I didn’t want to buy the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but then I held it in my hands

The leaks leading up to the launch of the Galaxy S25 series had me excited. It looked like Samsung would be releasing four Galaxy S25 models simultaneously, with the fourth model being a “slim” device that would be thinner and lighter than the Ultra while retaining some of its upgraded cameras.

So, after buying every Ultra from the Galaxy S20 Ultra to the S24 Ultra, and for the first time since the inception of Samsung’s Ultra lineup, I had decided not to buy the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Instead, my heart was set on a lighter and more comfortable phone, and I was certain that it would be the new Slim — now known as the Galaxy S25 Edge.

I changed my mind in a second, though, and all it took was for me to hold the Galaxy S25 Ultra in my hand.

I generally like my Galaxy S24 Ultra. The sharp-cornered design has always looked good, but combined with a frame that has a smaller curve radius than the Galaxy S23 Ultra, it was even less comfortable than its predecessor. I have a callus in my palm from using this phone all day, and the weight doesn’t help matters, either. Despite the similar size, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is 11g heavier than a Pixel 9 Pro XL, something my wife discovered when I dropped it on her face while attempting to show her a meme. I was hesitant about losing the S Pen, but now that I own a Galaxy Tab S10 Plus, I could offload my S Pen usage to that, seeing as I have it in my backpack when I go out or within arm’s reach when I’m at home.

Of course, the Galaxy S25 Plus would’ve been an option — it would be smaller, lighter, and less awkwardly shaped — but it lacks the camera hardware found in the Ultra models. I couldn’t “downgrade” from my Galaxy S24 Ultra to an S25 Plus and live without the zoom lens I’ve grown accustomed to. That’s what had made the rumored Slim so attractive to me. It was supposed to have the same 200MP primary sensor and 50MP ultrawide lens as the Ultra, topped off with a 3.5x 50MP telephoto. While that’s not an identical setup to the Ultra, it would’ve been more than enough for me.

Imagine my disappointment, then, when the Galaxy S25 Edge was actually announced. I like the name, but the phone itself doesn’t seem to be close to what we expected, with a late release date and a worse camera array than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and to top it all off, it might not be available here in the UK. Of course, that’s all still up in the air since nothing about the phone is official besides its name, but I would’ve been devastated about it all if not for the fact that I had already changed my mind about the Ultra.

I was one of the few journalists who got to handle the main Galaxy S25 lineup a week before Galaxy Unpacked. At first, I went looking in the corners for the promised “Slim” model and didn’t find anything of the sort. Disappointed, I turned to the phones that were actually there and held the Galaxy S25 Ultra in my hand for the first time. And oof!

The Galaxy S25 Ultra might occupy the same footprint as my S24 Ultra, but it feels markedly different in the hand. What I noticed first was the weight. To use the Pixel 9 Pro XL example again, the new Ultra is three grams lighter than that phone and a whopping 14g lighter than my old Ultra. A 6% reduction in weight doesn’t sound like a lot, but it all adds up when you consider the other ergonomic changes Samsung has made.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra feels top-heavy, likely due to all the camera hardware in the phone’s top half. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is still heavier up top but feels more balanced than the old phone. Finally, Samsung has rounded the corners of the Ultra phone to make it more comfortable and (hopefully) avoid calluses. When the rumors first suggested Samsung was going to do this, I wasn’t on board. I’ve always loved the boxy design of the Galaxy Note series and S Ultra models, which made them so visually distinct from other smartphones. I had visions of the phone being as rounded as the two regular S25 models. Thankfully, Samsung found a happy medium. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is boxier than almost any other phone I can think of, but the corners are rounded enough that it nestles comfortably into my hand.

In that one session with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, I was convinced that I didn’t need to switch to a slim model, and that was before I found out all the asterisks about that Galaxy S25 Edge.

Of course, there’s more to the Galaxy S25 Ultra than how heavy it is. Samsung will tell you to focus on Galaxy AI, the cameras, or the Snapdragon 8 Elite For Galaxy chip running the show. Those are all positives — but they aren’t the kinds of improvements that I and others like me get excited by anymore, not when the tangible benefits they bring are so incremental and will likely come to older models through software updates. Making a phone lighter and more comfortable to hold might not make headlines in the same way as fancy AI features do these days, but it’s the sort of change that matters to me. I think the ergonomics are the best part of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and you really need to feel it to believe it. I got lucky to do so weeks ago, and that helped me make up my mind about buying the phone.

Now that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is officially on sale, I urge you to go to a store and try holding it for a second. If you’re coming from an older Ultra, the difference will be night and day.