It has been well over a year since the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra arrived in early 2025, and a newer Galaxy generation has since taken the top spot in Samsung’s lineup. So the real question in 2026 is not whether the S25 Ultra was good on day one, but whether it still deserves your money or a place in your pocket today. After living with it through a full update cycle, our answer is a confident, lightly qualified yes.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hardware still feels current
Part of what lets the S25 Ultra age gracefully is that Samsung didn’t cut corners on the fundamentals. The titanium frame gives it a reassuringly solid feel, and the flatter, more rounded design was a genuine improvement over the sharper-cornered Ultras before it. In the hand it reads less like a slab and more like a refined tool, and more than a year of daily use hasn’t made it feel dated the way older flagships often do.
The roughly 6.9-inch QHD+ AMOLED display with its 120Hz refresh rate remains one of the best screens you can look at, full stop. It is bright enough to fight direct sunlight, smooth in everyday scrolling, and sharp enough for reading, gaming, and video. Screens are one of the areas where flagships plateaued years ago, which works in the S25 Ultra’s favor.
Performance and the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
Under the glass sits the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, the tuned chip Samsung shipped in this model. In practice, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra still handles anything you throw at it in 2026, from demanding games to heavy multitasking, without the stutter that creeps into aging hardware. We won’t quote synthetic benchmark figures, because at this level the honest truth is that raw speed is rarely what you notice day to day. What you do notice is that nothing feels slow, and that is exactly what you want from a device you plan to keep for years.
Cameras that still punch above their age
The camera system is a major reason the S25 Ultra holds up as a recommendation. The headline 200MP main sensor is joined by telephoto and ultrawide lenses, giving you real reach and flexibility rather than just a big number on a spec sheet. Daylight shots are detailed, the zoom is genuinely useful rather than a gimmick, and the results are consistent enough to trust. It is the kind of camera that makes you stop carrying a separate one.
Here is our honest take, though: newer Galaxy models have refined this further, so if photography is your single biggest priority and budget is no object, the latest generation edges ahead. For most people, that gap is smaller than the price difference.
The S Pen question
The built-in S Pen remains the S25 Ultra’s signature trick and the main reason to pick it over rivals. It slots into the body, it is excellent for notes, sketching, and precise editing, and it makes the large screen feel purposeful. One change is worth being upfront about: Samsung dropped the S Pen’s Bluetooth and air-gesture features on this model. If you relied on remote shutter clicks or gesture controls on an older Note or Ultra, that specific capability is gone. For the vast majority who use the pen to write and draw, this changes nothing; for a small group of power users, it is a real consideration.
Battery, charging, and daily endurance
The 5000mAh battery comfortably gets most people through a full day, and often further with lighter use. Charging tops out at 45W wired, which is fast enough in practice even if some rivals chase higher headline numbers. In our view, dependable all-day endurance matters more than shaving a few minutes off a top-up, and the S25 Ultra delivers on the part that counts.
Software, Galaxy AI, and the longevity case
Software is where the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s long-term value becomes clearest. It launched on One UI 7 atop Android 15, with the suite of Galaxy AI features baked in, and it is covered by Samsung’s commitment to seven years of OS and security updates. That policy is the quiet superpower here. A phone released in early 2025 that keeps receiving major updates for years is one you can buy in 2026 without feeling like you arrived late to the party.
- Display: ~6.9-inch QHD+ AMOLED, 120Hz
- Chipset: Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
- Cameras: 200MP main, plus telephoto and ultrawide
- S Pen: built in (no Bluetooth or air gestures on this model)
- Build: titanium frame, flatter and more rounded design
- Battery: 5000mAh with 45W wired charging
- Software: One UI 7 on Android 15, Galaxy AI, 7 years of updates
Keeping a phone this long only works if the software stays healthy, and that is where staying on the correct official firmware matters. If your Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra ever misbehaves after an update, or you want to return it to a clean stock state before selling or handing it down, you can reinstall the official stock ROM using the matching firmware for your exact model and region from ZipFirmware. It is one of the simplest ways to keep a multi-year device running like it should.
Conclusion: should you still buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra in 2026?
Is the Galaxy S25 Ultra still the best smartphone in 2026? The most honest answer is that it is no longer the newest flagship, but it remains one of the smartest buys. If you want the S Pen, a superb display, a versatile camera, and years of guaranteed updates, and especially if you can find it below its original launch price now that a successor exists, it is an easy phone to recommend. Chase the newer generation only if you specifically want the latest camera refinements or the returned S Pen features. Everyone else, whether buying used or holding onto the one you already have, is in very good hands.
ZipFirmware
We maintain the ZipFirmware archive of official Samsung stock ROMs. Every guide here is written from the same files you download.
