfone 12 Ultra. Sorry, as much as we like what Asus usually does, this phone is not exactly it.
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