All this to say the Galaxy S25 ($800), Galaxy S25+ ($1,000), and Galaxy S25 Ultra ($1,300) are powerful, reliable, and well-equipped smartphones. They're excellent upgrades if you're coming from a three or four-year-old device. They're just not otherwise interesting or exciting.

Despite its age, the Galaxy S22 Ultra looks and plays the part of a flagship from 2025. It has a premium design with high-quality materials and a stunning display with vibrant saturation that Samsung is just now returning to on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. If you’re the casual user Samsung targets for upgrades, you may want to hold out another year.

Samsung calls this phone Ultra because everything is supposed to be ultra. But the regular S25 and S25 Plus have a lot of its best specs and features and cost much less.